Furry at Farakka

When Furry arrived, he was barely a month old—small enough to fit comfortably in one’s hands and fluffy enough to resemble a travelling ball of cotton. He was a young Indian Spitz, brought from Kolkata to Farakka by my wife and our only son, Anish. They had received him from a neighbour in Kolkata who apparently believed that a household could never have too much happiness—or fur.

At that time, in the early 1990s, I was posted in Farakka by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited as the site in-charge for erecting and commissioning two 500-megawatt units for NTPC Limited. My bungalow stood beside the majestic Ganges in the temporary NTPC township. Behind the house lay a large kitchen garden; on one side there was a lawn and on the other a small garage. To Furry, it soon became clear that this entire territory belonged to him.

We named him Furry, because at the beginning that was all he seemed to be—fur with a nose. But within a few months his face began to emerge from that cloud of hair like a commander stepping out of camouflage, and along with it appeared a definite personality—almost an attitude.

Dogs, I discovered, have very firm opinions about humans.

Consider the matter of biscuits.

Whenever he received one, Furry would sometimes dash to the kitchen garden, dig a small hole, and carefully bury it. The first time I witnessed this behaviour I asked him, “Why are you doing that?”

Furry looked at me with the tolerant expression of a professor dealing with a slow student.

Emergency storage, his eyes seemed to say.

You humans build power plants for future needs. We bury biscuits. Same principle.

One winter Sunday I was reclining in the lawn with a book when Furry appeared carrying a rubber ball. He dropped it beside my chair and barked.

Translation: Move your lazy bottom. We are going to play.

I ignored him.

He barked again.

Throw.

So I threw.

He ran, fetched the ball, returned, and dropped it again. Thus began my training.

Contrary to popular belief, dogs do not learn tricks from humans. Humans learn tricks from dogs. Soon I had mastered several essential commands: throw the ball, shake hands, and surrender food. Furry could even stand on his hind legs to reach whatever I happened to be eating.

There was no specialised dog food in those days. He simply ate whatever we ate.

Good, he seemed to think.

Shared diet. Shared intelligence.

He was particularly fond of travelling in our car, a loyal little Maruti 800. Sometimes, merely to keep the battery charged, I would start the engine while he sat in the back seat. The vibration convinced him the vehicle was moving.

He would sit upright, gazing seriously out of the window like an important passenger.

My father, who was staying with us then, found this enormously amusing.

“Furry!” he would call.

But Furry remained completely absorbed in his journey.

I am travelling, his posture seemed to say.

Please do not disturb.

His favourite place in the house, however, was directly in front of the kitchen when my wife was cooking. There he would sit like a vigilant supervisor of culinary operations.

Yes, his eyes would say approvingly,

that looks correct.

Throughout the day he followed my wife faithfully while I was busy at the plant dealing with boilers, turbines, and human complications.

Yet he possessed one remarkable talent—he could recognise the sound of my car from far away. The moment the Maruti approached the bungalow gate, he would begin barking excitedly.

Finally, the bark meant.

What kept you so long?

Once I entered the house he would follow me and settle beneath my chair. When I scratched behind his ears—an area dogs cannot easily reach themselves—he would close his eyes in quiet satisfaction.

Acceptable service, he seemed to say.

Diwali, however, was the worst time for him. The explosions of firecrackers terrified him. My wife would wrap a muffler gently around his ears and place him inside the Maruti with the doors closed to reduce the noise.

Even then he would tremble and look at us with deep reproach.

You humans, that look clearly said,

are remarkably inventive when it comes to unnecessary noise.

Those two and a half years at Farakka were perhaps the happiest period of Furry’s life. For me, the site posting was among the most demanding of my career.

But every evening after returning from the plant, burdened with technical issues and management puzzles, I would sit in the lawn and talk to him.

“I have a problem at the site,” I would say.

Furry would listen patiently.

Simple, his calm eyes seemed to suggest.

Think. Dig. Store the solution. Just like biscuits.

Strangely enough, many problems became clearer after such conversations.

In the end I realised something important: while we believed we had adopted Furry, it was actually Furry who had adopted us—supervising meals, monitoring vehicles, maintaining morale, and occasionally offering silent advice on engineering management.

Not bad for a creature who began life looking like a ball of fur.

A bundle of joy

Sometimes in 1992 when i was posted at Farakka then my wife and son Anish had gone to Kolkata to my in laws place for vacation. When they returned then they had brought a surprise item which probably i would have objected. It was a one month old dog of Spitz specis, a bundle of fur. We named him Furry.

For a few months it had round face with stub as a nose but gradually it started getting transformed to a dog with pointed face. Slowly Furry became an integral part of our family. The kids of the locality started referring us as Furry's father,mother. He became the center of attraction for all the BHEL kids and reason for jealousy of street dogs. So in front of the gate of my bungalow either there would be crowd of admiring children or barking street dogs.

In the house he would be constantly following my wife and most of the time would be squatting in front of the kitchen, while my wife would be cooking. There was no dog food for him, it was the same food what we would eat. In the meanwhile within a year it grew up to it's designated size and shape.

