K9

K9

It was past 2:30pm when we checked in at the HP PWD Rest House at Naina Devi. We, my daughter and I, were hungry and worn out after being on the roads for over ten hours. All we wanted badly was some rest. We hit the bed immediately after having a hurriedly arranged lunch by the caretaker.

It was the chill in the room accompanied by the howl of winds that pulled me out of my slumber. I looked at the watch. It was just 5pm. My daughter lay on the bed, fast asleep, with her tab still in her hand the way she had dozed off. I looked out of the window. Though it was fading, there was still enough light to let me have a glimpse of the hills that surrounded us. The leaves on the trees just outside the window were rustling wildly as if a blizzard was raging outside. The weather can be unpredictable in the hills. I had had similar experience, once at Kufri and again at Kasauli, when a simple calm breeze turned into strong winds in moments enough to make our bones shiver. Anticipating the same, this time we came prepared. I pulled out the sweat shirts from our travel bag and woke up my daughter. We had a job to do... capture the setting sun

Mesmerising Sunset over Anandpur Sahib

Just as we opened the door to the long verandah over looking Anandpur Sahib at a distance below us we were taken aback by the K9 sprawled right in front of the door. A steady gaze trained through his half opened eyes sent a shiver down my spine. Since we have a dog back at home, we are not really the kind of people who can get scared by doggy stares, but some how this was not the normal kind. “Ohhyeeee.... that's scary....” my daughter sighed behind me as she expressed what I was feeling inside. The K9 excused himself even before we got a chance to shoo it away. I kept watching him till he disappeared in the darkness at the far end of the verandah where the staircase was. As he went round the corner, he looked up again... strange gaze still written over his eyes but this time as if beckoning us. We chose to ignore him and carried on capturing the by bye moments.

K9

In the fading light we found K9 behind the Kitchen gazing into the void that lay in front of him. While my daughter stayed behind, I gingerly tiptoed behind K9 to be rewarded with a spectacular view of the surroundings. Since the light was bad and the winds were getting worse and we had nothing else to do, we thought of a quick walk to the market at bus stand and buy ourselves a few tid bids for dinner. K9 followed us to the gates at the perimeter of the Rest House. That was the last time we came across K9 that evening.

The Valleys below looked so beautiful in the fading light

On our way to the Bus Stand, we passed by a joint named Fun Bite that offered Pizzas and burgers. We were looking for instant noodles that evening so instead of stopping by we went ahead looking for a provision store that stocked instant noodles in cups, but all we could find there were novelty items, Aam Papad (Thick Mango Jelly) and items to perform religious ceremonies. There were two or three shops selling Samosa's (Vegetable in a wrap shaped like a pyramid fried and eaten hot) which were cold and freshly fried Chholey Bhaturec(kind of large hand beaten Indian bread fried in oil). We bought a slab of Mango jelly and two plates of Chholey Bhature before finding our way back to our Rest Hose. We were expecting K9 to be waiting for us but he wasn't there.

The road to the bus stand.

Since we were still reeling from the long drive earlier in the day, we decided to have an early dinner and call it a day. The Bhatures were tasty but we found the Chholey (Baked Bengal Gram) to be swimming in a pool of cold vegetable oil, enough to salvage it for a weeks cooking if we went by our urban culinary standards. With a silent apology we trashed the Chholey and had the Bhatures as a roll with the Mango jelly as the filling. Probably Pizzas with coffee at Fun Bite would have been a better option. I made a mental note to make it to Fun Bite for the next day's Brunch before putting out the lights. Though the winds still blew hard and the leaves rustled constantly, sleep wasn't really difficult to come.

Fun Bite's Live Open Kitchen on a top sliced limousine

We woke up early next morning just in time for the sunrise beyond the hill from our windows. The haze around didn't make it a spectacular happening, but nevertheless it was a treat for the eyes. The winds had stopped and we got ready for a 1500 meters trek to the Shrine on the hill top. We found K9 sprawled at the same place we found him the previous evening right in front of the door. Like during the previous evening, he had read our minds, he trotted off even before we could utter a word. He followed us till the gates as we made for the Shrine. “So is the limits of his territory...” I told my daughter as we proceeded towards the Shrine. When we returned to the Rest house about three hours later, we found K9 waiting for us at the gate. He was clearly excited when he saw us. There were a few other dogs around and K9 promptly barked and chased them away... Clearly, he did not want them to be around. K9 expressed his pleasure in seeing us back by brushing his nose and head against our trousers and looking up at us with a strange affectionate gaze. By now my daughter had also begun to sense that something was unusual with K9 and she managed to click a few photographs of K9 and his ways.

K9 was pleased to see us back...

“He knows we have prasad from him...” said my daughter as K9 led the way for us to the Rest House. We stopped for a while to fetch something out of our bag for K9, but he went away without even looking back at us or responding to our calls. We found that rather strange and went back to our room. We had had a brunch out of double cheeze pizzas washed with tumblers of cold coffee at Fun Bite so we skipped lunch at the Rest House. Since there was no winds, and nothing else to do we played badminton till about 2:30pm in the empty parking lot of the rest house with our car in the center doubling up as the net. The heavy brunch was taking its toll on us by making us feel drowsy and we decided to take a power nap before doing what we had in our minds... exploring the hill.

