Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Close Encounters of the Canine kind



"Bhhaiya, rickshaw thoda aage lo na" she said, her voice shivering.

The rickwala smiled at her through pan stained teeth.

"Kyun hass rahe ho bhaiyya...rickshaw thoda aage lo na" she pleaded

The rickwala seemed to be enjoying her plight.

She turned to her right. Looked straight into his eyes. He growled.

"Please bhaiyya" The rickwala kept smiling and started conversing in sign language with the rickwala next to him.

She shifted as far left as she could and closed her eyes.

Flash back




Dumb little Shanu and Smart Little Punti walked hand in hand to the grocery store. The chore was simple. Get a kilo of sugar and a packet of biscuits. Shanu trusted Punti with all her little heart. She looked up to her. She was after all, her older cousin. They had loads in common including their love for Jim Jam biscuits and hatred for all kinds of creepy crawlies.

As they skipped towards the store, they saw a pack of dogs coming their way. Dumb Shanu was a fattu. She was scared of dogs. Smart Punti on the other hand was scared of nothing. She was after all bigger (and smarter) than Shanu. She was sure if need be, she could outrun Shanu any day.

Dumb Shanu looked at Smart Punti. Punti gave her a 'Main Hoon na' smile. The air was thick with tension as the pack of dogs stared at the two tiny girls in skirts and pony tails. Punti quickly assessed the situation. Woh 5 hain aur hum do....bahut nainsafi hai. She had made her decision. In a move so quick that it belied her thin frame, she pushed Shanu towards the dogs and started running.Dumb Shanu was well...dumbstruck. The dogs were dumbstruck too. While Shanu stands rooted to ground, unable to move partly due to fear and partly due to her dumbness and lack of reflexes, the dogs make a dumber choice. They decide to chase Punti!!

And Shanu makes the dumbest choice (no surprises there)....she decides to chase the dogs, who are chasing Punti!!

So the sleepy village witnessed something it hadn't witnessed in all the 150 years of its existence...a tiny girl in balloon skirt and pony tail being chased by a pack of dogs, being chased by a tinier girl in an A line skirt (yea, she was fashion conscious even as a kid).

Punti was right. She was fast. She went through the gate of their house and did the next unthinkable thing. She closed the gate.

And Shanu was stuck outside the gate with a pack of very angry dogs. Everything seemed to stop for a split second. The dogs exchanged glances. "How dumb can she be" they seemed to ask themselves. The leader looked at her. Nazron se nararein mili. And then realization dawned on Shanu.



'Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh' she screamed as she started running in the opposite direction, the dogs now snapping at her heels.

The horns blaring woke her up with a jolt. If it wasn't for her dad who happened to pass that way, she would have ended up as dog food that day.

A look to her right revealed that the car was still next to her. Browny, thats what his name tag said, was still staring at her. He seemed ready to pounce. A head peeked out from behind Browny. She looked at him with pleading eyes. He smiled. And right on cue the lights turned green.

The rickwala turned towards her and smiled "Kya memsaheb, aap ek kutte se darte ho"

Sigh, if only he knew.

54 comments:

Ashley said...

OMG!!!! This was a complete riot!!!

You have made my day dumb, all grown up and weird Shanu! Mwah :)

Unknown said...

Very well crafted. Indeed. And this comes from someone who had a similar childhood experience, except the fact of mine NOT being a happy ending. Yes, I was bitten. But somehow I still love dogs. Nevertheless, keep up the posts!

Regards,
Adarsh Munjal

Tarun Mitra said...

First of all....hahahahahhahahhahha

Now it is hard to imagine, a 250 kilo blue haired girls running behind the dog....(you described urself not I) Even as a kid.....

Keeping rocking...or that song for u
"Who let the dogs out" and its hindi parody "pichvare mein kutta katta"
heheh

Meow said...

Laugh Riot amidst my vetti office hours :P Enjoyed every bit of it and could relate me easily with you Shanu :)

Ashley said...

Girl! Whats up with your profile pic!!?!!

oRange* said...

ARE U KIDDIN ME?!

lol! this was so unexpected! omg, i was like, where's this heading to!

hahaha! awesome, super post dude!

Asif said...

Well no words to describe abt my feeling after reading this post.Bakwaas that too with soo much sense? Awesome mixture of creative thinking and practical situations.

Dhanya said...

Bwahahha :D :D Now this is more a Shanu kind of post :) Loved it!

HaRy!! said...

Ha ha witty of yur cousin indeed… nice name for the story..Dumb Shanu   made me lol at that and esp the line…vo 5 , aur hum 2..ha ha..as if some action packed MI2 Tom cruise jaise…. And lol @ 150 years of existence…ha ha how do yu come up with these lines…tee hee… enjoyed this cute post very very much… indeed…Dumb Shanu…lol …just kidding tak care..

Sid said...

good 1... hv a similar experience when my elder sis threw me in front of a cow and ran back home... :)

Peter Ferrao said...

Good writing. Funny. Sorry. I know it must have been scary for you. But I could not help laughing.

buckingfastard said...

hehe...funny autowala...kya re...scared of dog :P

btw ur lukin cute in da pic...even wid missin teeth nd all!!

Blunt Edges said...

n the wacky(yeah the imaginary diary helped!) shanu is back!!! :D

maybe we should hear out the canine version of the story too...of how scared it was of the homo sapien in the rick! ;)

n did u ever give it back 2 punti? something tells me u r the kinda person who will pain-stakingly take revenge even if it means waiting 4 years 4 the perfect oppurtunity...like our hindi phillum heros ;)

Hemanth Potluri said...

this is was the kind of post i was expecting more..i am still on the ground rolling and laughing....the old shanu is back rocking ....well with the monkeys in the header :P...:)...

nicely expressed and i am all smiley this wonderful morning :)...

urs..hemu..

