Bentho

When his daughter first came into the world, everyone was wanting to get a glimpse of her. It was not just the people from the family but almost everyone from the village. All except one person, Dinu, the father. He was busy working at the field of the landlord. Dinu never missed a single day at work and, to his good fortune, he had never fallen ill during the last ten years which made him quite a hero in the place. The local landlord was busy eating lunch at home with his wife when one villager came and shouted out so loud that all could hear him speak from one end of the field to the other…Dinu…congratulations! Bhabhi just gave birth to a beautiful girl. Come home now and take a look at her. Hearing this the landlord left his food, washed his hands and mouth and called for Dinu who came rushing to him.

Did you know that your wife would be delivering a child today?

Yes, Sir.

So why did you not stay back at home and be with her? You are entitled to some leave. This is such a happy moment and you ought to be with your wife and child.

Sir, there is so much work here that needs to be done.

Just shut up and go home now. Do not come to work for the next seven days at least. We have enough people who will get the work done.

The landlord’s wife, who was listening to the conversation, spoke... Here, take this as our present for your daughter. This morning, Shanti, our loving companion, gave birth to four beautiful pups. With this little one around, your daughter will never be alone and she will have the best companion for life.

Dinu looked at the little pup whose eyes were closed and looked very weak. Shanti also knew Dinu well and she just looked at him and her pup once before walking away to say in her own words…Take him. I know you will take good care of my son.

Dinu started on his way home with the little puppy held gently in the palm of his hand. When he reached home, the crowd had increased manifold and it looked like a festive atmosphere. Dinu and Sheila were having a child after many years of marriage. They were loved by all and they even prayed for the couple to be blessed and, today, the angel had come down to them.

Dinu entered the hut where Sheila lay and put the pup down near the door. The other women inside walked out leaving the two alone. Dinu rushed to see his little daughter and then hugged his wife tightly. Tears rolled down his eyes and he was completely speechless for some time. Sheila then looked at the pup and asked…Where did you get that from?

It is a present from maalkin. She gave it for our daughter.

That’s nice of her but we are so tight on our own rations, how will we feed another mouth. Soon this one will become big and will demand more and more food.

Don’t worry Sheila. Like our daughter who has arrived when all seemed lost, maybe this little guy is also a gift from heaven. We will try our best to take care of them.

Sheila knew it was a waste of time to argue with Dinu and she had more important things at hand like feeding the girl and changing her nappies. One thing they agreed upon was the names of the two babies…Aranya for the girl as they lived near the Bandhavgarh forest land and Veeru for the little doggie, for the couple loved this character in the film Sholay.

By the time Aranya was three months old, she could at best look up and smile and sometimes try to push herself on her tummy, but Veeru had grown much bigger and was playful. He would run around the house, at times break a thing or two and Sheila would go mad at him…jaanwar kahin ka…she would say. She would run after him with a stick, but he was way too fast for her. He would run out of the house and come back later when Dinu, his protector, was home. The chap could be destructive elsewhere, but when he was near Aranya, he was completely docile, who for hours together could watch the baby sleep, wake up, take her bath… without a single bark or movement. His eyes would never leave the little angel. As Aranya grew to a stage when she started walking and then running, Veeru had put on much girth and grown much bigger. He was after all a German Shepard Dog and was a giant hanging around her always.  Sheila was very worried that Veeru would hurt her daughter but Dinu assured her that dogs were very loyal and her fears were completely unfounded.  Aranya and Veeru would leave the house in the morning and then come home in the evening. Aranya was the favourite kid of the village and she was welcomed at all the homes. They also accepted Veeru as her elder brother and he too roamed around freely everywhere. People would feed them something or the other and they never would refuse. So, Sheila’s one concern as to how they would feed the dog with their meagre income, was well taken care off.

Veeru grew taller and stronger by the day. He looked majestic in his black and brown fur. The confidence with which he walked and the speed with which he ran, was something that the people in the village had not seen before. Some other villagers too had pets and then there were also stray dogs around the village, but they all unquestionably accepted Veeru as their Lord. They never dared bark at him and when he walked in somewhere, the others would quietly hold their positions without making any noise or movement.

Aranya turned five and was enrolled in the school nearby. Every morning she, along with some other kids from the village, would walk to the school through a small patch of jungle. One adult male would accompany the kids who went to school and back together. Apart from that, Veeru made sure that he would always walk with Aranya when she went in the morning, he would sit outside the gates till the school got over and then walk back home along with the kids. As soon as she reached home, Aranya would change into her regular clothes and then play with Veeru and her friends. If she took a nap in the afternoon, Veeru would put his head on her tiny pillow and she would put her head on his shoulders. The two were inseparable.

