The Lone Cypress

It was her birthday and she really wanted to visit the Sai Baba Temple at Alandi. So I decided to leave work early and take her in the car. Another friend also came along. While we were driving down the Alandi road, i see this small black scrap in the middle of the road. It looked like a curled piece of tyre. As i drove closer, i noticed it was a small black pup that had just been hit!

I slammed the breaks. I could see its little heart beating and its eyes twitching. The three of us sprang out of the car. By then a villager walking by had picked up the pup and lay him down on the side of the road. The little pups brothers and sisters were running about not knowing what had happened. I also saw this big brown dog barking away. I wish I understood doggy language! I am sure he had some story to tell!

The sight was so pathetic. That poor little might fighting its last breath. How i hate being in such a situation where one feels so helpless not knowing how to relieve this poor little mite of it pain.

I frantically made calls to a few people I knew. My vet said we could save him and to rush him as soon as possible to him. So we wrapped him up in a scrap of cloth and placed him in the car. I drove like a bat out of hell but as luck would have it I had all the traffic snarls and jams en route. Swearing, cussing, and blaring the horn was all I could do but do you think it made any difference?

What does one do in such a situation where you know both life and time is running out at the same time? It’s really sad and pathetic. I guess the shot from 3 Idiots makes sense now. We need one chap in front of the car moving the ‘heartless machines’ if i may call them, aside and another captain steering through the tumultuous waves of traffic. How much help that would be too is a question mark as we live in a country where people follow an ambulance thinking they will get past traffic faster!

Anyways, we got past all of that hoping and praying we make it in time. We reached the clinic and dashed in with the pup. Alas! We had lost him. The sadness i felt reduced me to tears even now. There lay this lifeless pup on the doctor’s table. Though somehow with a look of peace on his face. I guess the pain had finally ended and he was released.

However, my emotional tsunami was not yet over. The next question was, what do we do with the body of this little pup? So once again, we started making calls. I called an animal hospital, the Blue Cross, hoping for some help. However, i as told that they don’t know what to do with dead animals. I was told to take the “carcass” and dump it in a bin where other dead animals were dumped!!!
I was appalled, shocked and deeply hurt. I could not just throw that pup into a dustbin!!

The three of us racked our brains and decide to bury the pup ourselves. We bought loads of salt and went hunting for a shovel. Somehow we got everything with great ease and even found the perfect spot to bury the pup.

So there we were three women, a shovel and this little pup. Another friend joined and helped us dig the pit where we lay this little lifeless creature.
We all felt sad but also relived that we were able to give this little might a proper send off. The brighter side to it is that if he lived, he would have maybe had some kind of deformity which no one would have understood. He would have had to struggle for survival. As harsh as this sounds, i guess death was the best gift to him.

This day will always be a memorable one as i learned and experienced so many things about life and people around me!