OUT DOGGED

==================================================uddalak banerjee(deep),NIT RAIPUR ,CURRENTLY BIRLASOFT EMPLOYEE.

Supriya,"have u been with a Yorkshire Terrier?(pause)Pharaoh Hound?(pause)New Guinea Singing Dog?(pause)Newfoundland?Norfolk Terrier?".

deep with an apologetic smile said,"No!sorry i dont know any of them.I have only seen the dobarman which lived in MR Mitra's house"

Supriya,"which species?"

deep again smiled and said naively,"sorry i dont know"

supriya,"hmm..dont u love dogs?"

deep smiled a childish smile and said apprehensively,"actually i fear they might bite"

Hearing which Supriya burstout in laughter ,cognizance reflecting in her ten year old eyes .She said ,"I think it would be a Doberman Pinscher..."

deep silently listened to her as if regaled by the overwhelming weight of supriya's knowledge.

Supriya and deep both were siting on the big marvel slabs on the steps of a kolkata temple .For deep it was just another day of adventure with friends who had just returned home and he on his way back was paying his homage to the goddess kali for her bunificience which led his good final term results .Supriya on the otherhand was there to look for Dr dutta who was the only veterinarian doctor in the locality.

As the temple bells chimed they both bade goodbye to each other.

In the mean time an image of a man was seen coming towards the temple.He was far off but Supriya could recognise him from his unusual hopping gait.Supriya ran off to him with an impatience of a small girl waiting daylong for her father to come home.

Deep on the other hand waited for a few seconds to look at her sprinting all the way to him to report.However as she reached and begun to speak to him deep circled around to retrace his path home.

Supriya had a Water Spaniel .It was very cute and weighed around 35 pounds.Its height was 15-18 inches.It was dark brown in colour and its coat was curled and wavy.Infact Supriya had a range of dogs in her house.BUt the water spaniel was her favourite.After her father's death in the car accident dogs have been her life.She never could think of a life without them.Even with the ever augmenting list of shortages in her life with the 'want list' far exceeding the 'have list',she had never compromised on the health of her dogs infact the number of her pets have doubled over the last 4 months following her father's death.Even the street dogs have now found their way into her family.

Dr dutta was an aged man and rendered honorary service to her dogs whenever they fell ill.This time too he accompanied Supriya to the dog's haven.

Dr dutta on entering her house noticed instantaneously that the number of dogs at her home have further increased since the last time he visited .Knowing the diminishing balance of the overcrowded family of supriya ,Dr dutta was concerned.

He said,"u have brought two more??????amazing is your spirit !!! u know u have a shortage of cash to provide a square meal for urself and u are still unabashedly calling home these forlorn animals to feed!listen my dear listen..first save yourself before calling others.."

Supriya with her innocent face replied,"They have no place to go ..same as me ..i dont have a father to talk to..who will i live for atleast they love me"

Dr dutta said,"Ok so be it but try reign your loose cannon."

Dr dutta checked the dog and gave an injection to the sick waterspanial over its writst bone and then walked back home. While going back home too while supriya accompanied him ,he said "listen to me ..for your own good..pull the plug on ur bringing dogs home to stay..it can only burden u more ..besides when u will have no cash how will u feed yourself leave alone these dogs..infact these dogs will make their won living but how would u????? "

Supriya silently said,"I can't..i will die if i lose them from my sight."

Dr dutta did not waste a second more on this and left for his home without any further discussion.He figured that bringing her around to think of her own good is wastage of words and time.

Days passed on.Deep was busy with his exams .Now one night when he was returning from his tution he met supriya.She was growing thinner by the day .Her clothes somewhat lost its former shine and the flush in her cheeks have been lost too and was looking terminally ill.She had long left her school and now she was just spending all her time with her pets.She played with them ,bathed them and adored them with warm hugs and kisses.The dogs developped a deep affinity for her too.They all used to follow her wherever she went.Anyways that day she turned to deep and asked him to come to her house at once.WHen deep acceded and followed her to her house ,she said ,"can u give me RS 500 please???".

Deep said,"why? what happened..i dont have that amount of money ..i have to ask my parents for it.."

Supriya said,"No! leave it then"

Deep couldnot stay calm for this was the first time supriya had ever asked something from him ,so he said ,"tell me the reason ..i have a lot of old books which i would sell tomorrow so i guess i can arrange for a Rs 500 by myself ..i won most of them as a prize in gk quiz competitions and khudiram sangha..So the money is entirely mine"

Supriya said,"my Water Spaniel have been bit by a diseased dog of the next colony yesterday ..it bled all night and it needs to be admitted to the hospital immediately"

Deep said ,"Ok i will arrange for it"

Supriya looked into his eyes and smiled and said ,"thank you"

Next day on selling the books the net amount yielded was Rs 750.Deep took the entire amount from the shopkeeper of the KAMAL book store and then marched to supriyas house.Then they together took the Water Spaniel to the State Veterinary Hospital at behala ,kolkata".

