One scary moment & a life-long fear

Classes IX and X usually mean extra tuitions. It wasn’t any different in our school days. One cold evening in my hometown Shimla, I was returning home from my physics tuition. The hilly roads were quiet as I walked with my books held close. Suddenly, a dog appeared from the opposite side. At first, I thought he would simply pass by, maybe sniff a little and leave, as most dogs usually do. But this one looked different. He came close, started smelling me, and before I could react, he took a bite, luckily it landed on my book.

I stood frozen for a moment, terrified. Then as he began to growl and chase me, I ran for my life into a house nearby. I came to know later that it was a mad dog and that the Shimla police had been searching for it. Though I managed to escape without any physical harm, I had to take anti-rabies injections as a precaution.

The incident left a deep scar on my mind. Years later, I could never be comfortable even around pet dogs. After my marriage in Chandigarh, my in-laws’ had a pet dog, but I could never gather the courage to allow it to come near me. The memory of that one mad dog in Shimla still haunts me. A single scary encounter has created a lifelong fear.

Silky Bajaj, Chandigarh