It was 4 pm when we woke up from our 'power nap'. Once again K9 was there at our door waiting for us. This time again, K9 seemed to know what we had in our minds. Earlier in the day we had found out that a cable car service to the Shrine existed from another side of the hill. The place where we could board the cable car was about 3km down hill. The caretaker had discouraged us from going there on foot since it would mean a long walk. What he did not know was that we were indeed looking for a long walk so that we could explore the nearby areas and use the opportunity to get closer to the natural beauty of the place.

Armed with our digitals, we stepped out of our rooms. K9 seemed to know of our plans, and kept darting ahead of us as if to guide us to our destination. He seemed to know what we were out for... Like a person who knew all about our itenery and the place, he leapt and darted ahead of us in the direction we were supposed to be moving. Now and then he would stop and crane over hillsides looking vacantly at the space ahead of him. Initially I ignored him and thought he would return to the Rest House as soon as he would near the periphery of his territory. I was wrong. He kept moving till he reached the final bend just before reaching Naina Devi and stood by the kerb stone sometimes watching ahead of him and sometimes gazing at us as if to say “come hither to my World, oh wanderer of the roads...” Sure enough, he had unfurled before us yet another breathtaking view of the valleys below...

K9 would stop at vantage points that offered beautiful views

Breathtaking Views of the hill roads. Note the shadow cast on the valley by the hill we were on..

The ritual of darting ahead and waiting at vantage points continued so religiously that soon we gave up searching for the vantage points. We simply walked to spots K9e would lead us to. K9 had transformed himself into a guide. At one point K9 scrambled up a rock sat there and waited for us to catch up. The rock looked mundane from where we were coming, but once I climbed it, I knew why he had been waiting for us there. The rock actually overhung a steep drop hundreds of feet below and standing at the point K9 had sat and waited for us, has so far been the most exhilarating experience of my life... it was like being on the last point on the World. But, how dangerously I was perched could be gauged only after a biker devotee stopped his bike and screaming on top of his voice persuaded me to climb down because it was very dangerous. Later when we were moving again and saw the rock from where the biker had seen me, it looked terrifying indeed. K9 not only took us to spots where others wouldn't dare to go, but also took us places where we could click the natural beauty of of the flora around.

K9 would wait till we were over with our clicks. K9 would not budge till my daughter clicked the flowers on the mountain side from where he would show them to us

Flowers from K9's point of view. Click from a spot K9 led us to... Here I've tried to capture the flowers from approximately the same angle and height of K9... Looks carefree and beautiful...

K9 took us to spots where others would not dare to go... (yours sincerely clicked by my daughter)

By now, we were quite far from the Rest House, yet K9 refused leave us.. With a determined rock steady blood shot gaze he kept staring at us every time we pointed towards where we had come from and tried to shoo him away made him appear as if he was possessed. “Papa, what will happen when we leave tomorrow...? Do you think K9 will follow us.... or... what if we take him with us....?” “The way he is sticking with us, he won't mind going with us....” I had replied jokingly to my daughter.

K9 Refused to leave us...

It was close to 4 pm when K9 led us to the base point of the cable car. We had planned to ride the cable car to the Shrine and walk back to the Rest House from there, but with K9 sticking with us, we were in a dilemma. Other dogs from the area were already barking at him. It was beyond any doubts that K9 had come too far from his territory and going back all alone would not be easy for him. To go on with our plans meant ditching K9. A localite who had been watching us told us to carry on and not worry about the dog... Half heartedly we bought ourselves a one way ticket to the Shrine. All the while as we rode up, in a part of our mind, we kept thinking about K9, wondering if he would really go back when he finds that we will not return, wondering if the other dogs would torment him, wondering if K9 would at all be waiting for us at the base... wondering if K9 would find some one to accompany him back... wondering what if he did not find any one to accompany him back... wondering if it was ethical to ditch some one, who guided us like a guardian angel to this ride... The thought of the trauma K9 would be going through due to apparent losing of a friend was overwhelming for us. By the time we had reached the top, we were decided that we would ride back to the base and that the sooner the best.

A view from the Rope way to Naina Devi Temple.

We were back to the base about an hour later. At the base we found K9, confusedly looking for us behind the parked vehicles wondering where we could have vanished. He came running in leaps and bounds the moment we called him.... well, by no particular name just a simple “aajaa” (come on). Even a nerd would read the excitement and happiness written all over his face as he rubbed his head on my legs as if trying to thank me for our reappearance. Since it was getting late and the lights were fading, he headed straight for the Rest House. K9 once again led the way for us, but this time with out pausing to show us vantage points. There was an urgency in his strides. And, why not, the lights were fading. On the way back, we stopped at a provision store to buy some biscuits for K9. Strangely, he seemed to know the biscuits were for him. We walked back to the Rest House and K9 would sprint ahead and then return back to us for his biscuit. He would dangerously charge at vehicles climbing to the shrine, which he thought drove too close to us, as if he had been sent to protect us at all costs. At one point when the biscuits had finished and we were nearing the final bend to the Rest House, K9 surged ahead and vanished around the bend leaving us alone on the slope. “Vishwasghat (Traitor) now that he has come back to known grounds he has deserted us...” I had chided with my daughter. We were wrong. K9 was now playing hide n seek with us. Just around the bend he sat waiting for us behind a kerb stone looking at us with a mocking smile, as if it was a tit for tat for the vanishing trick we played with him at the base of the Cable Car ride. He sprinted back to us as soon as he saw us.

