Goli's Independence

Two years ago, while returning from school, a stray pup kept following me. I turned back to look straight at it. It did not cower or run away to safety because it trusted me. As I entered my house, it wriggled through the gap between my legs.

My little brother Avi was overjoyed to see it. I was uncertain about what to do with it. My heart wanted to keep it since it had come to us without any coercion, but my mind was unsure if my mom would allow it. We could find support from our dad, but I was unsure if he would be influenced by mom.

"Didi, we will keep it," Avi whispered in my ear. I winked at him in support.

Mom was very stern, as usual. "Out it will go," she said. Then she instructed me, "Rimi, you will ensure that it's a stray without any owner." I had my job cut out for me, given by Mom, which I had to complete in a timely manner.

Within a few days, Jitu Uncle, our home attendant, and I scouted the neighbourhood and gathered information that a mother dog, after giving birth to a litter of pups, had died in a tragic accident. Since then, the orphaned pups had dispersed here and there, helplessly. I was thrilled to know that the pup had no owner and that no one could claim it. Avi was overjoyed to hear the news. Dad was smiling when I announced, "Now the pup is ours. No one claimed it, and it has come to us without our invitation. We don't turn away guests, as per our culture." Mom was taken in by my last sentence.

Reluctantly, she had to give in. "We will name it Goli," exclaimed Avi excitedly.

So, Goli stayed with us, and after two years, he has become an indispensable member of our family.

He goes with us wherever we go in the city. He attends all our social functions and family get-togethers. In fact, Goli has become a special attraction at these celebrations. I feel that relatives attend just because of Goli. Any strained relationships we may have had with our relatives have now been smoothed over. Now we have to manage larger crowds during our family functions. However, our time is now better spent. The ladies do not get much of a chance to discuss matters about others because Goli, such an intelligent being, would bark and force such conversations to stop. I kept wondering how Goli managed to know the topic. He just gave me a wimpish smile and ran away to another crowd of people. This made me feel proud of him.

Since Goli was a stray, we didn't force our ownership over him. So he was never kept in bondage, bound by a leash or a chain. He just stayed on like a visiting relative. He had the freedom to go wherever he wanted and could come in whenever he felt like it.

Only he knew he had to keep himself neat and clean; otherwise, he would get a stern scolding from mom.

Recently, we had gone out of town for a few days during vacation, leaving Goli behind. When we returned, we found that he had returned to us joyfully. So we got into this habit.

We came to know how Goli kept guard over our house when we were away, as our neighbors told us how he had prevented a break-in by some thieves. The people who do guard duty at night found this out and narrated it to us when we returned. They expressed their gratitude towards him, as his alertness made their job easy. Goli used to scout around the neighborhood and alert us to any alien presence or suspicious behavior.

Every one of us ensured Goli's independence because he deserved it. Due to his conspicuous presence, Goli had averted many robb

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eries and thefts. Because of this achievement, Goli was given a special award from the police department. At his felicitation ceremony, our whole neighborhood was present. Avi and Goli marched together to the stage to receive the award of a medallion and a cash prize. With the cash prize, we bought his favorite dog food and a new bed for him.

But his independence could become costly for him, neither we knew, and we believe he was also not prepared for it. All of a sudden, he vanished. We thought and took this behavior of his as akin to the behavior of a stray. But my brother Avi remained very concerned about his absence. We tried our best to console him, but he remained adamant and did not agree.

Then, when he got angry and protested by refusing to eat, we had to take steps to look for him.

For the next two days, we searched in vain. But Goli was nowhere to be found. On the third day, Avi was tense and losing patience. Dad was there to help us. We were confident that Dad would be able to find some way where we were not successful. Dad had borrowed his friend's sniffer dog, a Labrador, which is generally put into service to locate objects that cannot be traced with our normal senses. The Labrador was first asked to smell some objects linked to Goli, like his bed or his food.

The sniffer led us as far as it could get the scent. We were driven to the edge of the city, where there were some warehouses. After leading us to a warehouse, the sniffer lost the trail. For a few hours, we kept searching there but without success. We abandoned the search for that day.

Then, on the fifth day, the local police, hearing that we had been looking for Goli, volunteered to offer their services. They brought with them two specially trained sniffer dogs who were much more experienced.

We were finally led to a warehouse that seemed abandoned. From there, we could hear a faint and weak bark of a dog. Avi jumped for joy as he felt the sound was of none other than Goli.

We entered the dark warehouse, which had no lights. It seemed to have been abandoned for quite some time. There was rubbish and an undergrowth of grass and scrubs. Abandoned boxes and cartons lay scattered here and there. In between some wooden boxes, we found Goli tied by the neck to a pillar. His feet were also tied, and his mouth was gagged. That was the reason we could not hear a full-throated bark. He jumped for joy when Avi pounced on him to free him from bondage. He was all over Avi, licking him in gratitude and excitement. Goli refused to climb down from Avi when Avi had taken him on his shoulder.

Just then, we heard sounds coming from some strangers at the gate of the warehouse. Within minutes, they came charging at us when they found Goli had been freed.

There were three of them. They were pretty annoyed that we had found Goli. But they didn't know that we were accompanied by the police in civilian clothes. When they finally discovered the presence of the police, they tried to run and escape. But by then, it was too late. They were quickly nabbed and taken to the police station.

We took Goli home and had a big celebration for Goli's newfound independence. He had become slightly weak since he had not been fed during his captivity.

Later, we came to know that due to Goli's presence, the robbery was unable to be conducted. So, to carry out their robbery, they had to take Goli out of their way, hence his abduction. The people apprehended were petty robbers.