It was with a troubled mind that I went for a midnight walk down the road. Things have been pretty stressful recently, and health is not something I would refer to as in pink. Too many sudden decisions, too many changes, too many close people deciding to change...was just hoping that the stroll would reduce some of the toll!!!
As I was walking lost in my thoughts, I nearly bumped into a dog who just didn't move from its place as local curs usually tend to do when humans get close to them (and that too a big one like me). I never hurt animals; there was no question of any attempt to shoo it away, rather I would have preferred changing my path. But something about the way the street light reflected in its eyes held me in my place.
There was infinite sadness there, and it was not for its own sake. I was pretty much hypnotised, and on its own, my hand reached out to it and patted it's back. Next moment I was sitting down with it, and as I continued stroking it, the lame dog (which I noticed only at that moment) laid down its head on my lap. There was no fear, there were no second thoughts ; it was as if we did this every now and then.
I opened the bottle of water I was carrying, held it to its mouth, and watched it's tongue happily lapping away at each n every drop it could stop from falling on the road.
Just then, a dark shadow fell on us and for a moment, being fully involved with the dog, the trespasser scared me a bit. He was an aged guy, who looked like a vagabond. There was nothing he could steal from me except the water bottle (and maybe some more of my peace of mind). As I stared up at him, he smiled and asked for some water. I politely told him that the dog has already spread all its spit around the mouth of the bottle, and I didn't have any money with me for him. He smiled again and said he just needed the bottle - so I handed it to him. He drank the remaining water, kept the empty bottle in his dirty jhola, sat down at a distance, and asked me in fluent English about what I think will be the impact of El Nino and La Nina on the coming monsoons!!!
I was flabbergasted for some time, and murmured something within my pharynx till I found my voice!
We leisurely talked on topics that ranged from nanotechnology to archaeology. I didn't find it wise to ask who he was nor did he venture any clue. The dog moved from my lap, and limped to him. For a couple of minutes, he lovingly caressed the dog and then looked at me, smiled and said, 'We have a lot of things going in our minds... We talk of freeing our minds from the burden that we carry around. But it's not something we can do. Why don't we simply learn to live with that burden? The dog has learnt to live with its limp... I have learnt to live with what I could save, you can live with the love that you have and which I can feel within you. Be a human, don't try to be anything else. I wish u all the best.'
And then he was up and walked away without looking behind even once. The dog too trailed him, and then they turned around a corner and vanished from my sight.
His words ran again and again in my mind like a looped cassette. Who was he, I would never know. All I knew was that by the time I reached back, my own dog was standing, panting, yet waiting for me. It didn't expect me to change even if it did. And I knew it will be there waiting for me as usual, even if rest of the things around me changed constantly. Yes, I will be there for my dog, and for the people with me..... forever.... And just as a human, without trying to be anything else!!!
Love is all we have... What do we need more???
