A Home For Chutki

Chutki was one of the privileged lots. Having a mother for a stray and a well kept Labrador for a father gave Chutki a rather unusually sweet puppy face which seemed to floor all the kids in the gully. Of course, that also meant the other ordinary looking strays picked on Chutki. While Chutki’s mother defended him valiantly at the beginning, soon the puppy started getting stronger on a rich diet of leftovers secretly smuggled to him by the kids in the surrounding area, and started to fight back on his own.

But for all his fighting, Chutki remained an adorable puppy in his heart. He played with the kids and slept in the backyard of Keya’s house. Only 16, Keya was not as privileged as her loyal friend Chutki. Owing to an accident before birth, Keya lost the use of her legs from spine downwards. However, growing up in the confines of a wheel chair didn’t dampen her enthusiasm for life. And Chutki added to the fun.

Nilima, Keya’s mother found Chutki’s presence bothersome. She always thought of her daughter as vulnerable. May be seeing her fighting for her life in a incubator after birth and then being confined to that dreaded wheel chair made her think of Keya as a fragile thing. And Chutki was full of infections, bacteria and dirt. Mother and daughter often butted head over the stray mutt, but Keya always won. Nilima could never so say no to her daughter. But the issue remained and came up every time Chutki disgraced himself by doing something “bad” near her mother.

But Keya had a staunch supporter of Chutki in her much older sister Shreya. Wise and motherly even at the age of 27, she always looked after Keya with great patience. So when Shreya finally found her match in life, Keya was both happy and sad. But there was shopping to do, arrangements to be made, which kept Keya busy; too busy to even take care of Chutki. But Chutki took no offense and continued to sleep in the backyard.

The night before the wedding, the house was full of relatives and chats continued till midnight. There was laughter and happiness in the air and even Chutki dozed off with a warm fuzzy feeling that came off from the house. Soft, dry leaves gave the puppy a comfortable bed and soon he was snoring away like Keya’s aunt and uncles.

But sometime right before day break the whole household woke up to screams and squeals. A man’s voice shouting for help could be distinctly heard, along with the sharp barks of several strays from the street. Lights came on and the whole family rushed out to a very horrific scene. Chutki, looking much terrifying then his usual cute self, was hanging on to the leg of a masked man who was trying to use a knife to get the dog away. But Chutki, despite the few bleeding cuts on his body, showed no signs of relenting.

Soon, the thief was surrounded by a bunch of strays and Keya’s family. The police came and took him away. Chutki was rushed to the nearest vet by Keya’s father. When the dog returned two days later, he was the hero of the apartment and the darling of keya’s family. Nilima cried as she held the dog that had saved them from a great catastrophe. Chutki finally found his family and home.