Aloka

(This is my imagination about the early life of a real dog, Aloka the Peace dog. Who was found in India by a group of Buddhist monks doing a walk for peace.)

Aloka. That is my name now. I never had a name at first. I was just another street puppy in India. My mother was all about finding the best food scraps from rubbish and sometimes from friendly people. She would leave us for a while, hidden under a pile of tyres. Or underneath a car. And she went boldly searching for our food. Sometimes beggars were given food that we should have had. So she tried to take it from them to feed us. She had to risk her life to keep us alive in the fumes of noisy traffic and the roaring of planes overhead. Sometimes she found a street stall vendor had forgotten a few pieces of fruit or vegetables that had rolled under the plastic stall table. Or they even had burned pieces of naan and threw them away. Sometimes she was able to just lay about at a chai stall with some canine friends and rest a while on the cool dusty ground. We waited, my 2 brothers and 3 sisters and I. We kept waiting. The sun disappeared and the moon rose. Waiting. Snuffling at the ground, we wriggled out. The cars, buses and tuk-tuks had mostly stopped for the day. We were safer then. Our extended family met each other. Greeting each other with the traditional greetings of sniffing noses and tail endings. Finding out what others had eaten. Where they had been. Mother was not around the pack. My heart started beating harder. Maybe to try to find her? Could she hear my heart?

I howled to the moon. Where are you, mother? Where have you gone? I wasn’t a tiny puppy any longer. I was more like a teenager. In fact, I could find food myself! Which I desperately needed. And water. I knew there was a big lake. We went there with mother to drink and wash ourselves sometimes. I called to my siblings, let's go to the lake! It was not far. Maybe we could find food on the way there. I could taste my last food in my mouth and drooled at the memory of it. We all ran to the lake with excitement and hope. Mother may be there. I felt hot. Reaching the lake, I took great gulps of water from the edge. Ah! That was what I needed all day! We marked our territory and began trying to find food ourselves. Sniffing at rubbish strewn on the ground. Who was that? There was a human. They were looking down at the ground. And then they bobbed onto their knees and reached for something. I knew her scent. It was mother! No! I ran over and growled at him not to touch her. I licked her face. She felt cold. She was cold! She lay on her side. Not breathing. I couldn’t see her eyes move. They were open. But staring at something. What did she see? I could smell blood. The human tried to touch her again and I looked at him. I backed away. He started crying. I barked at him. Asked him what happened. His motorbike was on the road, and he stood up to put my mother on it. And then he started to ride away with my mother. Why are you taking her away? I tried to follow her. She didn’t say anything to me. She just lay across the bike. He was too fast for me. Even though there weren’t many vehicles around, I was afraid of them. I knew it was what made my mother bleed. I turned and went back to my family. I told them mother was taken away. That she was cold and bleeding.

We decided to stay near the lake, in case mother was brought back to us. We found a little bit of food. And wandered the shores until dawn. Mother wasn’t coming back to us. I felt that she had died. But it wasn’t the man who cried. I worried that she would be eaten by someone. But I couldn’t see her again. I decided to become a hunter for my family. And to follow the people who cried. The person who took my mother was not the same as the person who made my mother die! I felt very sad and bowed my head to the earth. She was gone. Never to come back to us. We had to try to live now and find kind people. And hide from the mean people. We all slept from the dawn for a few hours. We curled up together to keep warm. Warm. We were warm and mother was cold. I missed her. I awoke and missed my mother in my heart. My brothers and sisters cried with me. We all missed her. It felt painful in my chest. My heart was alive though. Making me warm. I am warm.

We drank water from the lake again. And marked our territory. I told my family to wait for me and I would go to find food. I said to them, if I do not return like mother, find your own food. So they hid and I went to find food. I saw a man walking with no shoes on. I could smell his feet. They smelled of the dry earth. And some other thing, like a tree. I liked that aroma. So I followed him. He walked. I followed. He walked up stone steps. I stopped and waited to see what he would do. He disappeared into the temple. He had been carrying a vessel with something metallic smelling in it. And another scent. It was a little like the scent of my mother’s blood. So I felt sad again. Mother! I sat and looked at the earth. There was something near there. A piece of bread. A paratha. I joyfully ate it! Then there were candles and incense. And another nice smelling thing. A banana! Mmm! I thought to go back to the lake and regurgitate for my family to eat something. But then I felt nice and wanted to see if I could find anything else. I tilted my head, one ear flopping about. There was a sound that felt nice here. Like the man who cried.