Today was going to be a long day, like most other days. Waking up from the tortuous half slumber by wails of another like him writhing from a sharp kick in the stomach by some random dopehead, then walking around whole day to sniff out food from garbage lying here and there, while dodging people and vehicles, till finally going again to lie down under the flyover, with hunger, fatigue and pain rumbling around in his entire body - this is how most of the days are spent. Some mornings, he is the one who wails, but today, it is not him. Who is it then? He forced open his rheumy eyes, and looked around. The wailing is coming from Kalu today, some other Kalu, not him. They are all Kalus, or Tommys, or Bhulus, names given by random people who nonchalantly throw stubs of uneaten eggrolls, or pieces of Marie biscuit, or half rotten rice at them, risking being rebuked by others for stray dog feeding. He is a Kalu too, thanks to being majorly black, apart from his white underbelly and paws. The Kalu wailing now is black all over, though now his lower back and hindlegs are mottled with blood and urine. Some speeding car, getting home on a Sunday morning from the revelries of the weekend, has smashed half of his body, leaving him mortally wounded and paralysed on the sidewalk. “This one has got it bad”, thought Kalu. It will be blinding pain and wailing for an hour or two, until the municipal garbage van comes to pick him up and throw out on a pile of garbage, half dead, feebly fighting with the rats who would come in droves, attracted by the smell of blood, to nibble away the flesh from his limp body. Death will come devastatingly slow, at some point, to relieve him from what his life has become. Kalu limped towards the other, dying Kalu, sniffed at the blood and urine, then turned back and walked away towards the pile of garbage left beside the now closed door of the fast food joint. Food first.
 

Looking down and sniffing at the dust for random pools of vomit that can serve as his breakfast, with the whines of the dying Kalu raking his brain, Kalu accidentally stumbled upon the stretched out legs of an elderly morning walker resting on a bench outside a shop. The man, uttering a curse through his teeth, hit him instantly under the ear with his metal tipped walking stick. Kalu felt a scarlet cloud of pain and confusion exploding inside his brain, as he instinctively crouched down, head between his front legs. He let out a yelp, drawing more curses from the man, and ran away blindly to hide behind a parked autorickshaw.  He closed his eyes, and hoped the pain will go away. When the throbbing fog of the immediate ache cleared, Kalu opened his eyes. He was stunned by what he saw. The lines of closed shops and the litter strewn sidewalk have disappeared, and in the far end of his sphere of vision, a towering building stood, sunlight glinting on its myriad windowglasses.  Between him and the building, lied a carefully manicured lawn of green grass, speckled with little fuzzy heads of yellow wildflowers. Kalu stood motionless, with cocked ears, as the wail of dying Kalu was replaced by faint birdsong, gurgle of an artificial fountain, warbled voices of children and grown ups, all mingled to create the calm and soothing white noise of a quiet day in an upmarket locality.  “Carlo, Carlo”---the piping voice of a child was closing in very fast, accompanied with muffled quick footsteps.  Startled, ears still cocked, he aligned his head towards the source of the sound, and in no time, a little girl lurched at his neck. A hug? From a human? Kalu retreated a few steps. The girl clung close, muttering endearments in his ear “Where were you? You little tyrant? I was crazy with worries. Come home. Right now!!!” 
A home? He has a home? And a human? That too in the form of an angelic little girl? In what world? 