The bend around which K9 played Hide n Seek with us

It was about 6pm when we returned to the Guest House. The caretaker was watching us from the kitchen. With a beaming smile on his face he told us “Lucky seems to like the two of you....” Nodding, I asked him if we could have some tea. For the first time since we had been around with K9 we got to know his real name. Between sips of tea, we recounted our experience to the caretaker. The caretaker looked at us in disbelief. The fact that K9 showed us the way to the Cable Car base took him by real surprise. With rounded eyes, he kept saying, “But..... Sir, he has never been round the bend in his life leave aside being to the Cable Car base.... how could he take you there... He has never ever gone that far...?” When we told him about the vantage spots he had taken us around the hill us like a guide, he simply couldn't believe what he was hearing. “ The caretaker looked a shade paler than before as he mumbled inaudibly. When I insisted in knowing what he was mumbling, he just said “ No, no, nothing in particular... strange it may sound, but lucky is rather shy with strangers, he has has never been as friendly with strangers as he has been with you...” before excusing himself.

We walked up to our room and from the verandah, in the dim light of the portico, we could see see K9 resting. We had a half finished packet of biscuits in our room and my daughter asked me if she could feed K9. I did not think would be hungry after the couple of packs of glucose biscuits he had devoured on the way back, so, I told my daughter she could give it a try. By the time my daughter came out to feed K9, a small child, a local-ite, was trying to feed K9 biscuits. K9 did not seem to be interested in what the child was offering, but, to our utter surprise, he promptly devoured the biscuits that only my daughter offered. I heard my daughter whisper to me “Papa do you think that was Bonnie inside K9?” as K9 gulped down the last of the biscuits. K9 glanced at us rather sheepishly, then slowly got to his feet and vanished into the darkness behind the kitchen... “I can't say...” I said in silence more to my self than to answer my daughter. Bonnie was our little Spitz who had left us devastated 23 months ago...

It was our last night at Naina Devi and we had promised the caretaker that we would have dinner at the dining hall. After a sumptuous dinner, we strolled around the Rest House and even played badminton for some time in the hope we would meet K9 once again. My daughter kept asking me about what K9 would do when he would not see us the next day or how K9 would react when he would see us leaving. Similar thoughts were running my my mind too. In the short time we had been with K9, a strange bond had taken growth. The K9 whose looks had sent shivers down our spines on the first day had transformed like a reunion of long lost friends. I was fighting the war inside me as much as my daughter was fighting it inside her about how K9 would miss us or how it would be the other way round when we would leave the next day... I don't feel ashamed saying we were getting rather too emotional. Probably K9 could feel our feelings too. He did not come back to us that evening.

Later, when we went to sleep, there was absolute silence all around. The winds were no longer howling. The leaves were not rustling any more like they had the previous night. Gazing up at the dark wooden ceiling in absolute silence, I had lost count of time and I don't remember when sleep had overwhelmed me. We woke up early and started packing. With the break of dawn, I quickly opened the door of our room to see if K9 was there. He wasn't there, but, a patch of loose dust, like a doormat in front of a door, said he had been there. We were ready in about an hour. Though we were slightly behind schedule, we didn't really mind the time it took for the check out formalities. We had frantically hoped we would mee

t K9 one last time before we left. K9 never showed up. Probably he knew that the last goodbye would be hard for all of us...

Just as we were about to get into our vehicle and drive out, my daughter suddenly pointed towards the gate and said me “ Papa, probably K9 should be there hiding...” I looked hard in the direction she had pointed. K9 was not to there, but as I moved my vision a little more upwards towards the Shrine for one last time an unusually wonderful sight greeted me me. The clouds formation above the shrine looked as if they were spread out showering blessings.

The clouds formation above the shrine looked as if they were spread out to shower blessings.

It is hard to say if it was telepathy or pure animal instincts or was it crossing of the thresholds of conventional senses that K9 and we had begun understand each other, or if it was purely the paranormal that brought K9 so close to us. No matter how much we may try to reason, it still baffles me how K9 knew about where we were headed to on that fateful evening and how he knew that we were indeed looking for some breath taking clicks that he led us to those vantage points.

This was my second visit to Naina Devi. I have written earlier about the strange incident that my friends and I had experienced during my earlier visit to this place. I find it difficult to entirely write off the present experience that my daughter and I experienced as purely coincidental. I guess I've to come back to this place again... there are many questions in the mind which still remain unanswered...

Sunaabh  Sarkar (Mistral) Naina Devi... 23.03.2013.