A Dog in the Bush

Sai Srikar Valmiki, being a cowardly lad in his childhood, was teased very much by bullies and friends alike. His friends took advantage of his fear and made him do all their assignments. He could not stand-up for himself. 

Sai was always a bright student, but no one recognized his flair. He was a fool in the eyes of his teachers because he did not have time to do his own work as he did the work of others first. His teachers scolded him every day. He was scared that the homework of the bullies would be left out if he did his work first. 

He was afraid of the bullies very much, especially Sri Venkat, the leader of them all. Sai tried to say, “No!” many times, but he always got threats of getting beaten in front of the whole school. Of course, no one would have dared to beat him, but still Sai got scared of it.

He could not share his feelings to anyone, even his mother or sister. He used to cry in his bathroom almost every week. This crying routine was also known to none.

This story is about how he became brave and not only learned to stand-up for himself but also for others. This change in him didn’t not occur on its own. It took the help of a puppy!

It all started long ago, on a sunny day. Srikar had just finished his crying routine because his class bully, Sri Venkat had handed him his homework to Sai. Though Sai had completed Venkat’s work, his own was pending. 

The work was not a small one. It could take-up hours even if the first step went wrong, however Sai managed to do Venkat’s work perfectly, but he was afraid that his work would go terribly wrong. It was already 4 in the evening. 

Sai was very worried; his teacher had warned him that if he hadn’t finished his homework he would be expelled from school. 

However, Sai was determined to do it before 6pm. And somehow, he was successful (and, magically, before even 5:30), though the work was not mesmerizing like his previous work. 

Suddenly, he was very cross, he did not like it, he went to his bathroom and saw himself in the mirror. He was ashamed of himself and out of frustration he punched himself. 

After a while he started crying, he cried as hard as he could. He was crying not because all the others bullied him but because he could not justify his actions. He had crossed the limits of being a scaredy cat, but what else could he do than being a timid person. 

After crying for almost 15 minutes, he washed his face and decided to go for a walk to calm himself down. 

The park that used to be near his house. It is a huge lush green area with children’s play stuff like slides, swings, see-saw etc. It also has a huge walking area along its borders; a tall fountain in its center; a large gym; a place to perform yoga and a very pleasant sitting area.

Srikar went and sat on a bench further away from the center of the sitting area. He did not want to be seen by anyone, so he sat there. The bench was near the bushes that divided the gym area from the sitting area. As this was the boundary of the sitting area, not many benches were placed along it, and not many preferred sitting here.

Sai sat there and got lost in thoughts. He thought of how to be afraid of bullies. First, he thought of hitting them so that Sai’s fear would vanish, but he dropped the idea as it was risky. Then he thought of joining the bully gang, so that they would not tease him, this also considered useless as Sai didn’t want to join a bad group. Like this he thought of many ways which were effective tactics but were dropped due some reason. 

While thinking of another idea, he heard the bush near him rustle. He turned around to see what caused it as there was no wind blowing. 

He tried to move the leaves and look inside it, and there he saw a small puppy. It was motionless, except that its chest was periodically rising and falling. It was badly injured and was trapped between twines. 

Sai carefully freed the dog from the bush and cleaned it in a nearby water-tap. After doing all this he cleaned all its injuries and dressed them. 

Sai looked around and saw that an angry but tired dog was barking at the puppy in his hand. The puppy tried to leap. Sai thought that the pup was afraid and was trying to run. Sai held the puppy tightly in his hand and ran as fast as he could. The dog followed him at almost the same speed. But he somehow ran so fast that he left the dog behind.

After a long run, Srikar reached his home, but he was afraid of taking the pup in. He was sure that his mum would resent. But he took the risk and went in. 

His mum saw the dog and angrily shouted, “What did you think when you brought this pup? Leave it where you picked it from!”

“Ma, but it is injured!” Sai replied.

“So what? You did dress it!”

Sai was about to reply when he saw the pup’s face, it made a face which could convince anyone. Sai also copied it. He made his eyes large and beady, and a sad face; with this he looked at his mother in a pleading way.

His mother was about to shout but the face did its magic, she got convinced and said, “Ok, ok! But remember, it has to leave when the injuries are healed!”

“Sure, mom ok!” Sai happily went to his room. He was happy not only because of the allowance on the pup, but also because it was the first time Sai convinced someone!

He then made a small house for the dog. That night it slept there.

The next day, Sai took both the projects he made to school. While he was on his bus, he got a good idea. He replaced Venkat's name with his own and vice versa, so that now the good-looking project belonged to Sai and the average looking one belonged to Venkat.

When he went to school and handed the project to Venkat, he said nothing as he did not know what the project was all about. When Venkat submitted the work to his teacher, she criticized him that this was not what she expected from him and when Sai submitted his work, she praised him for doing so well.

This somehow lit fire in Venkat’s heart. He wanted to take revenge for this stupid prank that Sai. So, he and his gang of strong dope-heads, waited for Sai to come down and play in the park.

Sai came down to play (just as Venkat anticipated) with the pup. In the park, Venkat’s gang cornered Sai and the pup and started hitting them. Sai did not practically get hurt, but the pup squealed in pain. Sai tried to protect it but was unsuccessful. 

Suddenly, the same dog that chased Sai appeared behind them. It was angry and pounced on the attackers. The dog bit them, scratched them and hurt them in all the ways possible. Venkat’s gang ran as fast as they could to save their lives, but the dog did not chase them. Instead, it tenderly touched the pup. The pup tried to stand on its legs but was too weak to do so. Sai stood up and helped the pup. 

After a while, the pup left with the dog. Sai then understood everything. The dog was the mother of the pup and was not trying to attack it but was trying to get it back on the first day. He happily farewelled the dog and the pup.

From that day, Sai was not afraid of the bullies, he now knew that he was stronger than the whole lot. If they threatened him, he would threaten them back that he would let loose a dog at them if they hit him. And that was enough. 

Now that he refused to do the work of the bullies, he had time to do his own perfectly.

THE END