Pillu
Badal was jailed for six months because he kicked a puppy
Badal was jailed for six months for kicking a puppy.
He had met Pillu in his second year of homelessness.
He was in front of a small diner. The big restaurants usually had big bouncers to run him off. He had been waiting there for the whole evening. He made himself small enough not to come in notice of the staff, yet pitiful enough to need the leftovers that customers thought to carry home and eat in front of their big television.
When a young-looking girl came out of dinner with a large bag in her hand. She reminded Badal of his late wife. She had the same look when she pitied someone. He used to get irritated with her. Maybe he shouldn't have.
He gave the girl his best look. She moved towards him, and he sighed internally. She gave the bag to him and quickly left. Probably remembering cautionary words about the homeless. Well! At least he had food. If he rationed it, it could last him till tomorrow.
He was about to dig in when he heard a whimper from his side. A puppy with matted fur was looking at the food in hand. It looked like the creature had been surviving on gutter water for days.
Badal looked inside the bag again and then at the trembling dog. He took out a container and opened it for his new companion.
The puppy took no time to dig in the container. A collar hung from his neck, dirty and torn, just like its wearer. Badal saw Doggy written on it, and he scrunched his nose at the thought of the owner naming their pet like that and then abandoning him. He looked like an expensive breed. Maybe they lost their fortune like him. But Badal knew more of the world now.
And he was right. Doggy was bought as a gift to a three-year-old child when he had thrown a fit. He got bored after a week, so the mutt was to be sent to a shelter. But the nanny had abandoned the puppy on the road when he bit her hand.
Badal decided that he would call the puppy Pillu.
The animal nuzzled his head at his side, agreeing with the thought. Badal scratched under his chin, "You like your new name? Huh, Pillu?" He wagged his tail and slept by his side.
Badal covered him with his coat as much as he could. The next day, both of them were run off by owner of the restaurant after the girl’s husband raised concerns about safety of the customers.
Badal made sure to flip him off before he picked up his stuff and strolled away from the place, Pillu in tow. He would have liked to go to a bhandara, but they didn't allow pets. They had enough mouths to feed as it was. Badal scoffed at their policy. If he had money... He let that thought go before being carried away. There was no use thinking about impossible things.
Maybe if he had stopped drinking sooner. Badal laughed at the idea. Great job this poverty did him. What all the counselors couldn't do. He still remembered the jitters and the cold he felt in the early days.
People were stingy with money for a guy that looked like he could work. And Badal realized early on that he could never steal after getting caught on the first try. Being beaten up by the store owner drove the point further home. He had no choice but to give up his poison. Not that he lived a better life now.
He sat under the bridge for the day with a grunt. Pillu drank water from the puddle nearby. They would have to leave in night. The police always thought him a drug peddler, as if he could do that! And he didn't like the harsh light of the stations. It made his eyes burn more than the sun.
At night, they wandered around the streets and in the alleys, rummaging through the dumpsters behind bars and restaurants for food.
They usually got something that would last them for a day or two, and then again, they went in search of food, joined at the hip, falling into a routine. He was a better companion than other humans, anyway. They were either too nosy or rude. No one knew when to comfort others and when to keep quiet. Unlike her. He physically shook his head whenever he thought about his wife. No. He would not remember her. Pillu would also lick his hand and mewl whenever he got all quiet remembering her.
One time when a group of drunk rich boys decided to kick Badal around for fun, Pillu bit the biggest one in the leg, almost tearing off the meat off his bones. Badal was quick to pick him up, and run before the others could kick the small dog or call animal control.
When people from the department came for the strays from time to time, Badal would sneak away from the place after hiding Pillu in his overcoat. He never barked when his human did that.
Some photographer once clicked photos of them together on the road. It had been a happy day for them. An old lady had given him some leftovers from her party. And Pillu had found a ball that they were playing with. So, he refused the money that the man was willing to pay them for the clicks. He just saw them in his camera, Pillu peeking over his shoulder and barking in glee.
Maybe he should have taken the money.
But he had begged the people at the clinic to treat Pillu when he had coughed blood one day. He told them that he would pay them soon. But they shook their heads in the same manner that the doctors did when he had carried his wife to them. That there was nothing they could do. It was out of their hands now. The only thing he could do now was pray. And he had, he had prayed so hard for her. It didn't help.
This time, these white coats told him that it was better if he let his dog go. That he was suffering and that the pain would only increase with time. That he wouldn't have to pay for it. Badal raged and cried and then stood by Pillu as they injected him with something.
Badal had cried when he said his goodbye.
He went to the same diner that night and sat at the same spot. A dog came near him and tried to take Pillu’s ball away. Badal kicked him off. He didn’t see the same small girl screaming at him to stop, and calling the police.
He was lonely again.
Yes, I Indianized the story 🙈🙈🙈. It thought it would work better this way.
