A Piece of Cake

God said "Go down there and do as I have trained you and you will be fine."

I stood waiting for my train. The crowds were piling up and my anxiety to board the train was equally piling up. The old, the young, men, women and children were equally anxious to jump in as the train to Borivali pulled up. There was no question of waiting in line as everyone jumped in. The mighty made it easily while the rest grappled for space to be pushed into the compartments. All made it finally one way or other. Injuries sustained was part of the rush hours. Some had sprained ankles, twisted fingers, some were sexually abused, notwithstanding gender. But life had to go on. Despite the agonising experience, the lucky and surviving passengers faithfully lined up the next day cursing their fate to go through the unpleasant tryst with fate, over and over again. I gasped a sigh of relief as I stepped out of the train station, not that the Mumbai roads offered any solace. As I moved slowly through the crowd I felt a nudge on my shoe laces and found to my amazement a puppy with shiny expressive eyes looking up at me. He looked more like a puppy that was abandoned, not the kind that is used to the streets of Mumbai. He was probably a month old and seemed used to human touch and needed a home alright. Most urgently some food and water. I could do two things; Ignore him and let him be crushed under morning stampede, or take him in my arms and get him some food and water. I chose to do the latter. I stooped down and picked him up in my left hand and found him to be a he. I had to juggle the two ; my brief case and the puppy. I walked up to the nearest tea stall and got him a bun and some milk. I emptied the milk into a broken plastic container to hold the contents without dirt or spillage and soaked the bun in it. He happily lapped it up and looked up at me as if to say thank you. He was wagging his tail meaning he was happy. I had to rush to office. It was late alright. The human traffic and rush seemed quite oblivious of my dilemma. I couldn't certainly carry him to my office unless I wanted to join the unemployed countrymen. I was not certain if I was going to adopt him. But had to find a shelter for him till the evening. Looking around quickly I found an used cardboard box from a nearby store in exchange for a buck. I made a few crude holes in it with my ball pen and tucked the poor pupper in.

In the beginning he was resistant but he soon adjusted to my soothing command and curled himself inside. I had solved my biggest predicament for the moment and bravely carried the box to my office. I had to find a method by which he stays unnoticed in my small cubicle of a call centre. The whining had stopped. Probably he was a sleep. I did not have the courage to open the box as he could start his whining again. I needed him to be absolutely silent. I somehow managed to keep him silent with an occasional treat and water. None noticed my occasional bending down under my desk as call centre agents are quite busy by the minute and have no time for snooping into others business. Occasionally a supervisor would pass by with the only aim of checking if people were at work or playing games. So at the end of it all I managed to take him home despite dagger looks from my fellow passengers in the train in response to the occasional puppy cries.Finally reaching home I gave him some more milk and left over rice. Mumbai home is usually a small room on sharing basis. But I had the good fortune of having a whole apartment to myself on the ground floor as care taker. The owner was abroad and a good friend of mine. And in honour of his kindness I took it in my stride as a responsibility to also reciprocate his kindness by taking extra precaution of taking care of each and every aspect of his apartment. I simply didnt have the permanent means to adopt the dog at this juncture of my life. Quite unstable if you may ask. I now had to find him a home. I dialled Blue Cross to see if they were open after office hours. But got no response. So this would have to wait till tomorrow. Turn of events continued. After a quick bath and a meal I slipped into my pyjamas to go to sleep, which was interrupted by a happy birthday song in the neighboring apartment. I looked at the time it was sharp 12 midnight. I knew the neighbours had two kids Yamini and Khush. I concluded it was Yamini's birthday from the singing. I suddenly saw an opportunity. I said to to myself 'hey Gopal bhai you are brilliant !. I

quickly put the sleepy puppy in a box and wrapped it with some gift wrap paper and rushed to the birthday house. I rang the door bell and waited anxiously for someone to open the door. It took some minutes for the father to open the door which seemed like ages. I stood there with the gift box in hand. I was greeted by Mahesh Kamath the father who looked quite surprised to see me. Not quite sure if he should let me in at this hour. But seeing me carrying a gift box I quickly asked to see Yamini the birthday girl. Yamini rushed to see me,' hello uncle ji'. 'Happy birthday to you Yamini', was my response. I handed over the gift to her. She seemed quite puzzled whether to open it. I helped her unwrap the box and she jumped for joy as the puppy slowly peeped out of the box. Quite adorable was he that he could steal anyone's heart. Yamini grabbed the puppy and started to cuddle him. Making little happy sounds to the puppy. 'What's his name?' she asked. I don't think there can be a more valuable gift than a puppy to a five year girl. I said she should name him as she wished. Khush looked quite khushy himself as he envied his little sister. The parents muttered a few protests but couldn't say much but stare at the puppy and me, as the little girls happiness was their's too. I gladly accepted the piece of birthday cake in return. I heard every one suggesting different names for the puppy to Yamini, as I walked out. I thanked my stars and was quite satisfied the way in which I had found the puppy a home. A piece of cake !