Since last year I have managed to popularize Gunter from Graz's epic battles with stray dogs in Delhi and Bangalore When it comes to battling India's stray dogs, the big man from Graz has compatriots facing similar struggles.
Take for instance, an enterprising young man (and India-lover) from another tiny Austrian town. Let's call him 'the wolf' for convenience' sake. The wolf is a talented long-distance runner who competed and won at the highest levels in Austria and had it not been for his love for humid, dusty and dirty India, we may have had an Olympic Champion. None the less, Indian conditions haven't stopped the wolf from running.
In fact, suburban Andheri was on the route of a wolf run recently. He glided past the lower middle class colony of D.N. Nagar, almost unnoticed by the Maharashtrians, who are used to seeing Europeans in those parts. The wolf was just a kilometre and a half away from Juhu Beach from where he could set the sand on fire, but like with Gunter, there lay an obstacle. No, I am not talking about the pot-holed roads...The guardian of D.N. Nagar, a stray dog on early morning duty, could not lose his self-respect by granting a wolf transit rights through his territory. A confrontation seemed imminent. There was fear in the wolf's eyes as the stray approached with his menacing teeth visible.
What would transpire in a bizarre turn of events surprised the locals of D.N. Nagar, who expected a tougher fight. They expected their stray to go for the wolf's leg, while the wolf defended himself with a barrage of stones aimed at or near the stray. As the mad stray got closer to the wolf, out came a smattering of German.. "AUS" "AUS," screamed the wolf. The stray was suddenly confused with the new word in an incomprehensible yet eerily familiar language.
Yes, 70 years ago, an Austrian who took the reins of the Third Reich, would have summarily executed all stray dogs. Perhaps this stray lived in those times in another life and the German word signalled enough danger to make for a hasty retreat.
The wolf won a war without raising a finger.
10 minutes later, he was running on Juhu Beach, shirtless and dripping with sweat: the right combination to make Indian girls turn their heads and spurn their boyfriends.
Final Score: Austrian Wolf 1 - Indian Mad Dog 0
Take for instance, an enterprising young man (and India-lover) from another tiny Austrian town. Let's call him 'the wolf' for convenience' sake. The wolf is a talented long-distance runner who competed and won at the highest levels in Austria and had it not been for his love for humid, dusty and dirty India, we may have had an Olympic Champion. None the less, Indian conditions haven't stopped the wolf from running.
In fact, suburban Andheri was on the route of a wolf run recently. He glided past the lower middle class colony of D.N. Nagar, almost unnoticed by the Maharashtrians, who are used to seeing Europeans in those parts. The wolf was just a kilometre and a half away from Juhu Beach from where he could set the sand on fire, but like with Gunter, there lay an obstacle. No, I am not talking about the pot-holed roads...The guardian of D.N. Nagar, a stray dog on early morning duty, could not lose his self-respect by granting a wolf transit rights through his territory. A confrontation seemed imminent. There was fear in the wolf's eyes as the stray approached with his menacing teeth visible.
What would transpire in a bizarre turn of events surprised the locals of D.N. Nagar, who expected a tougher fight. They expected their stray to go for the wolf's leg, while the wolf defended himself with a barrage of stones aimed at or near the stray. As the mad stray got closer to the wolf, out came a smattering of German.. "AUS" "AUS," screamed the wolf. The stray was suddenly confused with the new word in an incomprehensible yet eerily familiar language.
Yes, 70 years ago, an Austrian who took the reins of the Third Reich, would have summarily executed all stray dogs. Perhaps this stray lived in those times in another life and the German word signalled enough danger to make for a hasty retreat.
The wolf won a war without raising a finger.
10 minutes later, he was running on Juhu Beach, shirtless and dripping with sweat: the right combination to make Indian girls turn their heads and spurn their boyfriends.
Final Score: Austrian Wolf 1 - Indian Mad Dog 0
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