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 Sanat Ghosh Howrah, Contents | Like every other day, Surya was returning home from the village primary school. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks at the sound of shouting and commotion from a group of boys. He saw that the boys had tied a rope around the neck of a puppy and were dragging it along. The rope was tightly choking its neck. Someone from behind was even kicking it like a football, causing the little dog to roll across the ground. The more the puppy cried in pain, the more amusement the boys seemed to get from it. They were about Surya’s age, but unlike him, they probably did not go to school. Surya had often seen them coming out of a cluster of huts on the outskirts of the village. They wandered around aimlessly and would grab any fruit they could find from nearby orchards—mangoes, guavas, coconuts, gab fruit, tamarind, wood apples, anything. Some of them were even said to use intoxicants and spoke rudely. That part of the village was practically avoided by many people. The boys from Surya’s neighborhood never mixed with them. Surya was about to enter Class Five that year and was always a good student. But why were they hurting the puppy like this? What harm had it done to them? Or were they simply doing it for fun? Surya felt terrible. He wanted to go and punch every one of them, but there were five boys. Instead, he slowly walked toward them, hoping he could reason with them. “Why are you beating him like that?” he shouted. After some time, the boys threw the puppy into a pit and ran away. The little dog was trembling with fear. Surya helped it climb out of the pit and untied the noose from its neck. The puppy seemed greatly relieved. One of its legs was still injured and it was limping. How could he just leave it there in such a condition? The puppy, too, seemed to realize that it had found a friend. Soon, Surya picked it up in his arms, slung his schoolbag over his shoulder, and headed home. At home, he made a little shelter for the puppy in a corner of the courtyard. He carefully washed its injured leg, applied ointment, and wrapped it in a bandage. His mother helped him with the treatment. She was pleased by Surya’s compassion for the animal. Surya fed the puppy with his own hands and showered it with affection. The puppy gradually recovered. It followed Surya everywhere, ran around, and played with him. Surya would throw a ball far away and say, “Go!” The puppy would dash after it, pick it up in its mouth, bring it back, and drop it at Surya’s feet before standing expectantly in front of him, as if saying, “Throw it again!” Surya’s mother named the dog Bhola, and Surya called him by that name. Whenever Bhola heard his name, he would come running, wagging his tail and seeking affection. Sometimes he would stand on his hind legs and place his front paws on Surya. Bhola had learned many good manners from him. Even though he could not understand human language, he understood gestures and signals. Whenever he did something wrong, he accepted Surya’s scolding obediently. Every morning on the way to school, Bhola would follow Surya for quite a distance. Eventually Surya would say, “Bhola, go back home now.” Bhola would stop for a moment but then start following him again. Surya would have to stop and firmly order, “Go home!” Only then would Bhola turn around and run back. He had somehow also figured out when Surya returned from school. Around that time, he would become restless and run to the bend in the main road. The moment he spotted Surya from afar, he would race toward him and accompany him home. It was as though Bhola had taken responsibility for seeing Surya safely to and from school. Surya, too, eagerly looked forward to petting Bhola every day. Bhola would wag his tail, stand on his hind legs against Surya, roll around near his feet, and seem to say, “Couldn’t you come home a little earlier from school? Who am I supposed to play with all alone?” The tiny puppy had now grown into a strong, healthy dog with shiny brown-and-white fur. Other dogs were afraid of him. He seemed to have taken on the responsibility of guarding the entire house. One day, as usual, Bhola was eagerly waiting for Surya to return from school. He was restless with excitement. When he finally spotted Surya in the distance, he rushed to cross the road to meet him. That was when tragedy struck. Bhola did not have the sense to understand the danger. Before anyone could react, it was all over. A sand-laden truck coming from the opposite direction ran over him. There were a few moments of agonized cries, and then silence. Surya realized that the cries he had heard from Bhola on the day he rescued him were cries for life. But today’s cries were cries of death and unbearable pain. Bhola never reached Surya. Surya burst into tears and sobbed, “Bhola! What has happened to you today? I brought you home from the road that day only to see this happen?” His mother embraced him, wiped away his tears, and tried to comfort him. As Surya looked up, he saw that his mother’s eyes, too, were filled with tears. |
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KISHOR BARTA | E-mail : kishorbarta.eng@gmail.com |