Story#44 : Rodie
It was in the winter of 2015, Rodie adopted us. He literally crash entered into our lives. We were not prepared for this kind of forceful entry. Now, you will ask me, who is “Roadie”?.. Patience!!! I am coming to that.
Rodie is a stray dog. When he came to our life, he didn’t have a name. He was hardly 3 months old when he adopted us. His mother abandoned him in front of our gate in Chennai. Like any other stray dogs, he adopted a family. In this case, it happened to be us. My wife is very scared of dogs. And so are my children.
So, In December 11, when my son opened the gate for going to school, the puppy was sleeping in front of our gate. On seeing my son, it got up respectfully and wagged his tail, as though he knew him from his previous birth itself. My son was taken aback. He ran back and told my wife that, a puppy is there in front of the gate and it is not allowing him to go out.
My wife went out with a stick in hand and on seeing the stick, he moved away. My son went to school. The same was repeated when my daughter got out. The puppy was smart. He learned the game quickly. When my kids came back from school, he got up, wagged his tail and moved away. My son complained “Mama, the puppy is still there”. My wife was in a rage. With the added courage that, it is just a puppy, she went out with the stick again. The puppy moved away. My wife chased him with the stick in hand. He moved further away. My wife took a small stone and threw at it. As she was not trained by Kashmiri freedom fighters (hurling stones), the stone missed the puppy by a huge margin. The puppy just looked at her as though, it was thinking “What the hell did I do?”
With the relief that, the puppy has moved away, she came back. But the puppy followed her. She was closing the gate; then she saw the puppy just behind her again. She wielded the stick again. It missed the puppy. My son who was watching this immediately commented “How come Mama! When you wield the stick at us, you never missed!!!”. The puppy moved away, my wife again chased it and it moved away further. Then my wife turned back, the puppy followed her again.
By this time, the puppy started enjoying this “chase-follow” game. To avoid further embarrassment, my wife decided not to pursue the chase anymore. People in the neighborhood were watching and, being a smart wife, she knows where to draw the lines. She just closed the gate and came inside.
The puppy somehow figured out that, the family enjoys this game. So, he started playing the same game with my children also. Whatever we do, the puppy refused to leave us. He decided that, this is his family. He never wanted our family to be orphaned without the presence of a stray dog.
Just like our married life, when my wife came to know that, the puppy is not going to leave, she accepted the reality and learned to live with it. She no more chased him away. After all, the puppy was not harming her and the kids; instead, it was giving her a lot of respect. Whenever she or the kids went out and came back, he will get up, wag his tail as though he was missing them and looked at them with playful eyes. Whenever my kids ready for a “chase-follow” game, the puppy was happier. The puppy never asked for food. Like a self-respecting pet, he was earning his own bread from the nearby municipal thrash bin.
The puppy started growing up. He never tried to come inside our gate. He always kept himself outside. The neighbors started saying, it is “Our” puppy. Once my daughter’s friend came to our home and she saw the puppy. She asked my daughter what is its name. Then only we came to know that, even the self-adopted dogs need a name. As he was staying in the road, my daughter named him “Rodie”. The name rhymed with “Rowdy” which was matching for him. He was a small rowdy in the neighborhood.
Even though we didn’t give him anything other than the name, he was eager to serve us. When he became 6 months old, he was looking like a healthy dog. He went around and put boundaries for his kingdom by peeing on the electrical posts. Rodie never allowed anybody to park vehicles in front of our house other than our vehicles. He also didn’t allow any stranger to open the gate. In nights he was always in front of the gate for the night vigil.
I have seen Roadie giving a “run for the money” to the other dogs passed through in front of our gate (along with their masters). With a chain around their collar and their master holding the chain, they always thought that, they are “Cut above” the stray dogs. But, Rodie just didn’t bother. Rodie was not a racist in chasing other dogs. With or without master, whatever be the color or breed (‘Doberman, German Shepherd, Pug, Poodle, Dash Hunt..’), he chased them all. Even the masters were not spared.
One day, two mischievous kids (around 12 years old) in the neighborhood tried their luck on Rodie for some sadistic entertainment. For no reason, they threw stones at Rodie like they do to other stray dogs. Rodie retaliated. He chased them and they climbed on a wall. Rodie sat there on the road and he didn’t allow the kids to get down from the wall for 4 long hours. It was only when my kids came back from school, Rodie left them. After all, he had to pay respect to my kids. Else, the kids would have spent the remaining part of their lives on the wall.
