Dodging a Dear One

It is a story of those days when I was studying in a boarding school in Nainital. Our school was on a hill top and we used to get town-turns on special occasions. A town-turn means a permission to go to town for three to four hours. The town was three kilometer down the hill. The episode relates to one such town-turn. I had bought the items of my need and grabbed some snacks in my favorite restaurant. As I was walking down the slopes of the town market, I noticed that a street dog was continuously following me. I took a turn inside a lane but the dog still followed me. He was not barking at me. He was simply following me. I turned towards the dog and shooed him to go back, as if his master was ordering him. He sat down and started swinging his tail rapidly. I gave a closer look. Oh yes! It was ‘Tommy’. 

Tommy was a street dog, who often used to visit our house when my father was posted at Nainital. It was around four-five years ago. As a child, I used to play with him a lot. I always gave him the sides of the bread. He was very friendly with me. I also gave him training to catch a ball. He obeyed me as if I was his full time master. But he was still a street dog. My parents never allowed me to keep him on a full time basis. I still treated him as my pet. Now after four-five years, his looks had changed. He was quite weak. His eyes looked wet, as if he was showing emotions, after meeting me. But now, reality started biting me. I had to return to my school and by no means was I allowed keeping a pet in my school. I couldn’t understand how to dodge him and take a different route. He kept on following me on every turn I took. Ultimately, I entered a tea-shop. Tommy waited outside the shop, swinging his tail rapidly, as if to tell me to come out fast. I asked the shop owner for the back door and came out. This way, I was able to dodge the Tommy and take the route back to my school. But somehow I kept feeling a pinch somewhere inside my heart. 

Life is like that. Many times we have to dodge our dear ones for various kinds of reasons. We do feel a pinch in the initial days, but slowly even that pinch is gone. Sometimes we do need a vent to remove that feeling of pinch. I could vent out my feelings after thirty five years, by writing this article. Find some pinches inside you and do find a way to vent them out. 

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg