We, me and my parents travelled back to the estate from which we had moved to the town years ago. When I say town and estate, the only thing that differentiated the two places were roads and shops. The town had better roads, a vegetable market and about 20-30 varied stores, whereas the estate had only one road side stand which sold everything tea/coffee, tiffin, veggies, groceries and stationery. Other than that they were the same, or at least that is what I thought.

I was only about 8-10 yrs old, like any kid I found the visit to the relatives house boring and I was silently wishing we’d leave. Finally my parents decided to leave and we started walking to the nearest Jeep stand (The Mahindra Commander Jeeps are the only commute to and from the village).

As we walked a ferocious looking dog ran towards me, I held my dads hand tight and he pulled me behind him, shielding me from the dog. I was trying to pull my dad and start to run, but before we could think or move the dog pounced on my dads shoulders. My mom was shouting at it for it to go away. I stood stunned and didn’t move a muscle. My dad was also repeating “stay… stay…” and started trying to get the dog’s paws off his chest. My mom started complaining that his shirt is all dirty.

Wait! what? Did I hear my mom correctly? She was worried about the shirt?!!! The shirt?!! That is when my brain almost crashed. I turned around and asked “What are you even talking about?” She was astoundingly calm, which was very unusual for my mom who’d even freak out at the sight of honey bees in our house. But now there was a huge dog overpowering my dad and she stood there still.

She calmly replied, “He always does that.” “Who? Wait! So you know him?” I enquired her. That is when she clarified it was our dog. We gave it away when we moved and he was just overjoyed to see us. After a few more minutes of what I otherwise would’ve thought that a man and a dog were wrestling, he finally got down from the shoulders of my father and started circling around us. I was still pretty intimidated by his looks and size but he kept snuggling between my legs, whimpering and wagging his tails. His tail was wagging at the speed of helicopter blades. If he were light, he would have been air borne.

I had no memory of the dog; we moved while I was about 2-3 yrs old but he knew me well. I wished I was able to recollect any memories of him but I couldn’t. Apparently we had to leave him behind along with other cattle and poultry. He was sort of the guard dog and the animals needed him more than us. In addition to that, our new home and the locality wasn’t dog friendly. I never knew living in the town or city meant lacking freedom to even have pet animals.

My dad bought some Egg Bondas (a type of deep fried dough) from the road side stand and placed it in front of him. But he didn’t eat. He kept playing with us and was asking for tummy rubs from my father. He started eating only when my dad fed him the Bondas.

After about 30 minutes, a Jeep arrived and we got in. Once the jeep left he started following us. I sat in my moms lap silently watching him follow the Jeep. With every turn or swift swerve the Jeep made in the rickety mud roads, he slipped but managed to gain balance and kept chasing us.

As the jeep accelerated, the poor thing frantically tried to keep up with us. He followed us for a few kilometres before he gave up. I was silently wishing he would leap just enough to get into the back side of the Jeep and travel with us. I wanted to extend my arm and pull him in, but I knew they were only going to be distant wishes. That image of the poor soul racing behind the Jeep through those fields will never fade from my memory.

I would never understand how or why he showered us with such earnest unconditional love. Coincidentally, Earnest was his name