On her way back from work, Kavya found a group of people standing and conversing amongst themselves. She knew what it could be about, so she took out her phone and tried to get past them without looking at them, pretending to be busy and she had almost succeeded when she heard.
“Kavya, can you come here for a moment?”
It was Mrs Kazmi’s voice and Kavya felt relieved that she was present there. Mrs Kazmi had always been very kind to Kavya and also supportive of her. Kavya always felt a sense of calmness around her.
Kavya walked to Mrs Kazmi and she noticed that unlike what she had expected, everyone was rather calm than their usual angered selves. It wasn’t something Kavya had done, at least not directly. It was Mr Biswal.
Mr Biswal was a Math teacher in a government school and upon insistence of the people in neighbourhood he also started taking tuitions of the children around, one of his students was Kavya.
Mr Biswal had a good life with his wife. They had no children, out of their own personal choice. Then Mrs Biswal passed away, nobody knew how, all they knew is one day Mr Biswal decided to take his wife to her hometown and when he returned, she wasn’t there. He stopped taking tuition and isolated himself and when someone asked, “Is Mrs Biswal still at her parents’ house?” He almost said nothing, a slight nod of nothing definite. But one way or the other people got to know, and Kavya felt sorry for not visiting him even once since he stopped taking tuitions and she visited with her friends to find a person clearly affected by the loss in his life. The house had lost its warmth.
However, life finds a way of continuing and Mr Biswal found his way as well. He started taking tuitions again and in the late evening he had added another task to his otherwise busy schedule, feeding stray dogs. It had begun with Mr Biswal one day coming across a stray dog which from its appearance had not eaten properly for many days.
Mr Biswal looked at the dog’s hopeful eyes and decided to bring her home. He nursed her back to health and with him she started living. He called her Pearl.
Had Mr Biswal only extended his kindness to Pearl alone, it would have probably been fine, but then he went ahead and made it a habit to carry dog biscuits for other stray dogs on the road and soon some stray dogs were regularly seen around his house and then they increased in numbers.
The neighbours overlooked it given that Mr Biswal was happy with this life but then began the issue, with the dogs chasing people away, they just wouldn’t let people they did not know, anywhere near Mr Biswal’s house, which was right on the way of entering the society. The delivery guys got the worst of it. Slowly complaints started mounting up, NGOs were contacted to take the dogs and take care of them, donations were given for the same. But it wasn’t enough and no one wanted to tell Mr Biswal to stop.
But one day, one of the dogs bit an elderly man and he had to receive intensive care at the hospital. That was when people decided to talk to Mr Biswal and he agreed, though some of his students including Kavya protested against those complaining, citing that the incident was an accident and an accident doesn’t need dogs; it can happen anywhere.
You cannot tell animals you have been feeding every day that you wouldn’t feed them after one fine day. Especially dogs and cats, so now Mr Biswal began to feed them secretly while pretending not to do so in front of people. But people knew what was happening, everyone saw the remaining bits of food lying outside the house in the earthen bowl Mr Biswal had kept for the dogs. There were some heated conversations with Mr Biswal laters and the students once again stood for Mr Biswal and his four-legged world.
Kavya had thought this was another such kind of gathering. She was tired, no longer the energetic younger self who sprang to action at a moment’s notice. She noticed something different this time though, there was no anger among the people standing and Mrs Kazmi looked at Kavya with eyes which had sadness lurking.
“He is no longer amongst us dear,” said Mrs Kazmi
Kavya let the words sink in and before those words made their impending impact inside, she unlocked her phone and decided to call others who used to study with her in Mr Biswal’s tuition, some of whom with Mr Biswal’s family’s permission turned the house into a dog home.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Threads of Warmth
Early Morning Memories 