The Stray Dog: Shankari

I have loved nature and everything that belongs to nature since I was a little child. I loved jumping around while talking with the flowers, the birds, and the trees. Every day, I went to my farmhouse. Often, my cousin Binnu, who was also my partner in crime, and my uncle joined me. Shakari, a stray dog, loved going to the farm with me. While going to the farmhouse that day, I told her, “How is my little girl today? Have you eaten anything yet? Let’s go for a walk together.”
Shankari was a stray dog, but my uncle fed the dog every day. The dog always slept on our porch during the night. The dog barked at the stranger but always allowed the familiar faces to pass through. The dog knew who was familiar or a stranger without even opening his eyes. He had a sharp ability to smell and hear, which helped him know who was familiar or a stranger. He would never have stopped barking if some stranger had attempted to enter his territory. I always wondered how this dog knew who was a friend, a foe, or a stranger.
Curious, I asked my uncle, “Chachu, how does Shankari know who is a friend or enemy.” But Binnu could not stop laughing at me before my uncle’s response, “How would you know that this dog knows about friends and foes? You don’t even know if the dog is a boy or a girl.”
I told him carelessly, “Do I care if the dog is a boy or girl? All I need to know is that he is a good dog. Then suddenly, it came to my mind: How could Binnu be smart enough to know all this, so I asked my uncle, “Chachu, Is this bad boy (Binnu) right? Is Shankari a boy or a girl?” My uncle confirmed, “Yes, Binnu is right. Shankari is a male dog.”
I laughed loudly, “Oh my gosh, chachu, I did not know if Shankari was a male dog for a year now. I have given him a female name. I should have given him a male name, such as Shankar. I am very silly.”
I apologized to the dog, “I am so sorry, boy. I didn’t know until now that you are a boy, but I will still call you Shankari. How does this moron know you better than me? But I don’t care who you are. All I care about is that you are a good dog.”
Shankari always remained with me while we were outside the house. But the dog was not allowed inside my house. My mother had this strict rule that I always had to obey. I was allowed to play with the dog outside the house only. I could also feed the dog. The dog had permission to walk with me daily to the farmhouse. The dog did not belong to me, but he loved me the way I treated him.
Who was Shankari, and how did this dog come into my life?

I met the dog for the first time when I accompanied my uncle to the panchayat house. Shankari was a stray dog; nobody had given a name to this dog yet. “Oh my gosh, she is a cute pup. I will call her Shankari from now on”, I said suddenly when I looked at the pup. The brown pup was so cute. How could I have known what breed the dog was when I didn’t even know if the dog was male or female? It did not matter to me. The only thing that mattered to me was that Shankari was a cute puppy who loved the people around her.
But one day, he showed up on my doorstep, following my uncle. I was always curious to know if my uncle had found the dog or if the dog had decided to meet my uncle. My uncle fed the dog every day but never adopted him. Shankari was a stray dog but was very loyal to my uncle.
Initially, the dog only came to me when my uncle was not around or my uncle had commanded the dog to play with me. However, the dog and I developed a special bond after a few meetings. The dog always followed me wherever I went. The dog knew the limitation well: he could not enter my house. Many other stray dogs were in the street, but I loved only Shankari. Maybe Shankari was an orphan, and I had not seen his mother.
Shakari slept outside of my house at night time. Often, I felt sorry for him and told him, “I am sorry, Shankari. My mum is a mom who is a clean freak, so she won’t allow you to go inside my house.”
Being a little silly girl, I often told Shankari, “Well, I know you are not my dog. I think you are my uncle’s dog. My uncle is mine, so technically, you are mine, too.”
Shankari was not immunized against any infectious diseases. One morning, I heard an announcement that the Govt employees would come to the town to put down all stray dogs today. Some people complained about stray dogs that they barked at night or tried to bite.
I was not the only child in the neighborhood who loved dogs. There were many like me. After we heard the announcement, we had a high-level meeting at my farmhouse, where all the children came to discuss.
I said, “Humans are greedy and do not like to share anything with anybody. But, we need to save all dogs.”
One of the children said, “How we could save all of them.”
My cousin said, “At least we should try.”

