12/ 100 Sack Dog

When I am in a place for more than a day or two I start to notice little things that amuse me. This high pile of sacks was at the bottom of our road in Jodhpur and we must have walked past it at least four times each day. I have absolutely no idea what was in the sacks because they were all being reused for something else.

The little room they were piled up against belonged to a man who seemed to spend his entire day making brushes by hand outside, and I am pretty sure these sacks weren’t for him.

In Jodhpur the streets are very narrow. They were designed that way on purpose because this beautiful city sits in the middle of the Thar desert in Rajasthan and in the summer it regularly gets unbearably hot. They were also kept narrow to keep the Gods busy protecting the lunatic motorcycle riders who rode along them at breathtaking speed, relying on their chosen deity to make sure there were no living obstacles around the next bend.

On our street the first place the really caught the sun each day was exactly where this heap of sacks was located and, because of that, there was always a dog on top. But it was never the same dog. This was clearly a prime location because the very second the current tenant decided to go and have a drink of water or munch a digestive biscuit another dog would magically appear to take it’s place.

Some days the sacks were in such high demand that there would be two dogs waiting to claim the top location. When the one the in middle got up the next two dogs in the queue would have a little scrap to decide which was the victor.

It all amused me because, as you can see from the photograph, there is plenty of space. These same dogs will sleep in a heap together every night (we saw them) but, for some obscure canine lore, this particular spot was only usable by one.