Kalu walked behind the girl in a daze of amazement, his tail automatically wagging. As they reached the grand entrance of the building, two uniformed guards smiled at him and the girl. “Hello, Mimi Baby, Got him back? Now don’t let him run away again!!!” With an impatient “Yes, yes, uncle”, Mimi ran up and pulled him inside the shiny doors of the lift. Kalu crouched on the floor, bewildered by the strange feeling of moving fast against the gravity as the lift shot up fifteen stories in a few seconds. Bouncing out of the lift, Mimi pressed the doorbell of an apartment. Some gentle ringing chimed and a kind looking woman opened the door, revealing a cozy and plush household inside. Kalu, very apprehensive at the sight of a grown up, tried to hide behind the two tall planters at the side of the door. “Hey, what is it with you?” Mimi pulled him out, reaching through the foliage of glistening large heart shaped leaves of the broken heart plant. “Maa, Baba, see? I found Carlo back.” Mimi ran in, pulling Kalu by the scruff of his neck. Every nerve in Kalu’s body cowered in the anticipation of blows and curses, the usual things meted out to him by grown up humans. But nobody rebuked him!!!! The woman reprimanded them gently, “Wipe your feet outside, Mimi!! And Carlo? My love? Where did you run off to? Oh god!!! You need a bath immediately.” The bespectacled man sitting at the table inside looked up and lit up with a smile of happiness and relief. Silently beaming, he walked towards a corner and filled up two bowls with food and water. “Here, Carlo, food first. You must be hungry.” Kalu, now Carlo, in a daze of ecstatic disbelief, tiptoed towards the bowls, goaded my Mimi. Still instinctively anxious in the anticipation of a shove from some other dog, he dipped his muzzle in the bowl. The first morsel made him forget everything in the world and he gobbled up the food in moments. Oh, god!!!! Is this how food tastes? For dogs with homes? Carlo melted in gratitude and pure unbridled love for his newfound humans. If this is life, let it be!!! No point asking how he arrived in the midst of it.
 

The miraculous day rolled on in a haze of wondrous contentment. Carlo had toys of his own, his own sleeping mat in Mimi’s room, and nobody forbade him from climbing up the couches and the beds. Climbing up on the dining table or the kitchen counter was out of bounds, though!!!! He was given a bath by Mom and Mimi. The water was warm, streaming out of a handheld shower. Carlo tried to lick the fragrant bubbles of shampoo from his back, earning a gentle rebuke from Mom, and peals of laughter from Mimi. Dad rubbed him dry with a towel, and then a flow of warm air from the drier prepped him up. Carlo marveled at his own shiny coat. The black in his body was gleaming, and the white underbelly and paws had turned silken. “We have to buy him a new collar. God knows where he lost it!!!” Mom reminded Dad. Thankful for every little thing, Carlo followed Mimi devotedly, as she went on doing her homework, gaming on her tab, playing with dolls and cars, singing songs, chattering with her parents. The only time he got some scoldings was when he tried to snarl at the birds that came to sit on the windowsill to eat grains from Mimi’s hands. “Oye, Carlo? What is it Mate? They are friends !!!” Carlo accepted the unnatural friendship of the birds and sat down dutifully. Mimi kept on hugging him every two minutes, murmuring how she missed him after he disappeared from the dog park two days back. Mom and dad too watched him with besotted eyes, evidently relieved to have Carlo back. 
 

Evening arrived on the fifteenth floor window, putting up a psychedelic display of endless hues of red, orange, pink and purple.  The grey, blue and beige cityscape turned into a dark silken carpet studded with million twinkling diamonds. There were frequent phone calls, each answered with a joyful “ Yes, yes, he is back. Mimi found him in the garden.” by one or other of the family. Some children arrived, Mimi’s friends were as excited as her to have Carlo back. They patted him, hugged him, and offered him treats that tasted heavenly. Carlo seemed to be a very very beloved friend of everyone. Evening melted into night. Carlo had another sumptuous meal, while the family ate their dinner at the table. By that time, he had slid into his new life so completely, that it never occurred to him to beg or steal the food from table, or foraging for scraps. He had learnt to get used to food that just arrived on a bowl, and did not have to be earned by snatching from others. He accepted that humans were not always ready with a curse or a blow, they could be warm and welcoming. After the dinner, Dad and mom went out with a sack of leftovers mixed with dogfood, apparently for the strays living outside the gate of the society. Carlo watched them going out and coming in with nonchalance. As the night grew deeper, he started forgetting more and more about Kalu, the forever famished and anxious street dog. Night fell and there were gentle murmurs of goodnights in the house as everybody went to sleep. Carlo curled up on the mat at the foot of Mimi’s bed, listening without emotion to the faint barkings of the streetdogs running after each other on the roads, fifteen stories below. Sleep came, like never before. Sleep tonight was not interrupted by ache, fear or hunger. It was a warm cozy oblivion, as for the first time, the dog went to sleep knowing himself to be safe.
 

