Funny Story – DOG BLESS YOU
Photo credit: jade from morguefile.com
Rajesh along with his friend Raghav was driving down to his girl friend’s house on his old motor bike ‘Hero Honda Sleek’ which he had inherited from his elder brother who in turn had bought it from a cousin 6 years ago. All in all Rajesh was the 4th but a proud owner of that motor bike. Till that day this motor bike was the dearest thing to him which he had ever possessed. And why not, he was amongst the only 10% students in his college who had their personal vehicle.
Manika’s house was a 15 minutes drive from where Rajesh lived. They parked the motorbike outside Manika’s street and rang the doorbell of her 2nd Floor House. Rajesh’s witty smile changed into a cordial hello on seeing Manika’s brother at the door. Vishal opened the door and asked the two friends to sit on the sofa. Manika came and greeted both very formally, understandably due to her brother’s presence. Manika and Rajesh were in an intense relationship which was much more than a friendship and a little less than a commitment. Rajesh was madly in love with her but she had never been too sure about her feelings, and this disconnect between them was a constant reason for fights between the two. Irrespective of all those fights they were inseparable. They had been together for almost 2 years now.
Anyway, the reason why Rajesh was there at her place was not to conclude his love/hate relationship with Manika but to adopt a puppy from Vishal’s boss. Rajesh always had a love for dogs but never really thought of keeping one. When Manika talked to him about this puppy, he readily agreed to adopt it.
The three boys got up and headed towards Vishal’s car. They drove down to his boss’s house which was in Khel Gaon, a posh Delhi locality in South of the City. When they reached the destination, Rajesh was interviewed on his seriousness about keeping the puppy by the lady who was to give one of her puppy away. And there came the milky white pup which was no bigger than Rajesh’s hand. He was told it was about 40 days old. Rajesh was both confused and amused looking at the puppy on his way back to Manika’s house. They got down and Raghav took out the bag which they had purposely got to keep the puppy safely while they rode back on their Hero Honda Sleek.
The puppy was also very confused and to an extent upset on being separated from its mother but was loving the view it was getting by poking its head out of the bag. This was the first time the puppy was outside of the home where it was born. When they reached home the doggie got mixed reactions from Rajesh’s family as they had never kept a pet in years. Rajesh elder brother was amazed to see the puppy. Both brother’s who could not even watch the same channel on one television were for the first time sitting together and were suggesting names to each other for the pup they had got.
Since it was a female puppy they zeroed on two names- MOLLY and NONIE… There was still a discussion going on around the names and both the brothers realized that puppy had already picked her name…. Yes….. NONIE it was… She gave a very distinctive reaction to the name… and The new member was christened ‘ NONIE’….And there on Morning to evening and past midnight the only word that echoed in the house was NONIE… Everybody adored NONIE, the brother enjoyed her company…but Rajesh it seemed was mesmerized by this little puppy. He would play, walk, run, eat, sleep only with NONIE…
She was white like snow and had a look of an angel. Nonie was growing stronger and healthier with every passing day and in no time, the feeble puppy grew into a naughty but an extremely friendly dog. She was a livewire in the house and probably the only member who never got any scolding from Rajesh’s the snobby grandfather.
It had been an hour or so since the naughty doggie was sent to the terrace to ensure that the maids could do their chores without any trouble from the dog. Nonie kept barking from the terrace to make her presence felt all the time. When the maids left Rajesh went to open the terrace door to get the dog downstairs.
‘’Nonie, where are you?’’ said Rajesh while whistling to catch dogs attention. Nonie would invariably wait at the door itself when she smelt anybody coming to open it……… but not this time. Rajesh reached the terrace of their single storied Kothi and to his amazement, the dog wasn’t there. He looked behind the broken sofa and in the small shed that was used to keep old garbage but there was no sign of the dog. He came back assuming that his dad may have gotten her downstairs already. But dad said, he didn’t get the dog down.