I was the Project Manager of BHEL at Farakka for 2x500 MW project. BHEL had a township adjacent to NTPC's township just by the side of Ganges. I was staying in a bungalow and other enginerrs were staying in C and D type quarters. There was Field hostel for bachelors. More than 140 BHEL emloyees were posted as site and almost all were with their families. Often there would be squabble between the families and as Project Manager i was supposed to resolve those. Issues like someones daughter absconding was my problem. Even i had to organise to dispatch a dead body of an employee to BIHAR by putting the dead body in a the boot of a car. Sunday was the day when i would be listening to the grievences of the employees and resolve their personal problems. There was a culvert.

I would be sitting on that for delivering judgement, i used to call that as throne of Vikramaditya, all the staff would be surrounding me. During that time Furry would make it a point to sit in front of me as though he was maintaining law and order. He would be sprawled on the road nonchalantly watching the body language of the people surrounding me. if someone raised any voice he would shut him by a bark. I must admit that he became center of attraction of the colony, I had got a badminton court made of cement with permanent lighting for employees to play after office hours. Many a times Furry would come running out of the house, jump across a big nullah and grab my pant while i would be playing a game of badminton. It was sight to watch, all the children would cheer Furry who would gleefully pull my leg literarily .

i have not taught him the game of throwing ball which he would pickup. It was the other way round, one day i was sitting in the lawn when he brought his ball to me, i took it, he looked at me expectantly using his mental force for me to act. I casually threw the ball, he happily went and brought that back to me but was reluctant to give it to me. I forced it out of him and then again threw, thus he trained me how to play with a dog. One day he entered the house with a Bidi stuck in his mouth, i scolded him for that mischief. Jokingly i used to tell before my son could start smoking Furry had stolen a lead on him. Another day he entered the house with a 20 rupee bank note in his mouth, i was happy that at last he had started earning. I would tease my son, "'Look,he is already earning whereas you are yet to start earning."" After his arrival we were pretty handicapped while making long journey, to take him by train was pretty cumbersome as copassengers might object. So all my trips to Kolkata was by road from Farakka. I wanted Furry to see Darjeeling during 1993 Durga Puja. i requested my friend J K saha who was posted then as Superintendent Engineer at Siliguri to fix up a hotel at Darjeeling where they would allow dog and he organised one such hotel. So four of us me, my wife,my son and Furry hired a cab for Darjeeling. We stayed the night at West Bengal Electricity Board's guest house and next day we pushed off for Darjeeling.The change of place effected Furry he stopped eating regular food so we gave him Cadburry his favourite diet. He became the most popular guy at Darjeling Mall.

Quite a lot of tourist from Kolkata would pet him and would enquire from us how could we bring our dog as they too wanted to bring their pets. The local dogs were jealous of his popularity but they would not bark like the street dogs of plain, they were curious and surround him, sniff him. I got transferred To Kolkata as General Manager in October,1994, made the journey back by road. In Kolkata he became fond of eating peda with milk and rice. I would purchase peda from one particula shop at Ballygaunge Station Road where we were staying then, just opposit to the hous of P C Sorcar,Junior. One day the owner of the peda shop commented to me that we guys like peda very much. I noded my head and said, "'Yes your peda is top class."" In Ballygaunge Furry was stuck in a flat after growing up in wide open space of Farakka, we too had to figure out how to tackle his mood swing,slowly he got adjusted. Though as Head of the region i could have hired a bungalow with open space but we preferred to stay in South Kolkata as my inlaws were there. After spending 6 years in Kolkata i got transferred as Executive Director to Bhopal. Sometimes when i look back to my Bhopal days then i realise that more than me Furry enjoyed the wide open space of ED,bugalow.

But then he had to make a punishing journey by plane in a cage.As per rule i got a cage made for his travel. He was put in cargo hold.

He travelled with my wife from Kolkata to Delhi by flight, i received them at Delhi. We spent a day in our flat in Delhi then we travelled by AC first class in Bhopal Express. To book the full coupe one of my colleagues from BHEL,Bhopal got booked in same four seats coupe so question of copassenger complaining was not there.

He had wide area to romp around. The vegetable garden. the wheat field withing the compound of ED,bungalow, yes our yearly  consumption of wheat  is rice and vegetable were grown in our bungalow. He would chase the birds, squirrels and all sorts of insects. But we had to keep a close eye on him as lot of snakes were there though those were chased off by mongoose . My father who at that   time was mostly staying with us would have Furry as his company. Furry used to chomp happily the wrist of my father which was bonny. I retired in June,2003. July,2003 we left Bhopal by same Bhopal Express and same arrangement of a fourth passenger from BHEL. From Delhi again the poor guy has to travel to Kolkata inside a cage as we took a flight. His stay in Kolkata was not much eventful, he started having various ailments. He had become old by dog age and left us in February,2005. We gave a proper burial to his earthly remain in a dog cemetery located at Behala. We were shocked as though one of our close relatives had left us. We could still see his bite marks on the legs of all our chairs, as he would spend most of the time below the chairs wherever me or my wife would sit so we never purchased a regular sofa as those have no open space at the bottom instead we have cushioned chairs. In our house there is a collage of lictures of Furry hanging on our bedroom wall.