22/ 100 Blanket Dog
Finding Space to Sleep
Each evening, just a few metres or so from our apartment, the older dog in this photograph would appear from goodness knows where and make a bed at a busy junction in the road.
What is even more interesting is that someone would always put a blanket down for it in that very same spot. In the daytime it was like any other bit of the road – busy with scooters, Tuk Tuks and peaceful cows roaming about looking for something to eat. The blanket was nowhere to be seen, nor was the dog. Then, fairly late at night, once the hundreds of sparrows had found their roost in the little tree opposite, we would walk back from our evening foray into the busier part of town and come across the dog in this exact spot.
I was fascinated to know why it always chose this exact place, and where the blanket came from. We have seen them move their blankets and toys to different places (yes, even some of the feral dogs in India had fluffy toys, or a sandal) but, as I say, this blanket was never anywhere to be seen in the daytime.
I assume that this particular dog, being a bit older than the others, was content to sleep alone (which was quite unusual) and that it had found a guardian in a kind-hearted local who would pop the blanket down for it. There was a little bowl of water nearby too.
Although this was quite a busy part of the street – although where wasn’t in India – everybody slowed down to go around the sleeping animal. The young boy in the photograph below had been riding up to the junction at hair-raising speed but, as he approached the dog, he slowed right down and passed it with great care. Pedestrians would step gingerly around it and even the cows seemed to notice it and avoid stepping on it.
Perhaps if you survive the streets of India long enough you earn some kind of protection from Bhairava – a fierce form of Shiva who is often depicted with a dog as his companion.
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