Sprinted

It was a silent morning, still in its early phase. People who worked
afar or had to start early due to their profession were already in
motion, along with the conscious and motivated people who were out for
a morning walk.

Dilip, a 38 year old man was also one of these walkers. A new year
resolution had set him on the path of walking right into a healthy
lifestyle, which was related to the beginning of a better well-being.

However, Dilip was not walking today, his feet were rather in faster
motion, they were touching the ground with a greater force which
pushed the body farther at a speed which was much more than what one
gained during walking.

The old watchman sitting in the guard room looked at the watch with
eyes filled with sleep, one and a half hours more before his shift
would end. The sound of a person running caught his attention and he
looked through the window of the guard room and saw Dilip in his black
tracksuit running away.

‘Seems odd, why run that fast? The society camera should have caught
his face. Will remember in case if a robbery is reported,’ thought the
watchman, till he saw with his two eyes the four legs that came
running next, it was a brown dog and it had a stick in its mouth.
Later in the day he would tell his grandkids how a dog carrying a
The stick was chasing a grown man.

‘I am running out of energy, I will be ripped apart by that dog
anytime now,’ thought Dilip who was in a position where he was finding
It’s hard to decide whether the fallen stamina was more difficult to
cope with or the fear of the monstrous animal chasing him was.

“Go ahead, try petting it on the head,” Dilip’s father had told a
small Dilip many years back. It was a neighbor’s small four months old
golden retriever puppy. Dilip had never been close to a dog before,
but he hadn’t been scared of them either. Dilip raised his hand and
rested it on the puppy’s head. It was fun and pleasant until the puppy
decided to playfully hold Dilip’s hand with its mouth and one of its
needles like small teeth drew out a droplet of blood. The crying and
The screaming that was pursued was well-remembered by everyone present.



“It would have eaten my hand for sure if I hadn’t run away,” Dilip
would later tell his best friend in 7th grade of school.

Hence, Dilip grew up with a fear of dogs and time and again Dilip had
to face his fear. Like at a dinner at his boss’s house where he stood
up on the chair in fear of a pet dog present. The photograph of the
The scene had become viral within the office.

“I have seen it; Dilip is bullied by dogs. I saw a dog bully him into
giving away a packet of glucose biscuit which he had bought from the
nearby grocery shop,” said the old lady next door to Dilip’s wife one
day.

“I think you don’t ride your scooter because you are afraid that the
dogs might chase you,” Dilip’s wife said one day.

Dilip who did not want her to know about it replied, “Do you read the
newspaper? Accidents are happening every day, most of them are
two-wheelers. Why take such a risk?”

Back to our morning, the dust over a plain cemented surface near the
house remained undisturbed till Dilip came sliding down over it with
his chest towards the ground.

“This is it; it is all over. I knew it, this is how it would end,”
Dilip spoke to himself and closed his eyes, then he wrapped his arms
around his head, like people do when they keep their head down on a
desk. Dilip waited for the pain of the teeth starting to sink into the
mind and body, but what he felt was a hand over his back shoulder.

“Are you all right? What is the matter? Get up!” said the voice of a woman.

Dilip recognized the voice, he raised his head slightly to see, it was
Ila, a friend of Dilip’s wife who lived nearby and was out on a
morning walk as well.

“Is he gone?”, Dilip said without looking back.

“I guess, I didn’t see anyone running away, but there is nobody right
now for sure,” said Ila, looking around.

Dilip was relieved, he got back up and turned around and his eyes
widened. There it stood, the brown street dog with a stick in its
mouth.

Dilip moved closer to Ila, “You said there is nobody, but he is right there.”

Ila understood what Dilip was talking about and looked at the dog, “Is
that dog carrying the stick which you take for morning walk every
day?”

“Yes, that’s my stick. He snatched it from my hand when I held it at a
length towards him, so that he could not come closer. At first, he
started walking and following me while I walked and then it started
running when I started running. I told him that he could keep the
stick but he doesn’t seem to understand.”

Ila kept her right hand over her lips to stop her laughter from coming
out, then she spoke, “Look at the dog, it is wagging its tail, it is
completely all right. Go ahead, try to whistle, they love it, I am
sure it will give your stick back.”

Dilip wanted to leave for home, but he noticed that Ila wasn’t
leaving. So, now he had to get the stick back, he couldn’t make this
more embarrassing than what it had already become.

Dilip slowly approached the dog in a shaky manner and with a panicked
smile, “please give me my stick, you are a good dog, right?”. The dog
listened but did not release the stick, Dilip looked back at Ila who
was still standing there indicating him to go ahead.

Dilip turned towards the dog and whistled, the first two whistles made
the dog move its head and then on the third one it released the stick
and wagged its tail with its tongue hanging out. The stick rolled away
from it towards Dilip.

‘This was easier than I thought,’ Dilip thought in his mind and he
bent down to pick the stick and as his hand reached near the stick he
heard a growling sound, he looked up at the dog and heard a loud bark.

Ila stood back hurriedly to not get in the way of a frightened Dilip
who had resumed his running once again. The dog picked up the stick
and started to think of what to do next.

“Stop. Trust me, it is not worth it,” Ila said to the dog. Who knows
what the dog understood, but it did sit down with the stick in its
mouth and both Ila and the dog watched Dilip still running at a
distance.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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