- Sugar Cube - said...

lol haha =)

Awesome write up!

Shanu said...

@ Ashley

Glad u liked it :)

Shanu said...

@ Adarsh

Aww u were bitten? And u still love dogs? Wow..hats off to u mate :)

P.S: Welcome to my blog :)

Shanu said...

@ Tarun

Lol...nahi re..i wasnt 250 kgs as a kid..tabhi toh main sirf 125 kgs ki thi...and I have only recently colored my hair blue :P

Shanu said...

@ Meow

Glad u enjoyed the post babes :)

Shanu said...

@ Ashley

Kya hua? U didnt like it? It is just stating the obvious..I am cute :P

Shanu said...

@ Orange

Expect the Unexpected thtz the mantra baby :)

Glad u njoied it :)

Shanu said...

@ Asif

:) Welcome to my blog. Thank you for ur kind words :)

Shanu said...

@ Dhanya

I am glad u liked it babe :)

Shanu said...

@ Hary

LOL...Wah mere post par itna lamba comment..bahut closely read kiya hai tune :) I am glad u njoied it so much :)

Shanu said...

@ Sid

OMG. Seriously?

Man u shld blog abt it :)

Shanu said...

@ Peter

Lol..this is fiction ya...so wasnt scary for me at all :)

Shanu said...

@ BF

LOL...Dekh na yaar...kidhar kidhar se aa jaate hain yeah rickwale.

Aww u like my pic? Thank you :)

Shanu said...

@ Blunty

Only u cld think of takin the canine's view into consideration :P

Kaash I cld give it back to Punti some day..Kaash :P

Shanu said...

@ Hemu

Glad I cld make u smile this morning :)

Shanu said...

@ Sugar cube

Thanks :)

Reema said...

were u bitten? LOL @ the reason :)

Harini said...

This reminds me of the time when me and my cousins were chased by dogs :P. LOL! Shanu should have ran in the opposite direction rather than chasing the dogs :P.

Archana said...

Haha this is classic. :) Loved, loved, loved reading this post! Very well written, from the jim jams to the main hoon na smile, heh. Anyway, Indian street dogs scare me, especially the ones that chase people, lol. I've seen dogs chase people on their bicycles or scooters. It's such a sight. :P

gayathri vishwanathan said...

Yayyyyyyyyy shanu is back...this was whacky sorry wacky (i learnt to spell it right from ur previous post's comment) :P

Even i am scared of dogs...phir punti se revenge liya yaa nahi?

iceprincess said...

ur one lady whojust gets better each time u write.....baby..i always feel sme post is d best..and u come up with d next!!!
superawesome!!!
i commented on everything imissed..and njoyed everypost....
:)

Shanu said...

@ Reema

Naah wasnt bitten..but yes the phobia still remains :(

Shanu said...

@Harini

There, now u kno why Shanu was called Dumb :( It took her years to understnd tat Punti was tryin to kill her by thrwin her in frnt of the dogs :(

Shanu said...

@ Archana

YAY..U loved loved loved it??

YAY I love u too :):):)

Thanks for the compliments babe :)

Yup the dogs here are scari..they chase cars, they chase cycles, they chase humans..basically they chase nethin that moves :(

Shanu said...

@ G3

YAY...I am back!! :):):)

I have so many ppl askin me abt Punti, I kinda have a feelin that I have given her more footage then required.

Waise "Kissa Punti se Revnge ka" coming up soon..watch this space for more :P

Shanu said...

@ Anjana

Welcome back babe.

U and ur comments were missed on this blog..so glad u are back :)

Suresh Kumar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Suresh Kumar said...

Nicely presented.. Fun and thrills all the way... A blockbuster :)

I always fear dogs.. there are two lovable dogs on our street but I have named them THE GHOST and THE DARKNESS.

ekta khetan said...

Giggle, giggle, gigglesz:)

ani_aset said...

hehehe kya shaanu ek kutte se darti ho :P ... super post :D

Shanu said...

@ Suresh Kumar

Thanks :)

Shanu said...

@ Numerounity

Giggles :)

Shanu said...

@Ani_aset

Yup yup yup...main darpok hai :(

ani_aset said...

alle puppy doggies..rather any doggy the cutest :)

As the Mind Meanders said...

The brilliance here is in the construction... near perfect... loved it...

riddhiculous said...

:D lolz As a kid i used to avoid all those roads where i saw a dog in the middle.. as in anywhere even if he is at the end of the road i would make sure to avoid that rasta.. I used to take the longer rasta but dare not enter that one...

Reminded me of my accidents with dogs.. though surprisingly now i have started loving them to an extent that i get street dogs home.. but many of them are not worthy of love. so when they growl i am all ears and still ready to change my ways literally.

and one of the instances i remember while i was getting away from a bitch i fell on a sleepy dog.. poor little thing got so scared that even in half slumber he ran away to another little haven.. lolz

Ok my bakwas apart. i loved smart punti pun and your fashion sense as a kid rocked.. mwuahhhhhhhhh

well done well done

Shanu said...

@ ani_aset

Lol..My doggy cutest!

Shanu said...

@ Mindey

Thanks..being an engineer helps!!

Shanu said...

@ Riddhi:

LOL..Ur comments are awesome yaar...infact i think this was longer thn my post!!

Keep them coming :)

Shanu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.