Every dog has its day

It was one of those blustery monsoon days when the Mumbai rain has washed away the filth on the road and the leaves on trees look bright and green as if freshly painted. It had been raining persistently the whole week and the road in front of our building was flooded with water. It had rained a lot and the sewers were over flowing with the downpour.

We had some friends visiting us and all of us had just finished our breakfast. The rain had let up for a while so it was relatively quiet. In this quiet, we heard the howling of a dog. Initially, we ignored it and were sitting around chatting when the howling became louder and did not stop.

I called up the security guard and found that a dog was trapped in one of the drain pipes near the gate of our building, who was creating this ruckus. On further inquiry, we came to know that it was a small dog who got swept in the drain with the rain water rain who is now lost and scared.

I immediately fired up my laptop to search for 'Dog Rescue' organisations. There was little hope of finding one which operated on a Sunday. By then, the dog's howling had reached a fevered pitch and I was worried that it should not die from fear and trauma of getting stuck.

I finally decided to ring the police and ask for help. They asked me to ring the fire department and many calls later, I was finally able to inform about the dog. Now all we had to do was to wait for the fire truck to arrive.
In the meantime I got dressed and went downstairs to check on the dog who had been suspiciously quiet for some time.

The fire truck arrived within 20 minutes of my call, loaded with firemen in their gear. They got down to the business of getting the tyke out of the drain. They searched high and low but could not find the dog. After spending nearly an hour trying to find the dog, the firemen figured out that the dog must have found a way to escape. The firemen loaded up and the fire engine tootled off among number of gawking looky loo's and a group of stray dogs.

All the while, I had this nagging suspicion that our 'howling friend' was sitting pretty with his group, looking at all of us and wondering what all the fuss was about


P.S: This experience taught me that the Fire department in Mumbai does care about stray dogs stuck in sewers. It heeds to your complaints and is there to help you. They were efficient and kind. Hats off to Mumbai Fire Department for their help.

Comments

  1. i gotta say.. I did not expect they'd take so much trouble..

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    1. Yeah, neither had I expected but was so happy when they actually came :)

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  2. appreciated act.
    wish the dog is fine now

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  3. Hey nice to see you back to blogging LP...There are a couple of manic howlers near where I live and they appear to be party animals! They start howling in groups at about 2 and go on till about 3.30..It's like their own jazz band...earlier I used to think that one was injured..till I realised this was their idea of fun and mine of torture!

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    1. Thanks D :) I know exactly what you mean...they are a nuisance at night.

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  4. Hats off to all the people in uniform, its not always easy to do ones duty with all the problems associated.
    So when someone does do the work then they need to be applauded ..

    Bikram's

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    1. So true..and they actually made the efforts to rescue he dog.

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  5. Very kind of you that you took the trouble of making many calls. Would have been quite an embarasment when the fire guys could not find the dog.

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    1. Hi Hariharan, Welcome to my blog :) I am actually a dog lover so would not have been in peace if I would not have tried to save the dog

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  6. You know I have always felt that compared to the normal Indian standards the public service arms in Mumbai is much better. And your post is a case in example :)

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    1. I agree Smita :) this incident made it clear..

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  7. Happy to see the dedication from the men in uniform.
    Lovely post

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    1. Thanks Dee :) welcome to my blog. It was such a pleasant surprise...

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  8. What a lovely anecdote. I do love dogs and their sense of humor. I'm trying to 'find' you on FB for a more personal connect...looking ;)

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    1. Corinne I am on FB as Lazy Pineapple :) let me add you..

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  9. Glad to know the fire department responded. Hope the dog is fine!

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    1. I was also happy that they came to rescue a stray dog. even I hope so..

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  10. That's such a feel good story! I must say I didn't expect the fire dept to help so it's good to know that they do! Loved the stray dogs that used to live on my street back in Bombay...

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    1. hey PB :) good to see you here. Yeah! even I was surprised when the firetruck arrived and the firemen put in efforts to find the dog.

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  11. Harshavardhini Barse25 February 2012 at 12:56

    Vini :-), I remember you telling me about this. Glad see you back in action on your blogging site! Happy writing and hope to read loads of new articles soon!!!! Cheers!

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    1. Thanks babes :) I fell quite rusty, seem to have forgotten how to write..need to really brush up on my skills.

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  12. it's always nice when those responsible to help out, DO indeed help and nicer when citizens as nice as you bother to respect them for that =)

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  13. Hats off to your and Mumbai Fire Department for it's prompt response. Compassion is not dead, at least not yet!

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  14. woo they actuallly took so much trouble... kudos to them :D

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  15. Hey I didn't get any notification of this post. It is nice to know that Mumbai Fire Department is so compassionate. Of course you did not lag behind either, making all those calls and taking so much effort.

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  16. Oh I wonder why you did not get a notification :( let me check feeburner

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  17. Loved this post and other ones! Wish you would blog more frequently or is that New Year wish going the way of New Year resolutions?:)

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  18. Hi Suresh, I do want to blog more often. Some things in life are moving fast and am trying to keep up. I will try my best :) thanks so much for your kind words.

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  19. Deepak Amembal5 April 2012 at 12:26

    indeed! 
    they just celebrated their 125th anniversary too!!

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  20. That was indeed a fast response! In Mumbai, fortunately the public agencies are more responsive as I too saw in my few years of stay in the city!

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  21. Yes they responded pretty fast...and were  quite sensitive too :) Thanks for your comment,,

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  22. Great article about this topic, I have been lately in your blog once or
    twice now. I just wanted to say hi and show my thanks for the
    information provided.

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  23. And that is good to know. Here from Indiblogeshwaris. I am glad that you took that step for the dog. Many people don't even bother.

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  24. Hi Rachna, Welcome to my blog. I love dogs...so that was a big motivator...

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