I AM A STRAY - 2

Episode - II

The night was so cold. Didn’t know my mom’s lick could give me such warmth and comfort. The flare of the morning sun woke us up along with some excited human voices. The platform looked hazy, covered with dust. The continuous sneezes of the homeless witnessed it. After all the stretches and yawns I took a peek out of curiosity. Before even I could understand what is happening, a crushed tea cup accompanied by some sand pellets, hit my face.  The masked teenagers with shorts and denims were cleaning the whole platform. Today the auto-walas had something new to do – watch the teenagers clean most of their mess.

As I turned to my right, I sense buzz made by flies and the smell sounded curiously familiar. To fulfill my expectation, it was “FOOD” wrapped in a torn plastic cover. That’s the perfect combo I always wanted: Cover to play and food to eat. As I step closer, the flies paid me their respect and flew away, few didn't mind staying though. You know, in life it is hard to decide what you want the most. I am in one such point where I will have to decide to play first or eat. Well, why not “Playfully eat..?" And that’s when I stuck my face into the cover and move my food like a supermarket trolley while eating it simultaneously. 

As they sweep, new odors amuse my sniffing senses. When I was interrogating along the platform, there was this fat girl posing for pictures taken by a thin skinny guy with a huge spectacles. While everyone was working with wet shirts, these two seemed to have their own leisure. As I was ignoring them, I was confronted by a tall stick with a huge brush at the bottom. It was scared of getting close to me. This, I could tell by its hesitation to touch me and when I approached, it took away little garbage with it for support. I was not done dealing with it. But I was picked by this fat boasting lady. My reflexes were so perfect that I was trying to dodge her but in vain.  She was caressing me with such love. Soon, few joined.  There were more palms and fingers that gave me more pleasure. “I don’t have a problem”. With a sudden whistle blow, many left me with this one.

The skinny guy did his part so well, photographing me. I was taken to different places, held in front of different walls. Her fatigue was my savior. When the guy showed the pictures, it took less than a second for her to drop me down, completely ignoring my cry and peeped into the camera.  I did not even see that face even when patting me. Here, I take back the word “love” which I mentioned minutes ago. Felt it is good for me to leave the place. Ahhh...! Finding my way back home is always fun. 

For those who missed first episode, click here .