You see, that young, lanky,
handsome, curious, happy and carefree dog could have been me. It might as well
have had 2 legs instead of 4. It might as well have had a walkman hanging by
his belt and the earphones in his ears. The heat of that afternoon in June hit
us both the same way. He could have been coming from a date, just like I was
going back to work and still smelling of my Love.
You see, I spent afternoons with
her in our house. That the idea was hers made our meetings in the afternoons
more like small celebrations rather than a mundane duty. Maybe that young dog
too had someone with whom it spent his afternoons and was happy going back to
whatever dogs do in the infamous Lahore hot afternoons.
In that 10 seconds before my car
hit him, I saw him suddenly yet clearly. He was as clumsy as I was. I slip
while climbing down hills, I trip over steps, but over the years I have gotten
better at anticipating. At least so I thought, but that’s another story. He too
was shaky with unsure steps. Busy, exploring. His eyes were full of expression,
shifting wildly from side to side, up and down. The expression was, quite
aptly: endearing.
The service road was wide on
which I was driving. It has a huge water drain that separated the service road
from the main Highway. I saw the head and the front feet jump over the 3 foot
concrete side wall. One would think that urban dogs knew about traffic. But
this road was new and so was the dog. He was able to balance itself for just a
second before he fell, leaped, slid, all at once, on to the road. I knew I was
going to hit him. I looked in the rear view mirror to make sure no cars were
present. But there was one just about to overtake me from the right. With no
choice left, I stepped on the brakes. His happy and content expression was what
I remember the most. And the basic law of physics, momentum, came into play. It
was going to carry him in front of danger. The car slowed down and hit him at
40 km/h.
That happy expression turned into
a young boy’s pain. The car kept slowing down. The front left tyre missed
crushing him. I heard his body bang and roll under the car. The sound made more
terrible with his painful cries. My expression reflected his torture and my
inadequacy to do anything. The car kept slowing down and before the rear tyre
got to him, he was out on the same side. I had slowed. He had rolled and
panicked under the car for less than 5 seconds, yet it felt like an hour.
You see, one second of pain can
last an hour or a lifetime. One hour of pleasure is forgotten almost
immediately.
I kept watching him from the rear
view mirror. He was absolutely shook. Like a drunk, it walked itself next to
the same side of the wall out of harm’s way, which was a smart thing to do. And
then it just sat down. Almost fell down. His head was up though. There was no
blood. It was licking itself and panting but I knew he would survive. I could
see its head moving. His image receded in the mirror to a spot.
I never thought that my
afternoons would end like that. I never thought my house would end. But the
afternoons ended and the house ended.
You see, I too am sitting next to
a wall, out of harm’s way and panting.
P.S: If anyone wants to do guest blogging, feel free to contact me. I would be more than happy to provide you with some kind of platform. Cheers! xx
