Horin

A dog in our housing complex had given birth to a litter and I used to feed them. The mother dog was named "Horin" by a beautiful loving lady in our compound. Horin means deer in Bengali, and this doggy had eyes like that of a gentle deer.

Horin was a very shy, timid dog and must have developed fear of human beings as a result of being ill-treated by them. But she was so considerate - she might have been starving, but the moment her puppies would finish their meal and come sniff at what Mama was having, she would immediately step away! All that one could see of her would be a pair of the most kind and beautiful brown eyes behind a bush. In fact I decided to start taking her far away from her babies at mealtimes. But could I? She was too scared to enter my flat. I would try to lure her in with a biscuit, only to come to the realization that they are the most intelligent creatures and it is way too hard to fool them - she would take a step towards me and quickly turn around to check whether someone was behind!

Well, one fine day my mother and I finally succeeded in bringing her inside. We quickly shut the door and the night spent at our place finally convinced Ms Horin that not all houses inhabited by humans are slaughterhouses! Soon she started to trust and love us. She'd talk to us in a funny little voice and escort us up to the gate when we went out.

But life was not going to be that smooth. Some members of our housing complex decided to get rid of the dogs. I won't name them because I believe in the laws of "karma" - I'd rather pity the loser's fate. Anyway, we looked out - there were no four-legged creatures in sight. We were seriously worried. Luckily in the afternoon, through the magic eye in the door of our flat, we spotted a wagging tail. Point to note: Horin is a really fast runner and I hear a story about how in spite of being fed tranquillizers she managed to escape ten dog-catchers and flee! Needless to say our cute innocent friend was ushered in and shown her bedding. It took a few months for her to get her natural voice and actually learn to bark!

Priyankana Ghosh
Kolkata