The Smuggled Puppy.....

I saw him again yesterday, after a gap of about three years. I recognized him immediately. The same white with spots of black.

Yes, we had smuggled him from Goa to Bombay. One of the friends on our visit to Goa three years ago, in the month of August, had fallen for this pup and wanted desperately to bring it back with him to Bombay. Even then, Fraser was a quite and contemplative pup. Unlike his sister, who was very aggressive.

The question was how does one carry a pup from Goa to Bombay in a public transport. We didn’t want him to travel in a goods compartment, all alone…..neither could we afford the cost. What did we do?? He he….we packed the pup into an empty beers carton and he travelled with us in our compartment right under the nose of the Ticket Checker (TC). Ofcourse, we didn’t seal the carton, the lid was open so that we could feed him from time to time. The poor scared pup wouldn’t even whimper.

Every time the train would halt at any station, we would take the pup out for a walk and then put him back in his carton once the train started to move. Every time we were out with the pup, people around us would see us play with him and when the train was on the move, the pup would disappear!! Well, inevitably the TC got curious and when we were only a couple of hours away from Bombay, he asked to check our carton and out peeped Fraser. God! Were we scared?? Will the TC take us to police?? Will he confiscate Fraser??

Nah, he did suggest that we put Fraser in goods compartment and pay up Rs. 2000/- (imagine!!!) and Fraser can continue his journey to Bombay. But we reasoned with him that it was so small and scared, he wont survive without us, besides we were just about reaching Bombay and we didn’t have so much money on us either and so on and on we went till he agreed to let the issue rest for Rs. 150/-. Phew!!!

Fraser has grown up, tall and lean. His eyes are so wise and intelligent. A very loving and sensitive dog.