My Rebel Daughter

Rivulet Spiti had caught my attention to its gentle demeanor and sparkling blue water against contrasting barren landscape of rugged mountains with mighty Sutlej roaring and rumbling as it flows down through the valley. It had looked pure, like innocent teenage girls wearing light blue school uniform chatting, giggling and walking in small groups unmindful of anything passing by them. They could effortlessly line up along the dusty road if you blow a horn to let your vehicle pass while still engrossed in their own world completely oblivious to the small cloud of dirt that you leave as you drive past them. 

Those were the spring months of late eighties. I was posted as an assistant garrison engineer in a remote military station called Puh in the tribal district of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh. It was my first visit to Sumdo for work after the severe winters had started to briefly allow road movement along with limited sunshine bringing in some respite. We were on the road for close to an hour and had barely covered 10-12 kilometer on the rickety patch that had lost its black top to the prolonged snowfall this season.

My driver suddenly announced that we have reached Khab. I looked around to spot any houses, cultivated land or even a small tea shop alongside the road but there was nothing. My constant companion since I had hit the road has been the noisy and turbulent Sutlej River that looked heavily muddied due to large amount of silt in its water. There was nothing here with which I could remotely relate to this place called Khab, a word that is loosely translated as Dream. 

But that is when I noticed Spiti. The road had taken a sharp left hook leaving the alignment of mighty Sutlej to my right and then suddenly I noticed a beautiful blue water mountain rivulet quietly sneaking in to join Sutlej. The deafening sound of Sutlej had moved away, instead there was this subtle breeze like Spiti. Who can believe this small childlike mountain river has travelled over 140 miles after opening her eyes at the Kunzum pass in the North-westerly direction. It still had the youthful energy reflected abundantly in her dancing and prancing while welcoming every passerby along the twisted dusty metal Road. It was unable to contain its excitement pouring out with her indomitable spirit. She reminded me of a young, nubile Kinnauri lass rushing off to witness the colorful annual gastor at a local monastery. As we drove on the crisscross road to Maling gaining some height, we were treated to a panoramic view of Khab where Spiti had reluctantly joined the mighty Sutlej forming a Sangam. The clean and refreshing blue streak of the water of Spiti remained distinctly visible amidst massive volume of muddied water of Sutlej. That is when I knew Spiti was not a pushover however strong the opposing circumstances may have been. That very moment I fell in love with Spiti.

I would often find excuse to take a break next to it and spend hours looking at its clear blue water and calming music. So much so that my driver started getting impatient every time I suggested a break alongside this enchanting rivulet. 

Despite the size of river Sutlej and the quantum of water it carries, you cannot dismiss Spiti so easily. The unmistakable blue streak of its water is discernible for a considerable distance. After few months when my newly wedded wife joined me, we both became its fan listening to its soulful music for hours together. In a short span of time I got so carried away that I decided to name my daughter after this youthful river if and whenever we decided to start our family. Although by the time, this tenure came to an end we were blessed with a son so Spiti had to wait to be part of my world, but not for long I suppose. 

x x x x x

We were excited when we got invited to receive an unexpected gift from a senior colleague. This gift happened to be a beautiful brown puppy with hints of carbon on the tip of its drooping ears and glistening snout. It so happened that Gopa sir’s Tibetan Apso pair had a litter of six, and he wanted to find a forever home for them. So, when he casually asked if I would like to have a pup, we jumped at the opportunity.  Later in the week we visited his place to pick up a pup of our choice. But speaking frankly, the choice to be with us was made by the puppy itself. This one must have been quite adventurous and brave, for it started walking towards us in contrast to other pups who wanted to hide behind their mom who was taking a nap to recover from the strain of giving birth. Contrary to how other pups were reacting it was quite unmindful of the curious visitors in the room. After a while it moved closer to us with her tail wagging happily as if she wanted to get a closer look at us and in turn give us an opportunity to know her better. If we offered a hand for her to sniff, she would quickly retreat but will soon make another effort to reach out to us. This went on for some time till we understood that it was her call to sniff us and no one can rush her in to this. After this bit of playful introduction, we decided to move and check on other pups so she gave out a yelp and literally called us back almost telling us not to bother with others. Once she communicated her approval for us to be her Hoomans there was nothing left to do except bring her home. The matter about what to call her was tackled almost instantly between me and Pratimam. We looked at her for a moment and then said ‘Spiti’ in unison, agreeing with each other instantly something that rarely happens between us.

