Last week, I attended a family function at Una. The very first lohri celebrations of the son of my cousin.

At night , we were sitting out side near the bonfire enjoying peanuts and gachak (roasted peanut and jaggery bar). Suddenly, we observed that a black dog along with his broken leash came to us.

The dog named — ‘Tiger' actually belonged to the neighbours living in the opposite building.

One of the relatives, Mr. Ajay, who happened to be a dog lover, started massaging and caressing his neck. The dog, who seemed to be very aggressive, calmed down at once! He placed his head on Mr. Ajay’s thigh and started enjoying the warmth of his loving touch and the bonfire! By now, Mr.Ajay also started whistling in his own style to call him!

The owner, came out of his house searching for the dog. Having noticed him sitting near us, the owner shouted in a commanding heavy voice— “Tiger, get back here! Quick.”
But instead of following the commands of the owner, the dog ran away and vanished in the dense and dark bushes!

Now, there was a situation. The owner was calling him back authoritatively but in vain.
Then, Mr. Ajay stood up and started whistling in his own sweet style.

To the astonishment of one and all, tiger came out of the bushes immediately and ran straight to Mr. Ajay! He again placed his head on Mr. Ajay’s thigh and behaved in such a manner, as if he never heard the commands of his owner. Somehow, Mr. Ajay, caught hold of the leash and handed it over to the owner.

From this entire episode, I learnt one thing that even the animals respond to the language of love. Commands do not always work!

—Vijay Kumar
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