A very dear friend of my mother visited our house and stayed with us for almost a fortnight once. I'm surprised its been over four years to that but I remember it today. She was from a place called Dhanbad close Kolkata, India.
She had an uncanny fondness towards dogs. She said, back there in Dhanbad she had a lot of dogs in her house. She really missed them whilst she was here away from them. So, In order to console her heart she would feed the dogs that were there in our neighborhood.
She started the practice of getting small packets of Parle G biscuits to the house and opening and feeding all the dogs with one packet of it every day - morning and evening. I believe the feeling she got doing that was beautiful.
After she left we continued the practice and would reluctantly feed the dogs with a packet of biscuits everyday. We just used to sometimes, even open the biscuits and drop them on the heads of the dogs whilst they stood there with their tongues out. It had become like a dead habit. Every family member had their turns where this concept of feeding a packet of biscuit started out with stage 1- the rising excitement stage, stage 2- the fulfilling joyful moment stage , stage 3- the zenith point stage 4- the declining interest stage and stage 5- its a past thing stage. Only instead of it being " past" it became " Passed" and by the time each one us had crossed all the stages , it was too late...
The dogs of the society, all stray though had taken to an extra fondness towards us. We were their kings. Wherever we went inside the society they'd walk right beside us whether we wanted them or not. Like a army of guardians.
So we deduced the responsibility of continuing feeding them to the domestic help who would come in or was working with us. Very soon, we discovered something really amazing.
Our practice had turned into a trend in the society. Many people had started feeding them. Few would throw down biscuits from their 2nd floor terrace in front of their house on the roads where the dogs would come, few were feeding them with meat and the rest would shed their left over food in some place for the dogs to find it instead of dumping it into the dustbin. It was a phenomenon in true sense.
Yet, no one carried on as long as we did. The times came and faded away, but we have yet continued the practice.
It was after all a moment that brought about this. Just a moment....
She had an uncanny fondness towards dogs. She said, back there in Dhanbad she had a lot of dogs in her house. She really missed them whilst she was here away from them. So, In order to console her heart she would feed the dogs that were there in our neighborhood.
She started the practice of getting small packets of Parle G biscuits to the house and opening and feeding all the dogs with one packet of it every day - morning and evening. I believe the feeling she got doing that was beautiful.
After she left we continued the practice and would reluctantly feed the dogs with a packet of biscuits everyday. We just used to sometimes, even open the biscuits and drop them on the heads of the dogs whilst they stood there with their tongues out. It had become like a dead habit. Every family member had their turns where this concept of feeding a packet of biscuit started out with stage 1- the rising excitement stage, stage 2- the fulfilling joyful moment stage , stage 3- the zenith point stage 4- the declining interest stage and stage 5- its a past thing stage. Only instead of it being " past" it became " Passed" and by the time each one us had crossed all the stages , it was too late...
The dogs of the society, all stray though had taken to an extra fondness towards us. We were their kings. Wherever we went inside the society they'd walk right beside us whether we wanted them or not. Like a army of guardians.
So we deduced the responsibility of continuing feeding them to the domestic help who would come in or was working with us. Very soon, we discovered something really amazing.
Our practice had turned into a trend in the society. Many people had started feeding them. Few would throw down biscuits from their 2nd floor terrace in front of their house on the roads where the dogs would come, few were feeding them with meat and the rest would shed their left over food in some place for the dogs to find it instead of dumping it into the dustbin. It was a phenomenon in true sense.
Yet, no one carried on as long as we did. The times came and faded away, but we have yet continued the practice.
It was after all a moment that brought about this. Just a moment....