In a short time, Spiti made sure that we never take her for granted but at the same time, she never hesitated to take us for granted. We were after all her Hoomans she had so diligently chosen to be with. She had undisputed right over us. There are many incidents that highlight the indomitable spirit of Spiti during her small life span of eight years but she was essentially a rebel from the very beginning and stayed like that till the end. We learnt about her love for independence early, rather too early during her maiden train journey when we decided to go to Jabalpur to be with my parents during Diwali. Indian Railways are not known to be passenger friendly so to expect them to be pet friendly was out of question. More so, if your pet happened to be a five-month-old puppy, measuring all of 10 inches protected only with delicate fur. The best option available was to fit her in a small plastic fruit basket with necessary cushioning duly covered with a baby blanket and a heart full of hopes that she decides to sleep specially when the ticket checking staff visits our compartment. This was not a tall order given Spiti’s love for long siestas induced by suckling on the feeding bottle, and the only thing that could go wrong was the unduly long presence of ticket checking staff in the AC compartment even after completing his job. This was not expected since the train was over packed with waitlisted passengers. Obviously the ticket checker had lots of other interests than coming and sleeping after finishing the physical round of the compartments allotted to him. Now there were opportunities for him to indulge in interesting talks with the eager passengers willing to go to any length for a confirmed seat. 

Initial 2 to 3 hours of the journey were without any trouble as Spiti more than welcomed frequent treats of warm milk offered to her without she having to call for the same. She stayed inside her hideout cozy and well fed. It must have been quite boring to stay put inside the fruit basket or was it the constant rocking of train and wafts of assorted aromas emerging from the snacking spree going on inside our compartment that made her curious enough to peep outside the basket. We tried to push her back initially and when that did not work, we openly bribed her with another round of warm milk but she decided that enough was enough, so, she let out a curious call. 

The co-passengers comprising some curious children heard this. Most ignored it but the children got really interested in this unexpected co-traveler. They started looking at each other to assure if they had indeed heard a puppy. I tried to divert their attention by talking out to know their names etc. ignoring their inquisitive glances rather unsuccessfully. Just when I thought the commotion is subsiding Spiti let out another call; this time a little firmer and more demanding. There was no stopping now and the bunch of curious onlookers surrounded and uncovered the fruit basket that contained the forbidden fruit. 

The serious looking ticket examiner with a permanent frown on his mustaches was perhaps at a hearing distance. I was convinced these people are trained to identify violators in a huge crowd of travelers and they can in no time lock on to their targets. Ticket Examiner uncle appeared to be a pro in that sense as he was immediately drawn to the youngest possible violator of the day after hearing the call that Spiti had let out a short while ago. He came in, shifting glances from top to bottom on both side berths inside our compartment. He finally adjusted his focus on us trying to read the situation better. After this he leisurely eased himself in the cramped space on our berth and then took out his clip board, pen and a small receipt book from a bag he was holding under his armpit. We quickly made more room for the ticket checker to let him settle down comfortably so that he could perform his sacred duty in peace, without getting more educated on the situation that he already was. After few pregnant moments that look like an eternity, he cleared his throat twice and contrary to our expectations, enquired politely if the puppy with us was a Pomeranian. Not risking to offend him on his knowledge of puppy breeds we quickly agreed with him and then Spiti peeped out again to say hello to the Ticket examiner uncle. The ice was broken, and it did not take much time for Spiti to win over the rather rude and stuck-up ticket checker who soon joined her growing fan club. 

After appreciating the energetic puppy, he couldn’t agree with us more that a small pet like this could not possibly travelled in a filthy dog cage of the railway at the far end of the train. 

“They are delicate dog breeds and cannot stay without AC or Coolers. They not like us who can keep working in the draconian attire of coat and tie despite such hot weather”. 

