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About one year back, I went to Gurgaon for a meeting
with an event management company—Gurgaon is a town adjacent to
Delhi. After the meeting, I decided to meet with an acquaintance
Saumya, who is from my home town and lives in Gurgaon. I have been
here in Delhi for about three-and-a-half years but could never meet
her due to lack of time. I could not go to her house even when she
invited me on the occasion of the birth of her first child. So, this
time I thought it was a good opportunity.
I dialed her cell number, asked her whether she was at home,
informed her about my arrival, and she explained her address to me.
I reached her colony, using three different means of transportation.
Then, I started trying to locate her house by asking people. I
reached at the end of the lane she had mentioned, and I still could
not find her house. There, I found an empty space between two
houses, which had a thick layer of grass. A brown dog was either
sniffing something in the grass or it was eating the grass.
I asked the dog, “Where is house number 2828?” The dog did not seem
to hear me at all. He continued to do what he was doing. I looked
around, but I still could not see any human being there—actually I
looked around to make sure that any human being was not seeing me
trying to talk to a dog. Then, I said in a louder voice, “Hello!”
The dog looked at me now. There was some blankness, curiosity,
thoughtfulness, and absentmindedness in his eyes. I repeated my
question, “Where is house number 2828?” He continued to look at me
for a moment, and then went back to his work, sniffing or grazing,
whatever he was doing.
I said to myself, “Look at it! If he did not have enough time to
lead me to house number 2828, at least he could have explained me
the way or could have told me whether he knew the exact location or
not—he just ignored my question. It seems even dogs have attitude
problems.” Feeling a bit disturbed and hurt, I continued my search
for the house and found it after some effort, of course without the
assistance of that dog.
August 2010 |
