Ross Institute was one of the oldest research institutes in Hyderabad. They say this was the place where Sir Ronald Ross had done research on malaria mosquitoes and discovered the disease over a hundred years back. Since this was a very old research centre the building was maintained as a heritage building. Not much of an activity took place in this building. On rare occasion few officials would come and have some conference or some families would come for picnic in the gardens of this building on holidays. The rest of the days, life was very serene in the premises of this building. This ancient building had an equally ancient watchman to guard it. For company he adopted or rather two dogs named Elize and Rani adopted him as their care taker. The old watchman did not mind this company at all. He gave them the leftover from his food and gladly shared his bed with them. They gave each other warmth in winters and company the rest of the time. Life for the three of them was very peaceful.
Rani being the senior of the two female dogs did not mind asserting her seniority on Elize. Elize respected Rani’s seniority without any hesitation. For some reason Rani never had puppies yet she harbored the mother’s heart. Elize on the other hand had no such problems. She could conceive and have a mother’s love too.
In due course Elize conceived and gave birth to a very beautiful puppy. This puppy was a very handsome, chubby puppy. Rani being the senior decided she should be the mother to this handsome puppy and asserted her authority over the puppy and put a ban on Elize from coming anywhere close to her puppy. The old watchman helped the new born survive by sneaking him to his mother when Rani was not around so that young puppy could survive. He was named Willy because of his will power to survive even without the mother. Elize watched her puppy from a distance with tender heart filled with love longing to go near him, lick him and shower her love on him. Alas she could not have her way under the watchful eyes of her senior Rani. Alas she could only watch him grow. Willy grew to be a healthy strong dog on the wings of time. He became independent. Willy grew with an independent mind with a free will of his own. He declared he was the boss of himself. No Rani no Elize could bully him into` discipline.
In due course Elize had a litter of six puppies. This time she was allowed to be the proud mother of her own puppies, Thanks to the old watchman’s supervision. Rani tried her best to assert her ownership over the puppies. Alas she could not overrule the old watchman’s dictum. Now she had to watch her junior hogging all the love of her puppies from a distance. She watched these puppies growing and following their mother wherever she went. Jealousy overpowered her senses, and her judgment of right and wrong. She started waiting for Elize to leave her puppies alone .Elize also realized this and started keeping a strict vigil over her puppies. But alas on rare occasions she had to leave them alone to attend to her natures calls. Rani would be waiting for these moments to kill one of her puppies. After all she felt if she cannot be the mother Elize also did not have a right to be the mother. Within a span of two weeks Rani destroyed all the puppies of Elize. The old watchman would throw the dead puppies away and heartbroken Elize refused to believe that they are no more alive; she would go and bring them back.
For days together Sadness became the home to her eyes. She lost all interest in food and water. Whenever I went to that place for a walk Elize would come to me tell me her woes, speaking volumes with her sad eyes and Rani would maintain a safe distance and look at me with peevish eyes, guilt written all over face.
It’s amazing to see that dogs also have so many emotions and they can speak so much with their eyes. I have come to know words are not the only language, language of eyes can speak volumes, and dogs are masters of this art. All we need to do align our mind to listening to their language.