He spoke these lines, loosened his tie knot and let out a sigh of relief. Despite the undertones of unmissable sarcasm, he offered to ignore this violation and look the other way if we preferred to.  However, he also warned us that there was no guarantee if the next TC will be so understanding. It was still a long way to Jabalpur and there would be many more staff changes and should some of his brethren not feel for the cute puppy as he was feeling, we might get in to an ugly situation. We understood the advice and gratefully paid up six times the normal fare amounting to Rs Seven Hundred something. During early nineties, it was a princely sum and it did hurt us but we didn’t want to subject Spiti to any more restrictions during her maiden train journey so we went ahead with the fine. The ticket examiner on his part went at length to explain to us that there was no provision to issue a ticket without the fine if it is made onboard during the journey. We may have failed to take advantage of the spells Spiti was able to cast on people around her but her charm grew leaps and bounds as was her love for independence as she grew up.

Spiti never failed to enchant when people casually came in her contact. I recall one incidence when Spiti was about 4 years old.  There was this young Gujarati couple who was travelling in the same sleeper coach (bus) as I to Kutch Bhuj. Those were the days when swanky overnight sleeper buses had been newly introduced specially on routes that were not very well connected through railways. Spiti had travelled to joined me at Ahmedabad which was my headquarter where I had come down for work. Later we both were to get back to Bhuj which was also my place of posting then. 

I was tired and after making Spiti comfortable under my berth I soon dozed off. As the bus moved on, this couple who was somewhere in the rear of the bus seems to have spotted her. They must have been dog lovers or were simply enchanted by her beauty so much that they started talking about her appreciatively. I don’t know how the connection was made but once Spiti sensed their love and admiration for her from almost 12 feet away, she quietly sneaked out from under the berth and reached out to say hello to them. I was so severely sleep deprived that it just went cold out. 

It was very early in the morning when the bus stopped briefly at a small town of Anjar. I casually leaned to look under my berth just to check on Spiti hoping to find her relaxing where I had left her to sleep. When I did not find her under my seat, I was perplexed. I rubbed my sleepy eyes to better focus them for darkness but the result was the same. Spiti was not where she should have been. I got out of my berth and when I noticed that the bus was stationary with its front door flung open; I panicked. What if Spiti has made good her escape to explore new vistas of Anjar.  I quickly got out of the bus and looked left and right eyes still adjusting to the low ambient light. I then enquired from a couple of passengers standing nearby if they have seen any dog getting out of the bus. They did not quite understand my question because normally dogs don’t travel in luxury busses. They gave me a weird look for asking them about dogs in the morning. That is when I saw the driver and conductor returning back to the bus to recommence the onward journey as Bhuj was still 4 hours away. 

I then decided to rush inside and thoroughly check the aisle and if necessary, break my journey here itself. I was rattled, not knowing how could she disappear from a running bus but my heart sank imagining what if Spiti had got down at any of the previous halts while I was asleep. It never occurred to me that she could win over an unknown couple so completely that they would invite her to share their bed and she would oblige. In my deliberate search along the aisle, I could finally identify her snuggled in the bed with this couple. It was her furry tail that flapped under the sheets, when I reached closer. I called out her name to recheck if indeed Spiti was sharing the bed with them and the flapping quickly increased in intensity and frequency. Spiti however, remained chill with her foster parents. Before I could think how to react, the lady peeped out of the sheet and said something in Gujarati patting Spiti who was still snuggled with them; 

“અમને તમારો કૂતરો ખરેખર ગમ્યો”

(we have really liked your dog).

Spiti would often walk out of the house without any hesitation if something interested her more than the secure confines of home. Her adventures were however, limited to few hours of excursions and we never had to wait for her beyond the next meal hour. She invariably returned home with her ears pushed as far back as possible in an effort to look sorry for having caused us concerns about her safety while she ventured outdoors. None of her actions including the raging anger that once ended with a nasty bite to my wife would raise any doubt in our minds about her unquestioning love for us. Spiti always wanted to stay under the bed while my wife wanted her out before she left for her college because Spiti enjoyed snuggling in our bed, a habit my wife despised. So, one morning when my wife asked her out, she got under the cot and when my wife insisted on by trying to physically get hold of her collar, she bit her. 

