It was still early in the morning, and the stairs of the Tower B of Echelon Edge remained silent for a while till sound of elevator climbing up to the fifth floor of the building was heard and after exactly twelve minutes, a dog, a white dog with black patches ran down the stairs and after a while along with sound of rushing footsteps came Harish rushing down.
The entrance to Tower B was closed by a glass door which needed to be pushed or pulled to enter or leave. The dog stood there wagging its tail as Harish came down with heavy breathing and upon seeing Harish approach the dog ran away and up back to its owner, Mr Shirsat.
Old Mr Shirsat had been living here for the last thirty years of his life, a year ago his wife left the world. Their only son, Ravi, who was still struggling with work abroad, called once in a while with the assurance that everything will be fine soon and he would Mr Shirsat with him there. Unlike Mrs Shirsat who was also told the same and she wholeheartedly believed that their son would keep his words Mr Shirsat had little to no belief.
One day while returning from the market, Mr Shirsat found this abandoned and weak puppy looking at him with hope of some food. Mr Shirsat felt at that moment that maybe they needed each other and he carried the puppy home. A good four years passed with the puppy growing into a dog with the name Tara.
Mr Shirsat felt Tara didn’t quite understand the passing away of Mrs Shirsat and a month after Mrs Shirsat passed away, Tara started to run out of the flat at any chance she could get.
Mr Shirsat tried his best to keep an eye for Tara but with passing time he was getting perhaps too old to comprehend the speed of the dog. Harish the milkman was usually the one whose arrival, Tara targeted for leaving. Harish had become used to it and would catch Tara before she could leave but all the times she managed to get away, Harish had to pursue her.
Two years later when Mr Shirsat passed away, Harish came and took Tara with him, especially due to the fear that Ravi might leave her on the road and with Harish Tara spent the rest of her life. On a few occasions, when I was a child I saw Tara sitting in the passenger seat of Harish’s milk van and it was an interesting sight.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 