Now the commotion started to build up. Rajesh checked all the rooms in the house while calling her name loudly. Mom wasn’t home, and his dad suggested that perhaps someone left the door open and the dog may have gone out on street. Nonie was naughty but not adventurous enough to move too far from the house. She was nowhere to be seen. Rajesh’s mind could only imagine the worst now and tells his father in a blaming tone ‘’you must have left the terrace door open and somebody has taken the dog away’’. Father retaliates with half confidence that he had bolted the terrace door. Rajesh continues to blame everyone from the maids to mother to his father.
Rajesh takes out his motorbike to find the dog, checking every nook and corner of the colony. All sorts of thoughts started to cross his mind, such as dog being stolen by the caretaker of the nearby Log wood godown who used to enquire about the dog everytime Rajesh took nonie for a walk. The dhobi became the other suspect with whom he had a heated argument for allegedly having stolen 300 rupees from Rajesh’s jeans that was sent for ironing with the wallet left in the pocket. One thought, rather a picture that kept coming to his mind was of the dog being run over by a fast moving car. Rajesh diverted his mind everytime this dreadful thought crossed his mind.
It had been fifteen minutes and still there were no whereabouts of the dog. Rajesh decides to call his mother who had gone to their next door neighbor Asho Aunty’s house. Asho aunty was Sameer’s mother, who had been his best friend for 20 years. They lived on the first floor of the 2 storied house. Asho aunty, a housewife, would usually call Rajesh’s mother for a cup of tea on a Saturday or a Sunday when it was her weekly off. Rajesh rings the doorbell and says Namaste to Asho aunty and heads straight to his mom.
‘’Mummy, Nonie has disappeared’’
‘’what do you mean disappeared? Papa had sent her to the terrace, she should be there.’’
”I have checked every inch of the house but she is nowhere to be found. I even went to the back lane, and even the lane behind it. I think somebody has stolen her’’
‘’Stolen her? No, Nonie will never go with anybody, she doesn’t even let a stranger come close to her. She must be in the house only’’
Now, Rajesh was getting agitated with his mothers constant insistence that the dog must be inside the house. Asho Aunty was listening to the entire conversation and told Rajesh to check, the terrace, the bathroom, the store room etc. etc. The mother adds to it and says ’’Did you check the small store room’’
And that was it. Rajesh started fighting with his mom on her repetitive insistence that the dog must be inside the house and not understanding the gravity of the situation, and tears started rolling down his tense face. ‘’Somebody has taken her away, We will never get her back.’’
There was a silence for a moment, while Rajesh’s mother was trying to console him, her hand running through the sons hair but she didn’t know what to say. The only sounds that could be heard were the boys woeful sniffles, some meekish squeals & the humming of the desert cooler. Asho aunty was a little confused seeing a teenage boy crying… more so with the way he was crying. And at the same moment Rajesh looked at aunty that made her sort of conscious. But the boy was not looking at Asho aunty, he abruptly got up and unlatched the door that opened to the balcony of the house…..and…………… the REUNION, yes, it wasn’t Rajesh who was making the squeals, it was NAUGHTY NONIE on the other side of the door.
Here’s how the story unfolds. So, After bow wow’ing for 10 minutes and unwinding the rope of the Charpoy and running after the sparrows, Nonie got bored and was sitting around the edge of the terrace looking at the road below through the spokes of the grill when she noticed mummy walking down to Asho Aunty’s house who lived on the first floor of the adjacent house. With its exceptional smelling power, It wasn’t a big deal for the young doggie to make out that her mom was sitting in room on the first floor. She couldn’t control her restlessness when she smelt the fresh bakery biscuits and peanuts that the two ladies were having with their tea. And that was it, Nonie jumped over to the balcony of Asho Aunty’s house crossing across the three by three feet wall that balcony and the terrace of the two houses shared. Unfortunate for the doggie, the door was closed and the ladies were too busy gossiping and couldn’t hear her barks in the sound of the TV and the desert cooler.
The moment Rajesh opened the door the doggie jumped at him excitedly and then ran to mom and then Asho aunty. And yes, she got the fresh biscuits and a small bowl of peanuts.
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