So, at the end of our high command meeting, we all decided, “Let’s save all the dogs today.”
Well, it was not easy to hide all the stray dogs. So, all the children had brainstormed and devised a perfect plan. Next thing, the little gang members had come into action. We started to tie all the dogs with a rope. In the next half an hour, all the stray dogs and children disappeared from the town. Govt employees searched for stray dogs everywhere but returned without finding or killing any dogs that day.
We had hidden all the dogs in people’s barns or the cornfields. Keeping the dogs quiet was challenging, but our gang members were also clever kids, so we didn’t forget to grab the food from our kitchens.
In the evening, both dogs and children were back together on the street again. The dogs rested on the green grass under trees while the children played volleyball in an empty hospital’s front yard.
I was happy to save my Shankari.

Later, I was sent to attend boarding school. I always asked about my dog whenever my family came to visit me. One day, when my mother visited me, she told me that Shankari was acting out, so everybody decided to send her away. An unknown beggar was willing to care for her, so Shankari went away with him. I felt so bad after I heard this news from my mother. My voice was full of tears when I asked sadly, “Does my chachu know about it?”
Mother replied, “Yes, he knows.”
I felt very sad and bad that day. On the weekend, I went to visit my home. I found Shankari sitting on the porch. I got so excited, “Mum, you told me Shankari is gone, but he is right here.” Shankari also ran toward me while wiggling his tail. Somehow, Shankari had found her way back to the town. 
Shankari spent most of his time around my uncle. But the dog always remembered me and chased me whenever I visited home.

Of course, Shankari had a special sense. I could not believe the day my uncle died. Early in the morning, my cousin, uncle, and I entered the town quietly. We were busy remembering our uncle’s legacy while the uncle’s lifeless body was wrapped with a white sheet on the car’s back seat. As the car entered the street, Shankari chased the car while barking loudly. I looked at Shankari but told the driver not to stop the car. Shankari did his best to keep up with the speed of the car. Sometimes, he was running in front of the car, sometimes on the side of the car, and sometimes just running behind the car. I kept ignoring him. I dared not tell the dog, “Your master or your protector is no more.” I was afraid of the dog. I was afraid I would hurt the dog’s feelings.
But the dog was smart. He had sensed the loss of his loving master. The dog had already entered the porch while the car had still not yet reached the front of the house. After my mother looked at the dog barking endlessly and then at my sad face, the dishes had dropped from my mother’s hands. We did not know how to tell the rest of the family, “We have lost the saint of our family today.” But Shankari had already announced the death of his master loudly. He had sat under his master’s bed quietly. Many familiar and strange faces came to say goodbye to my uncle, but Shankari did not bark at the strangers today. I was shocked to see my father patting the dog’s head because he never liked Shankari before.
Shankari participated in my uncle’s cremation ceremony and then his final prayer. After that, I went back to the boarding school. A few weeks later, my mother visited me and said, “Shankari has lost appetite, but your father is trying his best to feed him, so don’t worry about the dog.”
I did not believe it, “Are you joking, mum? Dad, you, and the dog are living all under one roof, and he is trying to feed the dog.” Then, I left my sentences incomplete because I knew how much my father loved his younger brother. Ultimately, my mother had also allowed the dog to live in the house.

My parents did their best to give Shankari a beautiful life. But, he had decided to join his master in heaven. When I visited home again, my mother told me, “The dog died peacefully two days ago. Your father was unwell and weak, but he still went with the servant for a proper dog burial.”
Many decades have passed now. I have moved from one side of the world to another end. In the summer of 2014, I visited to see my ailing mother. I told my mother, “Mum, I do have a dog. His name is Bandit, but I call him Banny Boy. He is one of my four thieves who love stealing things from me. Mum, Banny is allowed to enter the house. He sleeps on the bed. He sits on the sofa. He is the owner of the house. He is just a clean freak. He won’t sit without a carpet or mat.” My dying mother just smiled after listening to this. Then we talked about Shankari, too.
Many decades are gone, but I remember Shankari’s loyalty and love towards his master.

 

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