2024 December – When Sanya reached out for foster volunteers for a community dog, I raised my hand. I learned I was setting myself up for four days of love. There was also a massive heartache just six months later.
Goldie came to me all woozy with anesthesia. She swung while walking and her head lolled from side to side. Quite comical! As she slowly came to, and her dosage of medicines commenced, I became aware of her sassy personality.
Goldie was extremely clever, refusing to eat the bitter antibiotic, even managing to pick it out from the cheese cube. At first, I was apprehensive of shoving the medicine down her throat (as I do for Fluffy).
After all, Goldie didn’t know me and could react. But not even once did she snap at me. Not even when my hand was perilously inside her mouth. I was trying to put the pill as far in as possible.
At the same time, Goldie happily got the ointment applied on her surgical wound, maybe because it gave her relief. The moment I picked up the tube, she jumped on the bed. She presented her belly to me as if to ask, “laga do”!
And how can I forget how my own little monster terrorised her? Fluffy disliked this ‘guest’ in her house and made her displeasure clear. But, to Goldie’s credit, she never snapped at Fluffy, despite her bigger size and so-called pedestrian upbringing!
Because the two didn’t gel, I’d to keep one locked while the other roamed freely. During such times, if Goldie was locked, I would go & sit with her. She would rest gently beside me, at times looking up at me with affection for the petting I gave her.
Goldie bore her circumstance sportingly. She came from the open road. Being locked in a room or being constrained in a house was nothing short of punishment for her. But she kept her calm, enjoying her few minutes of freedom every day before retiring gracefully.
On the last day, Goldie felt her lack of exercise overpowering. She shredded her bed to bits to show her anger! Then, after the vet’s nod, Sanya & I decided to take her back to her home & friends.
Believe me. The moment we began to walk Goldie from T11 to the commercial gate, there was a defined change in her. Her eyes twinkled, her mouth hung open in a grin, her tail flicked and her gait was jolly.
It was as if Goldie knew her moment of independence had come. At her home, next to the coconut seller (who was her de-facto caretaker), she was ecstatic to meet her friends. She was particularly excited to meet one dark & handsome boy.
Sanya informed that he was Goldie’s ‘boyfriend’!
Since then, every time I crossed this place, I would look for Goldie. If I saw her, I would call out & she would come running. But not anymore. Flash ahead to today – 2025 June. Nikhil, while cycling, saw her lying at the side of the road.
We called Sanya & the coconut seller but it was too late. Rigor mortis had already set in. Flies were already buzzing. Goldie’s blood on the road had already dried. Early in the morning, a car had hit her on her jaw.
Goldie had dragged herself to the side of the road & laid her little head down to just rest awhile, maybe aware that she would never wake up again…
So many morning walkers & nobody saw Goldie. Nobody deemed it fit to pick her & take her to a vet or at least to call someone. What’s a community dog’s life worth anyway? ‘born on the road, die on the road’, that’s what the usual sentiment is.
I’m not going to preach humanity because there’s none left. But every time a community dog dies, a human or two somewhere dies a little too. Dogs sure know how to make their place in our hearts.
Dearest Goldie, hope you run free & happy now, in doggy heaven, where there are no speeding cars. And I hope you use those twinkling brown & blue eyes of yours to make many, many boyfriends.
Priya auntie is heartbroken and will always, always remember you…