At the break of the dawn, Mimi suddenly woke up with a start of terror. Carlo immediately jumped up on the bed and muzzled her hair, wet with sweat. “Oh Carlo, what a nightmare!!” Mimi was shivering. She got down from the bed and tiptoed into her parent’s room, Carlo following close. “Mum? Baba? I can’t sleep. I had a nightmare.” Mom woke up and hugged Mimi, “Oh, baby!!!! Your heart is pounding!!!” Dad watched them with thoughtful eyes, while stroking Carlo’s head. “Okay, it’s almost dawn. Let’s not go to sleep again. It’s a Sunday. Why don’t we go to the seafront and watch sunrise?” Mimi nodded vigorously, her head still buried in Mom’s embrace. Mom wagged her head, but got up smilingly. In five minutes, they were all piled up in a spacious silver coloured car. As dad drove through the slowly wakening lanes of the city, Mimi egged on.” Faster, Baba, faster !!!” Dad obliged, as the roads were almost empty. The city, wrapped up in early morning smog, was quiet, apart from the few cars zooming in and out of sidelanes, and heavy trucks lumbering their way on main roads. The streetlights turned off at some point of time, and in the limp, bluish light of early dawn, morning walkers and joggers were moving past the closed shopfronts and big, colourful umbrellas of milk and news paper vendors. The car was cruising at quite a speed now. From time to time, Dad took his eyes off the road for a moment to watch Mimi affectionately through the rear view mirror, as she  hummed joyfully, the nightmare completely wiped out of her mind. They rolled down the windows to let the morning air rush in. It was cool and slightly moist from the early mists of December. Carlo was sitting in the backseat, blissfully entwined in a light embrace from Mimi, looking out at the city from a new vantage point, feeling the air gently fingering through his now shiny coat. He watched the roads and houses and vehicles pass by with a lazy and nonchalant gaze. 
Carlo was lost in his calm reverie, when, something stirred in him, immediately turning his body taut and ears upright.  A giant flyover with roadsigns hanging over its entry loomed into the field of vision outside the windshield. Suddenly everything seemed too familiar, the muscle memory of the old anxiety and hunger creeping up in the pit of his stomach. It was the comparatively poorer part of the city, the place where he grew up with other stray puppies, dodging death and fighting hunger every day. Right now, they were passing by the flyover that was his home until he miraculously tumbled into this new life. Under that flyover, homeless men, women and children were sleeping on filthy mats, with the dogs occasionally sniffing at their heels. On the other side, the lines of closed shops, which were his last memory from that old life, were wheezing past. Smog hung low, blurring the tail lights of the cars ahead into reddish hazes. Suddenly Carlo understood what was about to happen. From the car moving just ahead of them, a piece of leftover burgere wrapped in white paper was thrown in the middle of the road. Through the red haze of its tail lights, Carlo spotted Kalu, darting out towards the street from under the flyover like a completely black streak of darkness, to pick up the foodscraps before the other next car smudges it into the road. Their car hurled towards Kalu, Dad oblivious to it, with his eyes fixed on Mimi’s reflection in the rear view mirror. Carlo watched in horror as the car and the dog inched towards the course of collision in a reckless moment. Out of desperation, he let out a sharp yelp and instinctively lurched forward, towards the windscreen. Mom shrieked, and Dad pulled his eyes back on the street with an immediate start. “Oh Baba, we will smash at the poor dog !!!!” Mimi screamed too. Dad slammed his foot on the brake in panic, and the powerful,  gleaming car screeched to a halt, a hairs breadth away from Kalu. Kalu crossed the road in swift leaps and disappeared. Everybody were stunned for a moment and then Dad, mom and Mimi let out a collective sigh with an “Oh my god!!!”. Mimi hugged Carlo and pulled him back to the backseat, all three of them wondering what could have happened without his alertness. Carlo peeped out of the window and scanned the sidewalk for Kalu. There he was!!! Kalu was crouching under a bench in front of the fast food shop, the morsel of food gripped between his teeth. Their eyes met and Carlo smiled at himself “ Not today, mate, not today. Today, you got to live.” 
 

Dad revved up the engine again, and the car rolled ahead, Carlo watching Kalu through the rear windshield, as the sky turned paler and paler every moment in anticipation of daybreak.