Chhoti’s labour of love and a life’s lesson
One feels pained to read news reports of people being attacked by stray dogs. I have lived among these lovely animals for almost two decades now and have felt absolutely safe in their company. In fact, I have more friends among them than the human race!
It is so unfortunate that no one seems to hear and understand the voice of these voiceless animals. I would like to share a recent incident that would sure enough remove the misinformation surrounding the life of the so-called stray dogs. This one’s about Chhoti, the she dog with a dwarf tail, who had joined our neighborhood gang of canine friends a few weeks ago.
Chhoti had a wonderful trait of showering boundless affection on each and everyone around her. This included people who despised dogs, those who feared stray dogs like her, and even those who derived a strange pleasure from kicking or hitting dogs without any provocation whatsoever. She would wag her dwarf tail with infectious enthusiasm and look at the approaching person with eyes overflowing with love! She did get hit and kicked a few times but somehow managed to befriend most others.
Soon enough, she had a steady supply of milk, bread, biscuits, lassi and more from people ranging from ardent dog lovers like me to downright dog critics like our neighborhood chaiwala. A couple of weeks ago, we discovered that our friend Chhoti was on the family way! She developed labour pains one lazy afternoon. This triggered a buzz around the locality.
The animal-loving florist made a comfortable home for her beneath his wooden showcase and covered it with an old carpet. The chaiwala rang our doorbell knowing that I was a doctor by profession. He asked me with a worried expression, “Sir, Chhoti is going to be a mother possibly for the first time. She is suffering from disabling labour pains. Could you give her some medicine to make her feel comfortable?”
The owner of the nearby provision store came with two packets of milk and a bowl full of desi ghee. After all, Chhoti needed energy to get over the difficult period!
I was overwhelmed with such outpouring of affection. We stayed up till late in the night. Finally, Chhoti greeted us with a litter of five puppies the next morning, sitting comfortably in her improvised living room.
I learnt a very important lesson of life from her, which is the power of love. True love and affection always triumphs over the steepest walls of hatred.
Our friend Chhoti is a living example. Could we take a leaf out of her book to enrich our lives? I wish that the answer to this question is in the affirmative.
TRUE LOVE AND AFFECTION ALWAYS TRIUMPHS OVER THE STEEPEST WALLS OF HATRED. OUR FRIEND CHHOTI IS A LIVING EXAMPLE