Her mother gave birth to a litter near my house 3 years back. All drowned in the heavy rain -- my lane is a low-lying lane in GK-1. Two years ago, she gave birth to another litter in a parallel lane with speeding traffic. Most of her pups got run over, one by one. We managed to save just one, Raja (a large white dog with patches of tan), who is now 2 years old, and has a limp in one leg. Two survivors died of distemper or parvo-virus. I nursed him through parvo, too.
Mother gave birth to her third litter last November. This time i resolved not to let a single one get run-over or die of parvo etc. All were vaccinated. An enclosure was made in the ditch they were born in. There were three beautiful black and tan females. Despite all our precautions, and keeping them in an enclosure, and escorting them while they were outside, one still got run-over on the night of January 25th, 2012. So I brought up these two remaining ones, got them spayed at Maxvet along with the mother when they were six months old.
They would sit outside my flat, waiting for me to come out and feed them, or to accompany me to the milk booth. Their sweet faces were always looking at our door or gate. Whenever I stepped out, they would come running and jump on me. We were inseparable.
They had just turned one on November 6th, 2012. The night before Diwali they were hiding in a drain-pipe when i came to feed them. They would not eat, so frightened were they. They kept looking up to the sky every time a rocket went up. Their mother and older brother, Raja ate. On Diwali day, I fed them in the evening and went visiting some relatives.
When i returned at 11 pm, I whistled and only one came out of the drain-pipe. I thought the other one would come out in the morning. But she never came out. The drain-pipe connects to the nullah behind GK-1 S-block. I searched the nullah area and the forest behind it, just in case she may have fallen in there.
In the days that followed, I have looked through the nullah and adjoining ground all the way till Moolchand. I have walked through all of S-block, and the parts of C-block, the markets, driven through R block. No where is my little one to be found.
All I know is that if she is alive, she is cold and hungry, and scared. Probably mauled by now. Everyday she would be running further and further, hounded by other dogs.
She and her sister used to race each other down the lane, and wrestle together. The two sitting together were the dearest sight to behold. Now the sister sits listlessly, or just sleeps under a car all day. These two are not aggressive females, very docile, and easily frightened by dogs from other lanes. They are fussy eaters and have to almost be force fed. Usually, I hand feed them bread and milk otherwise they would go hungry.
Both look quite alike, I believe I am the only one who can tell them apart. The one remaining has a white tip on the tail, whereas the missing one doesn't (as you can see in the adjoining pics). Their faces and personalities are quite different too. Of the two, the lost one was more fond of me, I would say.
Life never was easy for this family of four. They got food to eat, medical help when needed, and lots of love. However, they were never aggressive and so have always been bullied by stray dogs from other lanes. Raja got badly bitten every night during his first year, and mauled a few times too. So has the mother during the mating season. Raja chases cars and cycles, and both he and his mother tend to bark at delivery boys and often workers. Thus, there have always been complaints and threats from some residents, and many people walking through (our lane is like a thoroughfare between Krishi Vihar and GK-I). People have often hit these 2 with sticks and even bricks injuring them badly. So when two more joined in a year back, life has been even more difficult for them.
Somehow, between the resident's, dogs, workers, and fast cars, we managed to survive and make our little world. In the midst of the maddening construction, fights over parking space, and generally aggressive lifestyle and uncaring attitude of GK-I, their loving, playful life flourished.
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