Kolkata: Planning for Nepal and Missing Puppies

Stray

Breakfast this morning was another delicious serving of French toast and sausages. While we fried the bread I also scored a cooking lesson on how to make that amazing spiced pumpkin mash that we had the other day.

There was some leftover toast from breakfast so we excitedly went in search of the puppies that hang out by the road so we could feed them. They were nowhere to be seen. Back at Anando's, his maid informed us that the puppies were gone. Two nights ago, because they bark, somebody had fed them poison. Only my favourite had survived, being lucky enough to be taken in and cared for by Anando's neighbour. No wonder she was still nervous when she saw me last night. Still, she wasn't around today and I couldn't help but worry the horrible person who had taken the lives of her family had got her too.

Lunch

Having convinced Anando to come with us for a month to Nepal we spent an hour confirming our anticipated trekking itinerary while waiting for our load of washing to finish.

Then, having used up all of the Internet on our phones, and with lots of bookings to make, we headed out to recharge.

For our final lunch at Anando's the maid had cooked up some of our favourites. The mashed pumpkin I had seen cooked earlier was served with rice, an onion dahl, beans and potatoes and the coconut prawns we had loved so much.

Mummy Dog

As we got ready to head out for the afternoon I heard Anando yell from upstairs, "Lauren! The mother dog is waiting outside!" I stuck my head out and there she was! I grabbed a piece of this morning's French toast and excitedly went outside to feed her. I gave her some pats but, who was I kidding, we both knew why we were here. I ripped off small pieces of the toast and fed them to her one at a time. She was patient and gentle, barely touching my fingers as she took the toast from me. She never snatched, never rushed. She just sat there and waited for each coming morsel. Relaxing she laid down and, taking my cue from her, I got comfortable as I gave out toast and pats. Another female came by also but was more nervous, choosing to stand back as I threw her the odd piece of toast. Maybe more dogs had survived than we thought?

Tonny

We were out of time and needed to get going. As we headed out...there she was. One of the puppies! She was cautious at first but quickly went into playful belly-scratching mode. Promising her I'd return later with food we continued to the car and to Tonny, the carpark owner, who is quickly becoming one of my favourite people from this trip. While Anando got the car out of the tight car park, Chris, Tonny and I posed for photos with a cycle rickshaws. Despite not having any language in common, we shared smiles and thumbs ups as I showed him the photos of us.

We drove into the city, parked up at the mall and Anando went off to dancing, leaving Chris and I to go shopping! We grabbed a few essentials, and also a few non-essentials. Chris got cuff links and we also got a beautiful card for Anando's Mum.

Once we finished at the mall we went over to the International School and watched the end of the dance class. It was then back to the mall for a few more errands before we could drop Devaleena off and head home. On the way we convinced Anando to stop off at a florist so we could grab some flowers for his Mum. We crossed our fingers that she would like our selection. And she did. We wrote on the card, grabbed the flowers that's we had left in the courtyard, and handed over our gift.

Then it was puppy feeding time. French toast in hand we hit the dark streets. While we didn't find my favourite puppy we did find the mother, who I had fed earlier, as well as the father and one other. The mother remembered me and did not hesitate to eat up as much French toast as I would allow. The others needed some convincing but were happy enough to eat from my hand by the end of it. I would love to know what breed the dogs are, or what breed they are mostly mixed with, because they have the most beautiful gentle nature.

The evening was to consist of pizza, beer and Bacardi breeders so we settled in in front of the TV then related upstairs to watch our inspiring Everest documentary from beginning to end. Throughout the day a pain in my hip had been getting progressively worse so we went to bed hoping that tomorrow, when we fly to the trekking capital of the world, it is feeling better. Only I could manage to pinch something with this sort of inconvenient timing.