DOGGONE IT!!

It was one of those lazy Sunday afternoons. I’d woken up at about 1:30 in the afternoon, having spent most of the night and early morning wide-awake, as I’ve some trouble sleeping early.
So anyway, after finishing my bath I was combing my hair quickly, waiting to eat lunch, when I heard my aunt’s dog yelp and growl. I didn’t react much as he growls and barks at nothing in particular all the time. Then the maid came into the room shivering and twitching in a funny manner. At first I thought she was having some kind of fits. Then I saw the horrified look on her face. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, “the dog bit madam!” For a heart-stopping moment, I thought that that vicious little dog had bitten my Grans. But my maid said that he had bitten his own mistress, my aunt! I rushed out to see and stopped in my tracks as soon as I saw my aunt. She was bent over the basin in the dining room and her face was covered with blood, the basin was covered with blood, and there were a number of rags soaked in blood lying on the table. My appetite vanished at once, as I would have thrown up at once if I’d even attempted to eat anything.
I just stood there gawking. I didn’t know how to help (or maybe I just didn’t want to!). The maid and my aunt’s house help were helping her clean up her face. But the blood just did not let up. It was pouring down her face in thick rivulets. I had a crazy flashback of the movie ‘Kill Bill, vol. 1’, where in every second scene blood spurted in a fountain from decapitated heads (I’d actually enjoyed the movie, apart from all the blood-shed, it was quite fascinating). The scene before me was the most horrific thing I’d ever seen, and I’m a regular viewer of shows like ‘Fear Factor’, ‘Ripley’s Believe it or not’, ‘CSI’ (not the crappy Miami one), which contain scenes that could make your stomach absolutely queasy, but I was never all that affected with whatever they dished out. But this was happening right in front of my eyes!
And then Grans came into the dining room to check out what all the commotion was about. When she learnt that her niece was bitten by her own dog (who is called ‘Rambo’, by the way), she asked how it had actually happened. In between trying to stem the flow if blood, my aunt explained that she’d just come back from the gym and had walked into the room to find Rambo asleep, and he looked so adorable (I’m rolling my eyes at this point!!) that she couldn’t help but bend down and kiss him on his nose! Hearing this, as is her wont, Grans started yelling, “How could you do something so stupid? You know how ferocious your dog can be, what was the need to kiss it? It is your Anand (the house help) who has made it this way! He goes on teasing the dog and now you have to pay for it! I’ve always told you that it is not safe to keep this mongrel, but does anyone ever listen to me?! Just the day before it had growled at some guests of mine and looked all set to pounce on the little girl who had come, but your Anand came and jerked it away!”
Here Grans had to pause for a breather. She then ordered my aunt to visit a doctor at once. Rambo had left two deep gashes each, on both of her cheeks.
While Grans’ tirade was going on, I was secretly hoping that the vicious Rambo would now be sent away. That dog has a split personality, I tell you! Sometimes he’s so happy to see me, and sometimes he growls and barks at me as if he’s never seen me before! For instance, one day I’d come home and Rambo was there to receive me at the door, wagging his tail and looking quite pleased to see me. I was also happy at this reception, as I miss my cousin’s Labrador a lot, back in Hyderabad, who’s the friendliest dog in the world.
But, back to Rambo now. I bent down to pet him and he seemed to like it for sometime, then suddenly he started growling deep in his throat and furrowed his forehead and started barking loudly at me! I was utterly shocked at this change. He seemed ready to lunge at me, when the afore said house help came and took him away. From that day onwards I’ve never gone anywhere near the dog, but that doesn’t stop the vicious thing from barking at me, my brother, the other maids when he’s in one of his terrible moods, which is quite often. I never thought that I would ever hate an animal, let alone a dog! But this one I do! Each time I look at him, I want to pick him up and throw him off the balcony!! He induces such nasty images in my mind! Now I think he looks absolutely evil with his furrowed brow and yellow eyes!
Because of all the above reasons, I was hoping that my aunt or at least her husband, seeing how badly his wife was hurt, would get rid of the mangy mutt. But no such luck! My aunt blamed herself or the entire mess! I guess it was silly of her to bend down and kiss her unstable dog while he was sleeping, but he did assault her so very brutally. But then, I guess all dog owners cannot see beyond how adorable their pet is, no matter if they have unstable personalities. My mother had also suggested taking him to a pet psychologist. But my aunt sees nothing wrong with her dog.
So as of now, I don’t think that damn dog is going anywhere in the near future. I’ll just have to be careful and be aware of where the annoying thing is all the time! I so did not think life in Bombay would be like this!!