Something greater than Humanity in poverty

There were the usual things that I have always liked about Delhi - the great infrastructure, the awesome CP market, the food. This trip also gave me great weather and the chance to attend one of my friend's weddings.

But I also got a great story in the most unlikely of places. My laptop charger had short-circuited, so I had to go to the Wazirpur market to get a new one. As soon as I reached the market and successfully bought one, it started to rain heavily (and not Delhi heavy, more like Mumbai heavy). So, I had no choice to wait for the rain to subside.

Just as I was waiting, I was nudged on my leg by a stray dog. And as an immediate reaction, I started to move away. Just then, a man spoke from behind - "Saab, paaltu hai, kaatega nahi (Sir, it is a pet dog, won't bite)".

I turned around to look at the man. He was a typical street man - torn and filthy clothes, highly grown hair & beard and yellow teeth.But the thing that struck me about him was his smile.

He then started to speak passionately about the story of the dog in question - who was named Ghoda.

He had resuced Ghoda as well as another female dog - whom he had named Basanti, after their mother had abandoned them when both of them were small puppies. The man and his wife, who has since expired took it upon themselves to take care of the two dogs, even though they were barely able to make end meet. He said, "4 roti ka intezaam karte the, 6 ka kar lete the (We tried to get 4 roties a meal, we srated to manage 6".

His eyes were literally filled with tears, when he told me about how Basanti died coming under the wheels of one of the vehicles on the adjacent ring road. He said, "Saab ab to yahi hai, main hi isko khilata hun khana aur ye bhi mere saath me baitha rehta hai (Sir, he is all I have left now, I only feed him and he also sits down whereever I do."

I then felt an urge to help out and gave him Rs. 10 to feed the dog. Then I started to move away when he asked me to wait and brought mathri from a nearby shop and lovingly fed the dog with the money I had.

One would find many people who would give away such stories to get money from people, but this man was something different.

At a time when people like us, who have enough resources at our disposal, think about the luxuries we can have in life, there was a man, who despite his own povery, was helping out a street dog.

Maybe we need to look at our lives. Whether I would do anything about it, I am not sure. Maybe, I am not humane enough. Maybe, I don't have as big a heart as that man. But, I certainly felt the need to share this story.

Many people might not be able to relate to it but one would not have been able to not feel for this man and dog, if anyone had heard this stroy from the horse's mouth.