Abandonment

Yesterday as I was coming from the crater filled roads of Raipur area in dehradun I saw a dog- intimidated, weak and in a dilapidated state. He had a leather band collar around his neck which helps in identification and, more importantly, in reiterating that the dog is a domesticated pet. The dog could hardly walk, with his legs curved to unnatural levels. His walk was melancholic and painful to the eyes. I could almost read that he is terribly inflicted with some disease which has caused his legs to curve more than is natural thereby making it difficult for him to walk or stand on his feet. As I stood there, amongst the hordes of hawkers, pedestrians and passersby I couldn't help but notice the eyes of the dog. Those black eyes with a little patch of white were moist and had the language of their own. And as the eyes moving from left to right finally stopped at me they had a questioning look which was easy for me to interpret but very hard to answer. Suddenly I saw everything around me convoluting and gradually fading to nothingness with only the eyes of the canine remaining fixed at me.  I, like all humans, was scared to death and terrified beyond reasons.  The eyes the gaze the fixation was heart wrenching and so deep as to shame the mariana trenches of the seas. The eyes had a language of their own. They spoke with vehemence and eloquence which was hitherto a subject of many a bolly cinema. I could feel the warmth of those black eyes falling on me like moonight in the Amavasya. The surroundings around me had so dramatically changed, I could no longer see the vendor who just moments ago had been so passionately selling his apples, neither could I see the people who were filed after each other waiting their turn to fill their buckets close to the public water supply. The woman beggar, with a drooling infant around her waist, was missing too. The static tree had so dramaticaly transformed into a walking monster with eyes....................to be continued

-Sunny Gusain