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“Uncle, do you have a story?” asked my 3 years old Nephew. I replied, “A story… hmm... Well, I don’t have any.” His sad face made me to think over again and change my statement. I said “wait, I do have a story, but it is a sad one.” The eagerness to listen to a story sparkled in his eyes as if he was least bothered whether the story was sad or not. I looked at the bird sitting over the cable and it chirped and looked down to see what I was narrating.

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On a dark cloudy day, I am returning from office exhausted and overpowered by fatigue. Cumulonimbus clouds covering the sky indicate that the night was going to be stormy. Something caught my attention while I am entering the house. It was a female dog, fully grown up and brown in color. Her mammarys indicated that the poor malnutritioned dog has given birth to some young ones inside the water outlet. Perhaps, she sensed tough times ahead and started restlessly coming and going out of the drainage system of my opposite neighbor’s house. Nature’s cruel joke jeopardizing the little lives, swept away my inner peace.

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That night, my restless sleep was shattered by a series of sounds, & rumbles produced by the thunderstorm. Soon, the rain disrupted the power supply and intensified the darkness for making the night even more horrifying. Suddenly, a whining sound amidst the chilling rain forced me to check what my gut is trying to tell. When the lightning flashed in pitch darkness, I saw that the sewage system was just about to overflow and the dog was barking and weeping ferociously for help to save her offsprings from being washed away. My body moved on its own to rescue the dogs and I took out the flashlight and opened the gates immediately. After seeing me coming out, she started weeping more vigorously as if she was requesting for help. To assess the situation, I looked inside the tunnel with the help of flashlight and noticed that its light has hit some object. I saw three shivering puppies inside the tunnel almost submerged till neck in ice cold gushing water and barely able to walk. I extended my arms to get them out of the tunnel and placed them in a dry warm place. After ensuring that the mother and her babies are safe, I went inside my home to have a peaceful sleep.

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Next morning, I woke up and came outside my house to know the status of my newly made friends. I saw the mother dog feeding her three babies, she started wagging her tail, and lowered her ears to thank me. I put some biscuits on my hand to feed puppies as a formal gesture to acquaint myself. Two of them raced ahead to sniff and finish the food. I named them Bhurelaal, and Chandragupta. But the most coward, yet cutest of them was still hesitant to come forward and eat. I named her Plaschi.

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Although, I developed a strong bond with all three pups, Plaschi’s cowardly yet naughty nature secured a special place in my heart. After a month, the mother dog disappeared and abandoned her little puppies. Compassion forced me to protect and take care of them.

With the passage of time, Bhurelaal and Chandragupta became self dependent and stronger. However, Plaschi needed special attention as she was a coward and weak in getting food from the other two. So I gave her food separately to ensure that she is getting enough and forged a strong bond during the process. She was coward yet a playful dog and her playfulness was recognized as mischief by others. To hide her cowardly nature and validate her existence, she never missed an opportunity to enter others house and destroy their dustbins. Soon, her teething problem became everybody’s problem as she tore apart everything that fitted into her jaws including bike covers, steppers, seats, etc. She became infamous for being a mischievous dog and people developed a distinct sense of anguish against her. They held me responsible for feeding a notorious dog and quarreled with me over her torts. In spite of all this, her innocent misdeeds in a world full of hatred, jealousy, greed, and lust made me happy.

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Gradually, Plaschi started exploring new areas and entered into territorial disputes with other dogs. One day, I realized that Plaschi has not come back on my whistle and she is missing. Her prolonged absence worried me, but I partially believed that she will come back after pursuing her adventurous pursuits. As days passed by, a bad news struck me like lightening when I was overburdened under piles of work. My friend called me and said that your dog has been badly injured and needs immediate help. He got Plaschi admitted into an animal NGO. After the office hours, I dashed my bike towards the NGO where Plaschi was admitted. Sadness consumed me when I reached there and saw my best friend in that state. Her backbone was completely enmeshed as some vehicle ran over her. She saw me, and dragged herself towards me and her tail started wagging once again. I gave her some Pedigree and spent some time caressing her. The flavory smell of Pedigree invited other dogs as well and Plaschi suddenly gathered strength from nowhere to drove away the unwelcomed guests. The audacity of Plaschi took me by surprise as I never saw her fighting with other dogs for food. Maybe, The pain that she suffered made her more aggressive to overpower her cowardly nature.

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While I was leaving, She wanted to come along with me and started dragging her body with her front legs. I stopped and sat down to tell her that I cannot take here along with me as she cannot protect herself from other dogs in the streets. But I promised her that I will soon come back to meet her -- though I was not sure that I will be able to keep the promise or not.

My work kept me away from Plaschi for a week, but she was in my thoughts all the time. On a weekend, I went to the NGO for seeing Plaschi where a worker told me that she succumbed to the injuries a few days back. At last, God showed some mercy and liberated her soul from all the misery, pain and suffering.

The chirping of the bird awakened me to realize that my nephew is asleep and I should stop narrating the story.

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Suddenly, my eyes fell on the chewed up brakes, bike seats and a surreal image of Prachi holding a stick in her mouth emerged before me. I wondered and asked the image, “Can this be true, is it you Plaschi?” And my inner conscious reverberated, “no it is just a broken promise that keeps haunting you.”