"Timmy"...Another Story... This is the main course ;)...

It all started after a festival,when Geeta went outside to throw the leftover food. She saw two dogs there, so she emptied the leftovers. Those two dogs were great friends, but when it came to 'chow time' they were the worst enemies ever. Geeta putting food for the dogs became a habit. One was a handsome golden hound while the other was a beautiful black mutt.

It was raining really heavily that night. There was a power cut in the entire town. Amma was telling us our routine bed time story, appa was completing his office work with the lamp on. All of a sudden there was a sound on the door. The first time we dint pay much attention, we thought that it must be some rat or frog trying to get shelter on that rainy night. Then, there was that sound again. It sounded like something was scratching the door. By the time we picked ourselves and went to the door, appa had already opened it and was looking down at something, our glace followed his, what did we see? There stood the golden hound, all wet but proud looking at all of us. As soon as he met our glances he just walked in straight into the living room to where appa's office table was located and made him self comfortable in the small niche that was right below the table. Since it was already too late and it was raining, amma decided she would chase him the next day although we three kids were hoping that he would stay with us.
Come morning, Karkala looked bright and fresh after the heavy downpour the previous night. When the dog was left out he made himself comfortable on the steps as if that place belonged to him all the while. As was the norm, Geeta fed him with the leftovers in the morning. What happened next surprised us all. When appa got into his jeep to leave to the office the dog just hopped inside the back of the jeep as if he was appa's personal bodyguard. Appa and the driver tried to shoo him away but the dog just refused to go. That expressive face of his forced appa to accept him. Then the bond started. Finally the driver gave in and they went to the office. As they walked into the office, the chowkidaar tried to chase the dog but instead was met with a fierce growl and a stern voice from appa saying that it was his dog. The chowkidaar was quite shocked to learn this and let the dog go in. He came back in the evening with appa. That was when we decided to adopt him or rather let him adopt himself and christened him ‘Timmy’. This ritual of Timmy going to appa’a office continued.

One fine Sunday evening, when my two sisters, parents, Timmy and me were lazing about on the porch, a lady came up to our house and said, “you people have kept our dog, this is unfair, give him back to us”, it was then that we learnt that Timmy belonged to that lady who owned a small hotel down the street. We dint want to let go of Timmy that easily, so I said, “let us both call him, whoever Timmy decides to go to is the owner”. She said “fine”, and kept her umbrella down. Everyone were really excited now. First she called. She said “Moti , angyo re”, which means ‘ Moti come here’, in Konkni. Timmy automatically got up and started walking towards her. Now it was our turn, my sisters and me started calling him “Timmy baa pa” which means ‘Timmy come here’ in Coorg. Timmy stood for two second in the middle, confused, then turned back, walked towards us and sat down on my legs. I looked at the lady and said “we won”. She mumbled something in Konkni , picked her huge black umbrella and went back. From that day onward Timmy officially belonged to us.

Timmy used to go to appa’s office everyday and curl himself up under the desk until appa finished his work. He would even sit next to appa for the official photographs. I still have an old photograph where all of appa’s office members have stood in neat rows with appa sitting on a chair and Timmy sitting at his foot!!
Since appa was a Tehsildaar and his was a tranferable job, he was now transferred to Madikeri. Since I was the only boy in the family I had to come in the truck with all the furniture and Timmy. I still remember Timmy howling from the truck while his friend, the beautiful black mutt, was howling from the road. I guess it was their way of saying ‘Goodbye friend’.

We were now in Madikeri. It has been thirty years now but I still remember a few incidents of Timmy which are vivid in my memory. I came home one evening after playing hockey, my sisters had just returned from the neighbour’s house and Timmy had gone along with them. It seems they had served rusk to eat along with tea. When they got home they were discussing about how good the rusks were. Timmy heard them repeat the word ‘rusk’ and then disappeared for a few second’s. We were still talking when I heard a muffled ‘woof’. I turned back to see Timmy standing there clutching the packet of rusks in his mouth. He had actually gone to the neighbour’s house, into their kitchen and brought the packet of rusks!!! Since there was no compound or fence during those days it made Timmy’s job all the more easier. I had to take the packet from him and sneak into the neighbour’s kitchen and keep it back. How Timmy managed to do it God only knows.

Once, a family friend invited us over for tea. As we settled in the jeep Timmy hopped in. We went to their house and after all the greetings and small talk they asked us to sit down. As we sat I could see Timmy through the corner of my eye and was hoping he would not do anything to embarrass us and just that happened. When he saw all of us sitting on the sofa he saw a high stool and hopped on to it and sat there with a royal demeanour. The look on the host’s face was worth a million bucks.

We were still in Madikeri when the street dog eradication program started. This was because there were a few mad dogs roaming about on the streets which had bitten many people. The municipality had warned all the dog owner’s to put a collar around our dogs so that they could differentiate between street and domestic dogs. I still regret not giving it much of a thought.

It was a Tuesday morning and I was jogging in the estate with my friend. I heard a gunshot and had an intuition that it could have hit Timmy. We went running towards the sound of the shot. By the time we went there all we saw was a pool of blood. No sight of any dog, but I noticed drops of blood. We followed it and after about half a mile or so I saw Timmy lying limp and dead. He had actually carried the bullet and walked uphill hoping to reach home but died on the way. I carried him home along with my friend and me and my sisters buried him nearby. That night no one spoke. At the dinner table we said a silent prayer for dear Timmy’s soul to rest in peace…