A tribute to our Pharmacy Lali, in the words of her human mother, Mrs. Hansa Roy,
"End of a fourteen years old journey, of seeing a sickly mother dog transform into the leader of a formidable pack. Her confidence, her trust in me. Then the ageing part. She was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma six months ago that has a very poor prognosis. then, her age was not in her favour.
But, her eyes full of life,she always came running for the food. And finished it in one go. The day this doesn't happen, the vet had told me, should be her last day. I knew the end was near, very near. Last Sunday, 25 th , she came out to see me off. And then the rains , the deluge and the havoc and chaos started. She was there in the back of my mind throughout. I didn't want her to die of starvation or drowning.I wanted her to be there. And,she was there ,she had waited for me, waited for the rains to stop, waited for the flood waters to recede. She knew I would come, she had remembered our pact " To be together till the last breath, yours or mine ". She came running to meet, left some of the food. Then as our eyes met, I asked her"Would you like to go ?" In the five days, the cancer had spread abnormally. She didn't protest much going to the clinic. I held her as she started her journey. I asked her to sleep and she obeyed . Both of us kept our parts of the promise: she had waited for me and I was with her till her last breath. She was being cremated when I left,a strange void engulfing me. The realisation that death is the ultimate truth, nullifies the superficial nature of everything else."
