SALUTE TO A DOG - Reposting.....

SALUTE TO A DOG

This picture of our Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi looking at a military dog as he interacts with the army officers and soldiers, published prominently in almost all newspapers today brought up a few memories of my early years at the Srinagar(J&K) Airport. But this one echoes of a painful memory though. Yet, it’s good that something began to come to our mind -things we thought we had long forgotten- through such occasional images.
One languid afternoon, back in my room after the last domestic flight took off from the Srinagar Airport, I received a message from my Commanding Officer asking me to preside over the funeral ceremony of a sniffer dog, Action, who died of spinal cancer, with full police honors. This surprised me, because I had never been to such an assignment before. Not knowing what it’s all about, truly speaking I felt a wee bit hesitant and embarrassed by the thought of giving a ritual salute to a dog in full ceremonial uniform and that too in front of a fairly good gathering.
But what I felt later, while standing there at the place where the dog was laid to rest was an enormous amount of love, affection and sadness mixed together, shared with the master and his dog. It restored a bit of my faith in humanity. When the dog handler who had been assigned with the dog ever since he was just a few months old, leaned over to pet his snout for the last time before his body was taken to the burial pit, I marveled at how deep the relationship between a dog and its master is. I heard someone standing in the rear weeping when we witnessed the master handler hold the head of the dog and say something in a subtle voice with tears rolling down his cheeks. May be he was giving a final pat on his partner and thanking him for his unwavering companionship and affection. And when his body was lowered into the grave, he literally broke down and wept. This affected me emotionally. I stood there in silence. My eyes were blurred with tears. And then, as the Guard Commander yelled the command for rest on your arms reversed, “Shok Shasthra” I walked directly up to the grave, came to attention and with my shoulders back and head up, rendered him his final salute. With that salute I bid farewell to a brave dog who served the nation by discharging his duties with that unparalleled and inborn sense of commitment.
For whatever reason, I felt a great sense of pride, a sense of accomplishment to be a part of that ceremony. I’am sure everyone present there of the 55 BN C.R.P.F felt the same way.
Back in my room, my mind directed me to scribble a few lines about this incident as it’s generally believed that poetry can help a person express the feelings and grieve to a great extent……


Re-posting my Poem here.....

SALUTE TO A DOG



When winter blessed the valley white

The barrack roofs had kissed the frost

And clad in ice, the airport road

Lay as made of crystal glass.

As the mighty gates were opened wide,

The valley airport woke and breathed.

Hordes of cars and roars of flights

And pack of tourists made it bright.

The valley like a stunning damsel

Was once a reticent girl in grief.

Splintered flesh and wounded veins

She gasped along the age in pain.

Salvage came from far off lands

Marching through the flame of loath.

Set her free from grief and pain,

And thence they guard her safe and fine. 

And for those who leave the valley

Carried along the bracing thoughts,

A tiny head that rummaged around

Had always made them feel so proud.

Amid the men in fur they saw 

A Canine worked in belted coat.

His fair large eyes and gifted nose

Snooping hard for veiled hazards.

There he worked day and night,

Neither growl nor bark he made.

Never pleaded for what to him was owed

Cared not the vagaries of wind and rain.

Aircrafts took off safe and sound,

Relied upon his gifted nose.

Cleared the luggage that came in hordes

Never his heart had fallen down.

 And when danger loomed on the floor

When someone spotted a bag unknown

 The wisest folk when ran to safety 

Forth he came and sniffed the stuff. 

 Together they stood in the aisle, so calm

Together they stood amid life and death.

Still did he work and still did he sniff

And worked his years through dreary strain.

Autumn came, so did monsoon,

Came the winter and sizzling summer

Gates were opened and closed at night,

Nothing changed but only age.

“Action”, the dog lived his time

Till a cancer gripped his spine.

Came in his place a younger dog,

Human life is above all.

On a day when silver snow

Gave way to the weeping sky

His sniffing nose and probing eyes

Closed for ever in a longer breath.

Laid to rest on a wooden plank,

His body looked cold and lank.

The godly nose that saved the souls

 Plugged up neat by cotton swab.

 Here, where the ‘honor guard’

                Set down impassive in ceremonial role

                My soul ached, ‘O brave,.. You were a valour dog!’

                My sense, as though lost in thoughts.

When the lone bugler in uniform,

Played the ‘Taps’ in an awful woe

Stood his master with trembling hands

Upon the last rites with lament eyes.

His body when sank into the womb of earth

His thoughts, a stream pierced the heart.

No more bombs and no more drugs, ‘O, Brave

Now sleep in peace in this silent grave.

Cannot express the plight of being there

Your memories will remain forever, I swear.

That gallant life, that soul of devotion,

What remains……………?

As the trumpet played the force funeral tune,

I saluted him with trembling hands

I prayed for the soul’s blissful eternity.

And whispered-Here rests a dog

Who lived the words -service and loyalty!

(“Service and loyalty” is the motto of CRPF)