In the process, Roadie earned enemies also. The ward member of our locality had an Alsatian dog. Once his son took the Alsatian though our street for a walk. The moment it came inside the boundary of Roadie’s kingdom, Roadie attacked the Alsatian. The Alsatian; even though with double the size of Roadie; got scared and he dragged his master while running. The ward member’s son fell on the road.
Next day, the ward member came to our home and confronted my wife. He accused my wife saying “Your ‘scoundrel’ dog has attacked my ‘well-behaved’ dog”. My wife took Pakistan’s stand on the captured terrorists. She disowned Roadie and said “That dog don’t belong to our house”. When the ward member insisted saying “That dog lives in front of your house”; my wife told him that “The electric post and transformer are also in front of house. Next month onwards, I will charge a levy on all other households drawing power from the post”. Then she took out the last tactic of Pakistan; “Bring me more proof that, the dog belongs to us”. The ward member surrendered and went back.
My son is fond of cats. When he went to one his friend’s house, he found three cute kittens in his house. He asked for one and his friend agreed. My son brought the kitten home. That was when Rodie protested like a defense ministers. Eve though, it will not serve any purpose, defense ministers across the globe “strongly condemns” terrorist attack in any part of the world. They know very well that, their condemnation don’t change anything, still they will go ahead and do it. So, our Rodie tried it. But we ignored him.
But my daughter had a doubt. “Mama, Roadie never saw this kitten before. The kitten didn’t do any harm to him. Then, why on seeing the kitten, he is going wild?”. My wife answered her tactfully. Below is the conversation
Mama: “Nainu, have you ever been to Pakistan?”
Nainu: “No”
Mama: “Have you ever done any harm to any Pakistani?”
Nainu: “No”
Mama: “Still, if you ask any kid in Pakistan, whether they like Indian, what will he say?”
Nainu: “They will say ‘I hate them’ ’”
Mama: “That is it. Cats and dogs are like that. At a personal level, they don’t know why they hate each other. They are supposed to hate each other. So, they do it as a duty”
(Wow! My wife made the “External affairs policy” agonisingly simple! Why we need IAS officers with such intelligence around!!)
Rodie never failed to protest the presence of the kitten at home. But, after few days, he realized that, things are not going to change. So, he has taken the stand of China in supporting India’s bid to NSG. He(China) will not recognize the kitten(NSG Bid), but regional cooperation will continue as US(family) is supporting India(kitten).
Rodie has earned enemies in an alarming rate. He never spared any stray dogs come into his territory. In the case of protecting territory, he adapted Indian external affair Policy. “Roadie never invaded the territory of others. But, he will not give an inch of his own territory, even God come and fight for it”. That made CPEC (China – Pakistan-Economic-Corridor) kind of situation. All the neighboring kings (stray dogs) conspired together to teach Roadie a lesson.
One night all of them together crossed the border did a “Surgical Strike” on Roadie. Unexpected attack found its objective. The fight continued for some time in night and next day morning my wife found Roadie unable to stand because of the injuries on his legs. He was not even able to move to the trash bin to find food. My wife felt pity and gave some food to Rodie. Rodie’s eyes sparkled. It looked at my wife with gleaming eyes; as though his years of prayers have been answered at last. The adoption process is complete now.
Things didn’t end there. The ward member’s son saw my wife feeding the dog. Next day the ward member came to our house and confronted my wife again. “I have the proof now. The Dog is yours. You were feeding it” he said as though India got UN permanent seat. But he forgot the fact that, he was talking to a “cunning, intelligent and a political-economic-financial-tactical-and-what-not” wizard. My wife answered him in the way Rohit Sharma hits century against associate nations.
“So, if I feed the dog, will it become mine? Please remember that, on the other day you were giving food to the kids in the orphanage. I have the proof of that, as your photo was there in the local newspaper”.
Understanding that, the conversation was not going exactly the way he planned, the ward member left the place. But, he had his revenge. Next day, he arranged the corporation people to catch Roadie in the pretext of sterilizing the stray dogs. When Roadie was carried to the van, my wife had a few drops of tears on her eyes.
We never saw Roadie after that!!
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Biju Vargheese (Pazhayedathu Paramban)
