Srinivas Rao
23 June 2013
I write this piece with some distress and probably to
alleviate my sense of despair. I have loved animals but at a distance. I have
feared dogs since childhood having been bitten sometimes, have been chased,
snapped at the feet and baked hostilely at and suffered the inevitable anti
rabies vaccines. So it was rather
unlikely that I would have tried to nurse a very sick dog that landed at the
entrance of our building emaciated, weak and unable to move. I was watching
this dog, tied to a post lying near a drain from my window and wondered whether
it might even die. I was unable to take
her off my mind and attend to my reading and decided to take a closer look at
what the problem was. A deep brown coat and
biscuit brown limbs she had large ears and with large doleful imploring eyes
the canine had no energy to move and tentatively shook her tail just a bit,
unsure whether this human specimen peering at her was friendly enough. Full of ticks and mites it seemed she was a
corpse living to feed the innumerable beasties on her body. Feeling pity and helpless in equal measure I offered
her some food which she refused opting to drink large quantities of water.
Unsure what to do next; I tried to seek help of at a street
corner shop that used to feed dogs and the owner gave me the name of a dog
lover Chitrita Majumdar who stayed close by at Bandra West. She sounded friendly and assured me of help by
sending me the numbers of some veterinarians who would help for a fee. However with
the incessant rains no one showed up till late night a doctor turned up giving
her some shots and writing out a prescription that was to be administered immediately
and charging me a hefty Rs 650. Having
found a chemist who gave me to medicines I had to fight my fear and give the
syrups using a syringe (without the needle). On my mother fell the task of preparing for her
eggs and chicken liver every four hours for the next three days to provide some
nourishment often with the medicines intermixed. My neighbors began complaining of the stench
and the mess she made the task of which again fell on myself. Helpless I called
Chitrita to figure out what needed to be done and she advised me an expensive
option of treating her at a private animal clinic vets4pets at Navi Mumbai.
This was an expensive option with rates of Rs 500 per day after discount with
the ambulance charging Rs 1500 separately.
Despite being rather frugal given my circumstances I decided to go ahead
when Chitrita assured me of sharing the expense. I promised to set aside a decent sum of money
each year for her activities of which I was much impressed.
On requesting Chitrita if she could speak to the doctor and
understand what ailed the dog, she informed me that it was just some tick fever
and not anything serious but would need hospitalization for a while. In the
meanwhile she asked me what plans I had for the dog after treatment and I replied
that I did not need to make any since it was a stray that was abandoned by
tying her to a post. Her next response alarmed me as she wanted me to take commitment
for rehabilitating her and finding a home for her which thus meant that I take
responsibility for a much longer time than my mother or my neighbors would have
tolerated. I refused to take any
commitments and she met my response with disapproval and a silence. After a
week the hospital called up saying the dog was fit to be released and that the
bill would run into Rs 6500 but after some imploring discounted to Rs 5000. The
hospital also informed me that Chitrita stopped taking their calls and thus I
was the sole owner since the dog was collected from me. I requested them to leave the dog anywhere
but was informed that they have to leave it close to my building. Fearful that
it would again turn up with those doleful eyes I asked them to release her a
block down the road so that she doesn’t find her way back. I paid them up and signed
all the documents that I was in safe possession of the canine; believing that
Chitrita had possibly wanted to not really contribute. But given that the amount was not exorbitant I
noted that my donation for the year towards animal welfare at Chitrita’s would
be scaled accordingly.
After five days I receive frantic calls from Chitrita about
my supposed cruelty to the animal and that the dog’s fate was at the mercy of
territorial strays who would have torn her to pieces and that her fate and
indeed blood was on my hands. Given her
hysterical rants I did not take her calls and her harassment began on SMS. She then got a lawyer Phiroza to speak to me
late night who went on in the same vein and who tried to convince me that the
hospital was to blame for gross negligence and non compliance to law all of
which sounded like nonsense and entirely ridiculous. Late that night the doctor Yuvraj from the
hospital calls up pleading with me to bail him out as the lawyer threatened to
send notices to both of us for not leaving the animal exactly where she was
picked up and to close the private nursing home by spreading its misdeed with
the SPCA. The doctor wanted me to hold a view which was true that I was the
owner of the animal by virtue of the fact that she was picked up from me though
a stray and that she was released in front of me though a block away. I assured him and asked him not to panic and
not take the treats seriously. However he seemed overwrought pleading that his
clinic was just a few months old and that his reputation would be ruined and I listened
in disbelief. The next day Chitrita
continues to harangue me on SMS about how I could eat and sleep while her poor
dog was braving her violence and insisting that I join a search party for
her. I maintained a silence and to my
surprise found the next day the hospital staff with the dog in tow at my door,
grinning that they found her. The dog seemed
even more emaciated than when I had handed her to them. Refusing to let them
and the dog within the premises I told the doctor that I had nothing to do with
her. They then called Chitrita who
insisted on collecting the dog from my premises. I had to speak to the doctor
and invoke the society’s muscle to shift the dog to the next block for Chitrita
to pick her up. Waiting to see who this wonderful woman was I was disappointed
that she sent a junior flunkey with a pet ambulance to pick up the dog. I then received her insidious SMS accusing me
of being heartless and being a frustrated man and threatening me of dire karmic
consequences if I did not heed animals.
Needless to say I have been shocked by the egregious episode
and all the drama surrounding it. Poor dog, little did she know the battles she
invoked and bewildered by the seeming attention and fight for her soul which
was the subject of abstract ideological fights than real concern for her
health. My mother tweaked my ears, almost boxing them, for not heeding her counsel
and inviting such trouble. She now warns
me not to be like a modern day Don Quixote! I whimpered meekly feeling broken
within, my faith in pieces.
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