Spiti was a rebel at heart and had very peculiar preferences. Although she was always excited to go for a walk, she wanted to hold her own leash. If you did not yield to her demands she would jump around trying to snatch the leash from you as if pronouncing that she is the master of her own destiny and while she is happy to go out with you, it is you who she is taking out for a walk and not the other way round.

During my Jaipur tenure, we had to hire a house in an upcoming colony called Tara Nagar near to my work place. We had barely moved in here and were not more than a few weeks old here hence were quite unfamiliar with the neighborhood. On one evening I had to go outside so, I rode my scooter asking Chandan (our helping hand) to close the campus gate behind me. It is really difficult to say if Spiti acted swiftly to get out of the campus following my scooter or Chandan was so slow and dumb that he did not even notice when Spiti swished out of the gate. He mechanically closed the campus gate after me and retreated to her room quietly. Our neighbor who had seen Spiti rushing out after my scooter was not sure what to do. He for some reason was hesitant to walk up to inform someone at home about it so, he waited for me to return. It was almost after an hour or so when I returned back. He dutifully stopped me to break the news which appeared unbelievable to me first. I asked him to describe the features of the dog that he had seen running behind my scooter and that perfectly matched Spiti.   

New and unfamiliar locality, unknown people and the fact that we had barely moved in had made our initial search futile. We had to abandon our efforts by around 11 pm while Kuhu almost broke into tears. Next morning there was no sign of her it became evident that Spiti has been taken away by someone or had been attacked and injured by roadside dogs; a possibility that made us shiver. We missed her a lot, particularly at every meal hour because we knew how choosy she was about her food. It broke our hearts to imagine how she would probably be in a very dire situation and she could be hungry, wounded and constantly threatened. To be able to choose her food could be a far-fetched dream for her. Next few days of futile search only diminished the feeble hopes of ever finding her back. 

It was close to a week since Spiti had gone missing and obviously she was not in the near vicinity or in good health because otherwise she would have definitely reached home by now. We definitely needed to intensify our search by expanding the area we were looking for her.  We also knew that to focus our search in some direction we needed a clue. So, we decided to print brochures seeking information about her and also a reward of Rs 1000/- for anyone giving a valid clue. We pasted these posters in every nook and corner around in the colony making sure that the reward part is suitably highlighted. 

This worked and our first clue came on the third day of putting up these posters. A youngster reached out as I was getting ready for the office. He spoke about having seen a small dog fighting off 15-20 stray dogs across the railway line few days back. The time of spotting and features of the small dog also matched. I wasted no time in asking this boy to show me the exact spot where he had spotted Spiti. 

There was a Saras Milk Kiosk in front of the place of spotting. This input was corroborated by the kiosk owner as well. He then fished out the registration number of a white Maruti 800 car. It emerged that some kind hearted person driving this car had intervened and rescued the dog under attack from ferocious stray dogs that day. He has very thoughtfully left his car number with the kiosk person so that he can be contacted by the owner should he come looking for the dog. A quick check with the RTO Jaipur led us to Shyam Nagar, a locality over 10 km from our place. What followed thereafter was a fairytale story and while Spiti may have been the troubled fairy the undisputed angel in the story was a gentleman called Govind Singh Rathore. Govind Singh Ji was a police person serving the Rajasthan state police. 

Govind Singh Ji had described this incident with great passion when we met him afterwards. While driving back from work, he noticed some commotion along the roadside. His policeman instinct came alive and he stopped the car next to an unusual crowd of women and children alongside the road shouting and jostling to get the inside view. What had attracted this crowd of curious onlookers was a pack of stray dogs barking with great ferocity at a small puppy cornered against the fencing of Jaipur Cantt area. He took no time in understanding how the precarious the situation has become for the small puppy. They were slowly closing in and were barely 4-5 feet away from their prey. The puppy although utterly helpless had not surrendered as it was growling back with her small white teeth bared warning the strays to stay away from it. He knew that despite all the bravado, this pup had no chance against the unruly pack of 15-20 dogs. He then swung into action by pelting stones at the violent dogs. This was the much-needed breather for Spiti and she made no mistake in seeking a quick shelter under his car. He made sure to chase away each and every dog and then focused his attention on Spiti. He wanted to assure her that the danger is over and she can come out from under his car but Spiti refused taking no chance whatsoever. He was then really in a fix, because Spiti won’t come out from under the car and he had no heart to leave her and drive away knowing that she will soon be attacked after he left. 

