I think my name is Ayshooo. Atleast , that's how everyone addresses me 90% of the times. I am not sure really If I have an identity for myself as such. I for one, have no family at least for now but I think I might become a mother soon, judging by what happened to me recently. The other day two of my neighborhood boys followed me for quite some time and I was very uncomfortable of what they were trying to do. They kept teasing me and It was broad daylight, I couldn't run , fearing they might follow me and it might get aggressive. Another one joined and it was now 3 of them, behind me, doing things to me , I wasn't sure I was even capable of. Their bodies were acting weird, strange things were poking out and they seemed to be focused on doing something to me. No one seemed to care about what was going on and I was plotting how to escape out of this situation. For what's worth, I was so hungry and not in the mood for anything else and I just need a good lick of home cooked curd rice or some crispy biscuits.
Yes. I am what these two legged creatures, call a dog and I don't have a permanent place to live.
Most of the times, I sleep in one place and get up in another, somehow drifting to different places as people call out my name for no reason. Ayshoooo . Ayshoooo . Why will someone call you , and not talk to you. All they do to me is, call out my name and I instinctively sprint to a different place from where I was resting. I am not alone. You won't believe me when I say this, but they have named many of with the same name. I get so confused when someone is talking to me or someone else. Most of us sprint away due to some weird common inner prompting but some of us hold our ground and talk back. But, it's kind of good that we do that because, I know some of us being hurled at with stones and sticks just for resting peacefully in front of the gate or under a shed. It gets hotter during some days and we are in need of water and shade, so we loiter here and there to eat , but always get addressed by our name.
We do have one favorite place though. There is this person sits on a throne, fully covered with flowers and colorful dresses. In our weekly meetings at evenings, we take turns to decide who gets to rest in this place on certain days at this place. Reason being, the two legged creatures are unbelievably kind to us on one day of the week at this place for some unknown reason. They bring tasty biscuits , flowers and some hard brown stuff which sometimes crazily they break it . Why , I don't know. Through experience we found two other places where this person's form is there and there also our siblings have reported strange kindness and good treatment there. There is always some group of people around this person's place and we are always treated well in his presence . He is our hero and if something more than that is there, he is that for us. Because, on other days ,we simply get yelled at just for walking . Some of us, do feel some strange unexplained good feelings when we walk or rest in this person's place, I don't know how to describe, but we feel good and even sometimes forget our hunger. It does some effect. But, anyway, its a luxury to be at this place.
I used to think these two legged creatures don't really like us until we started seeing some of us in some strange instruments which these creatures sit on. It makes lot of sound and sometimes has 2 or 4 circular things attached to the bottom which allows it to run. Some of our guys come sit and go with the 2 legged creatures and they seem to be immensely happy and not a trace of fear in their eyes. They get patted and rubbed against with so much of warmth , they all are bigger and their bodies have no wounds and no flies over them. We, however, end up doing stuff to each other especially when some kind soul throws food on the road or place dishes in front of their shelters and there is so much hunger in our world, we end up fighting and biting and scratching each other before a bigger 4 legged creature with two big things on its head chases us away and we don't get to eat. We tried going close to our friends on these instruments but they themselves show a lot of attitude before the person beside them call out our name loudly. Ayshooo . Ayshoooo. But , unlike them , we get to travel to many places, we don't have anything attached to our bodies and no one cares about us unless we go too near them.
There are exceptions. One day, I was having this strange itch and my tongue or paw didn't exactly give me the satisfaction of scratching. I was so disturbed. One 2 legged creature came close to me, tore a packet of biscuits and started rubbing me and did something on my forehead. Oh Lord, I felt so relieved. I was so happy, I kind of urinated in a great rush of joy.
Some nights, some of my friends have told me this person whose place the 2 legged creatures treat us kindly had come and fed them with bread and biscuits. This creature was also 2 legged, had some cloth over its head and wore orange or white dress with some holes in it but showed great love it seems. Apparently, the other 2 legged creatures couldn't see this one and it treated us so well. I hope one day I get to meet this creature and show how thankful we are all to it.
Another thing about us is, we get to relieve us wherever we want and some of us have got almost killed or hurt for doing this. Where do we go ? We get the urge to relieve at strange times and we immediately do it wherever we are. Is it a fault living a life without disturbing anyone? Oh, as I say this, I think those two boys saw me again. I have often wondered how we are born and how some of us have so much hair, are so white and some are so dark and big. My confusion cleared when one day I saw a similar situation such as mine. 3 boys were behind one girl and suddenly one of the boys pounced on the back of the girl and they started shaking weirdly for sometime . The other two boys waited for sometime and then left . They were doing this for sometime and then got stuck to each other for some minutes. After that went separately as the girl started coming close to me. I was afraid and I started making sounds and showing my teeth. But she seemed not so happy. She slowly came near me, sniffed my face and lied down in front of me. I also got the courage to allow her to rest near , as I licked her face. I thought she was hungry and brought some food near a basket where the 2 legged creatures throw our food. I gave some to her and ate myself and was daydreaming. When Suddenly, I heard someone call my name again and I began to run. Ay-shooo. Aye-shooo.
Message from the author:
Be Kind to Strays. They respond to our love. They don't attack us without reason and their Barks are only out of self defense. You can spot the good from the bad ones, but atleast don't hurt the strays and shower them with human kindness. Not all of us can adopt. Not all of us can have pets. But all of us can be kind to the animals, especially the stray ones. As the Dalai Lama put it - Be kind whenever possible. It's always possible.
Dedicating this post to my Guru, Sai Baba, whose mahasamadhi day was yesterday 15/10. Baba / The Sai Avatar(s) , widely promote and encourage spreading love to one and all and feeding the poor, needy and the animals. All this is invaluable Good Karma.
