Dogs

When I was a little kid, I hated anything that moved besides humans. Actually, some humans too. I was never an animal lover and this feeling magnified after the following incident.

I was "blue house" prefect in the fourth standard. And prefects in my school wore white uniforms. Everyone else wore brown uniforms. So I was pretty cool in shiny white shoes and my shiny white pleated dress and my blue tie. I usually walked to school with my brothers or my friends through a 'galli' which took me 10 mins to reach it.

It was open house day. My brother, my mom and I were walking to school when I suddenly remembered that I had left free coupons to buy story books at the school book sale at home. I insisted we all walk back home but since my brothers had pretty much learnt to ignore me by the time I was 9, my brother refused, saying that he was late for the open house. So I suggested that I would walk back myself and get them while they could go ahead and I would meet them in school. It was a mere suggestion. I didn't think in my wildest dreams that my mother would agree. She did.

So I walked back home quite easily, picked up my coupons and started on my way back. When I entered the galli, I noticed some sinister looking dogs checking me out. The galli was full of them but it also had houses so I knew I was safe and nothing would happen. I started walking. They started following me. I thought it was their normal path to take to their usual loitering business so I continued. But then a thought struck me, a terrified 9 year old in white uniform seemed like the perfect target for loitering sinister strays.

So I started running. I think that is what I do when I am scared, I run. So I did. And to my horror, the dogs started running behind me. About 4 of them.

When I narrate this story I make sure, it sounds like a story of terror because it is. When my brother repeats the story, (which he of course does) it sounds like a funny one. It is not a funny story.

So I still remember with vivid details, the dogs running behind me and I running for my life. After a good 2 minute run which seemed like a lifetime, I fell on something that was metal. I hurt myself and was bleeding profusely, while simultaneously crying like only 9 year olds can. At the top of my voice.

The dogs stopped near me and were about to bite me to pieces. (The dogs stopped near me and started sniffing me.)

When my saviour arrived, dressed in a blue saree, she threw a stone at the dogs. The dogs ran away. She picked me up and saw my knees and elbows bleeding. My uniform looked like it had been washed in blood. My shiny white uniform was red.

But I survived.

PS: I did get tetanus injections though. And my brother has been repeating that story ever since. But I survived.