This angel in Khakis then did something out of the blue and asked Spiti if she would like to go with him. He opened the door of his car making sure Spiti understood his offer. Spiti by now had clearly understood her best option, so she did not think twice and crept out from under the car and gracefully entered inside his car. Govind ji was dumbfounded as he had not expected an unknown dog to so swiftly respond to his offer but now that she had, there was little choice with him. He had no experience with pets, neither he knew what to do next, so he slowly drove off. He had clearly understood that this was someone’s pet dog and had clearly wandered off away from home. He then called the milk kiosk owner and asked him to write down his car number, so that should someone come looking for the dog, they could reach him. 

Next few days were a nightmare for Govinda ji and his wife because Spiti refused to leave Govind Ji’s side even for a minute. She would follow him everywhere in the house like a shadow, would sit in front of the door when he needed to use the wash room and accompany him till outside the puja room while he did his morning puja. She would insist to accompany him when it was time to go to the office at Hanuman Nagar police station. What worried the Rathore couple most was that she did not eat a single morsel and was just shedding tears nonstop. The kind lady of the Rathore family went on great lengths to offer a variety of food from her pure and Satvik kitchen but Spiti refused to eat anything. Worried that Spiti may have received internal injuries in the scuffle with strays he took her to a vet. He was mindful of the fact that even a vet may be able to identify the owners of this pitiful puppy if he tried to visit one that was close to the place where Spiti was rescued. This did not help much except that the vet declared Spiti fit as fiddle after her thorough check up. 

Without realizing it, the entire Rathore family got sucked into looking after Spiti and her eventual rehabilitation. Entire family had only one concern; ‘how to reunite Spiti with her lost family’. It wasn’t the concern of Rathore couple alone but their school going daughter and two other grown-up children, studying engineering and medicine outside Jaipur were totally involved in this mission. They were together every evening on a conference call to discuss the status of Spiti, did she eat properly and if not what possibly can interest her. They were seriously considering putting her photo in the ‘Lost & Found’ column of local dailies.  All this while they were left puzzled and utterly disappointed with the lack of reaction from the real family of Spiti. In fact, they had formed very ill opinion of us wondering if we have deliberately abandoned her. Who can let such a cute little puppy get lost and then not make any effort to look for her? This thought of Spiti having been abandoned by us filled the youngest Rathore of the family with new vigor.  

“Papa, if no one comes forward for her we will adopt this sweet baby”. 

She was perhaps secretly wishing that nobody actually comes to claim this sweet baby that has somehow made home in her heart in just a few days. It was day five and slowly the possibility of someone coming forward to claim her was getting diminished. But this did not bother them as much as the fact that Spiti was barely touching food and was constantly grieving. Seeing the empathy of Govind ji, it was not difficult to understand where this sense of caring came to Rathors.  

On the advice of the Vet, this Radha Swami (strongly religious and strictly vegetarian) family even procured eggs so that Spiti could get proper nutrition. She did find eggs little more palatable than other offerings from the kitchen of Mrs Rathore but it still did not enthuse Spiti as much as they would have wanted her to. Then they got some expensive packaged dog food for her with a hope that she would perhaps get over her grief of losing her first family. What a pampering she got from an unknown but extremely kind family! while we were heartbroken finding it difficult to imagine her plight in this cruel world fighting for hunger and basic safety. 

Our reunion with Spiti was however, not half as spectacular as her send off by the Rathor family. I bowed to the greatness of the simple policeman for all that he did for an unknown animal he found on the roadside struggling for survival. I was overwhelmed when I saw him collecting and packing newly procured utensils, food packets, toys and goodies bought for Spiti with great love and compassion.

“Please visit us to meet Spiti again, she is yours more than us… actually is alive because of you and your family” 

We saw their little daughter fighting tears and not succeeding completely while we drove back; this time with our complete family that included my adventurous and rebel daughter.