It wasn’t too hot a day due to the consistent drizzling since evening. The good weather definitely turns the mood around, which made me write a little longer that night.
I was lost in my own reverie just when a harsh and loud sound of a stray dog, barking, and whining jolted me out of it. I tried to ignore it at first but the dog kept going consistently until I walked out of my room, which was on the first floor, into the balcony to check what was that dog barking at and why, and eventually to shun him away.
It was in the park across the street, right in front of my house. Although, the street light was on, however, I failed to locate the dog instantly. On observing closely, I could see it standing under a tree, through the boundary grills. By then, the dog also had seen me and immediately stopped barking, as if it just wanted to be heard. It looked up at me with such a hope in its eyes, I could resonate with that feeling of despair and being left out so much that I sort of felt a hit. I couldn’t shout at it for which I’d initially came out, rather I started contemplating, why the dog was desperate. I stood still and started observing its activities for a while, it was all wet. It raised both his front limbs and tried to climb over the boundary grill, but failed. It also tried to pass through the grills, but the grills were not wide enough for the dog. It changed its location where there were no grills but a wall, it tried to climb over the wall, but couldn’t succeed beyond scratching the wall with its paws. It whined intermittently during its struggle, which almost made me feel its pain.
How could I not understand it, I said to myself. The dog just wanted an escape route out of the park, since it was raining and there’s that dog shelter just outside the other end of the park.
I immediately put on my slippers, went downstairs, opened the main gate, and walked out into the street. The dog had already heard the sound of the gate opening and saw me walking hurriedly towards the boundary of the park. It probably thought that I was going to hit it or rally it away, so it stepped back a little in fear. I didn’t stop though, rather I climbed over the boundary into the park. Instinctively, the dog moved out of my way and I passed through the dog without even looking at it. I never understood why didn’t I even look at it when I had no intentions of hurting it. The dog, however, who was a little afraid seconds ago, kept staring at me for a while and started following me voluntarily. I sensed it already that the dog was following me. Even though it was raining, the dog chose to move out of the shade of the tree just to walk behind me. Apparently, we had developed a kind of bond already I believe. I was walking briskly and so was the dog, right behind me. I scaled the entire park to reach the other side, opened the main gate of the park, and this time I moved out of the dog’s way, directing it with my left arm extended, to move out of the gate. The dog stopped at its place, glanced at me, and promptly walked out of the gate wagging its tail.
That was the only instance when the dog and I had a conversation. My sight followed the dog until it disappeared into the dog shelter. Just before I turned around, the dog cocked its head out of the shelter looking in my direction. I just couldn’t believe it, a spontaneous smile flitted across my face.
Perhaps, the animals also have a sense of gratitude. Probably not, but at least that’s what I perceived from the dog’s reaction afterward. I realized that it was not the dog who was rescued by me, out of its misery, rather it was me, who was rescued by that dog out of my misery by providing me a chance of performing an act of kindness, which eventually made me feel happy.
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