The dog was extremely weak and could not move .It was making strange low tonned sounds as supriya was crying even more each time it made those sounds.THe entry charges was rs 10 and then the doctor in charge charged rs 500 and an extra 150 for his medicine.

Supriya thought for a moment that they had run out of cash but then deep smiled and assured her ," i have it..i got RS 750 from sales".

Supriya ashamed looked down for she knew she wont be ever able to payback the amount.

Deep said ,"i still have a Rs 90 so if u wish we can have a good meal in the resturant neighbouring the hospital"

Supriya looked up and said,"U have grown too rich i guess..u would waste Rs 90 for a resturant meal!!!"

Deep said,"i dont think much would happen it is ok"

Supriya said,"we will have some pani puri from the bus stop and thats all."

Immediately,there was a sound of a dog barking out loud in pain .Supriya turned around immediately to see a mad dog being chained and dragged to the hospital.The dog was acting weard and was not ready to move.It was fiercely trying to claw to everything that was around it to stop his captors from moving him.The captors were two men in black t shirts and jeans pants and were constantly caning it to bring it in.

Supriya was deeply touched ,she ran to the dog to help.

"leave it ...leave it ..just leave it..is this the way to handle a dog..it is such a sweet beagle..it loves stags...u could have easily done it by puting a piece of stag with u and let him follow u.It has great scent ability it would have followed u..but this is not the way ...u are hurting it.."

The two men bewildered at the sudden entry of supriya and for a moment there was a lapse in their concentration.THe dog out powered them and bit supriya at her leg .She was moaning in pain.Seeing it bite supriya the men quickly started to cane the dog.supriya was hurt and sat down holding the bit part.BLood was ozing out from the tissues.Deep did not know what to do immediately he asked her "are u okay?" .She said."yes i am..offo it is just a minor bite..it wont hurt me..spanial bit me many times when it was small..nothing ever happened".Seeing the men cane the dog vigorously now she yelled,"dont hurt it ..it did out of a mistake..dont cane it .....it will make it mad..".The nurse who was standing nearby came up to us and said with concern written over her face,"get her antirabies vaccines it may cause death if the beagle was infected."

Supriya laughed and said,"see the blood has stopped too..it was not infected just hungry thats all"

Deep was not ready believe and said,"how do u know?"

Supriya,"I know means i know..thats it..and no more dialogues.."

Deep,"dont be silly i will arrange for money ..if that is why u are trying to be negligent in this.."

Supriya,"they would give big big injections in the stomach..u have any idea how much pain it would cause? if u wish then go and have them..but i wont..i know that the dog is not rabid."

Deep did not say anything.

Supriya ,"what happened..i know i am telling you!!!!! i live with dogs..u dont even know which dog falls in which group ...i feed them ..live with them..i understand them..u dont worry ...nothing will happen to me."

Deep said,"but u could have had a injection..just to be safe"

SUpriya ."go and give your exams..thats all..i would if i need"

Deep said nothing more and after waiting for some moretime till the Water spaniel was ready to be taken back home.Then he left for his house and supriya to his.

Time elapsed fast until the next week.Suddenly one day when he was coming back from his school he found that there is a big crowd of people assembled infront of Supriya's house.He could not guage what was the matter.Later as he came close he saw a few of her neighbours crying.An immense sense of grief suddenly started to gnaw in deeps heart.He could not understand what to do but the feeling that supriya is no more had already started to overpower his senses.Silently tears started to flood his cheeks and the body was then visible.The eyes of hers were strangely silent and did not move.The dogs were all quarentined and picked by the straydog pickup van of the municipality.But then the water spaniel somehow have escaped them and was lurking near the broken boundary wall inspite of being repeatedly driven away by the angry mob who felt that it were the dogs who were responsible for the death.

The grieving neighbours were saying repeatedly that she should have taken the injection.All though among them all deep was silent for he knew she could not have taken them even in this dire need.He knew she had nothing left to sell for some food for these dogs.He just silently said to the sleeping Godess ,"u could have told me..i could have given a 500 more..i never wanted it back......".Deep stayed still for sometime in grief further compounded when he heard a few mouths speaking to each other saying,"i think we should get rid of the body soon..it is a diseased one..it may spread the disease..".A deluge of tears came down from deeps eyes.

Slowly the body was moved and later burnt .The last rites were performed by the neighbours itself .They truely loved her and so did deep.Even now he speaks to himself when he looks at the lurking water spaniel with a handkerchip of supriya permanently tied to its back leg,"u could have told me..i could have given a 500 more..i never wanted it back......".

======================================THE END=======================================