All was good in the village till the news of a tiger sighting near the fields got the people worried. The forest officials were immediately informed but they brushed the sighting of the tiger as nothing but a story made up by some villagers to create some nuisance. In the evening, a meeting was called and all the villagers, elderly, young and children, assembled under the big mango tree where the headman sat on a charpoy while all others stood. Aranya and Veeru had also gone there and were amused seeing the elders arguing with each other. Finally, the headman decided that after dusk, two male adults, in rotation every day, would patrol the village till dawn. They would be armed with torches, big lathis and a bell that would be rung loud to wake up the sleeping people should a tiger be sighted. This would continue for two weeks and till then the children were asked not be sent to school. Aranya was disappointed as she loved going to school and play with her friends there. She did her best to explain to Veeru through her eyes, hand actions and sounds about tiger, danger of attack, vigil and no more going to school. Veeru wagged his tail, as if he understood everything.

And he did understand quite a lot for he followed Dinu on the first night of patrolling and he stayed awake. Seeing him, the other pets and stray dogs, joined the night watch party in doing their bit for the safety of the village people.  The good part about securing the village was that on the side that faced the dense forest, there existed a tall wall of barbed wires erected by the forest rangers and on one side was a big lake. In short, the patrolling had to be done on just two sides and one adult guard would take charge of one side at a time. Veeru and his pack on the other hand found this quite amusing and they never thought in terms of sides to watch for. They moved around all over the village. One interesting thing about these dogs was that, after every half an hour or so, they would bark aloud together making quite a ruckus and spoiling the sleep of many. For the dogs, it was their way of telling the intruder to stay away for we are all together here and if you dare come, we shall tear you apart. Anyway, a fortnight passed without any incident. The village headman said that they would continue with the night guard as usual but people were now allowed to go outside the village and children could return to their school.

All seemed fine and life was coming back to normalcy. People were no longer talking about the tiger. The night guards were also taking it easy and would often go home in between to sleep. One night, when Dinu was on duty, Veeru was moving around with his friends. After their barking in unison, they went to the lake to drink water when suddenly out of the water came a huge tiger. The tiger saw before him a pack of dogs. It gave a loud growl and then there was just one dog standing. All the others had fled. Veeru looked around and saw that his friends had deserted him but he was not one to be deterred by the monster standing before him. Now the tiger took one step ahead and Veeru did the same. The tiger was ten times the size of Veeru and his canines had the power to tear apart every known living creature. He could put the fear of death into anyone but Veeru was not one of them. The tiger now picked up pace and moved forward while the dog also moved faster towards the tiger. The tiger stopped and with his one paw, lashed out and threw the dog four to five feet up in the air and Veeru came crashing down. Surprisingly, the dazed and bleeding Veeru staggered up in no time and moved again menacingly towards the tiger who growled even louder. Veeru realized it would be impossible to face the enemy face to face so he changed his tactics. He ran past the bewildered tiger and attacked him from the rear. He bit into the rear thigh of the tiger who tried desperately to free himself from the vice like grip of Veeru. The tiger started dragging his leg and along with it dragged Veeru over a patch of rocky surface. The rocks were like small daggers that hurt Veeru but he just did not let go of the leg.

By now, other villagers had woken up and were seeing the fight Veeru was giving the tiger. They now started pelting stones at the tiger and slowly and cautiously started walking towards him with long sticks in their hands. The tiger realized that his surprise element of attack was lost due to the fight with the mad dog and he had to make a quick retreat. It turned around towards the lake and, seeing this, Veeru let go of the leg that he was bravely holding on to. The tiger in one last ditch effort turned once again and caught Veeru by the neck and choked him completely. He dropped the dog down and limped to the lake and vanished. Villagers gathered around Veeru who seemed to be in great pain. Dinu sat down and started gently rubbing his hand over Veeru’s head. He could see blood gushing out of his neck and, in some time, the eyes closed. Next morning, when Aranya woke up, Veeru was not there by her side. Veeru was lying in a cart which was surrounded by villagers. Dinu explained to Aranya about the tiger attack and how Veeru foiled the monster’s attack all alone but in the end gave up his life for the safety of the village. The little girl cried and cried, holding tight to her mother’s bosom. The villagers buried Veeru under the mango tree which was earlier the reserved place for the village headman. They also decided to rename their village from Rampur to Veerupuram.

Bentho: courtesy TOI

This story is inspired by GSD named Bentho who heroically saved his owner from a tiger attack near Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. With shaky legs and having its neck gouged and pierced in about a dozen spots, Bentho repelled the tiger. The owner later said, “I owe my life to Benthoo. I had heard that German Shepards are loyal; Bentho gave up his life for me.”

SS