The Daughter of a Bitch

Ghini wasn’t crying, but her day was ruined the moment a man in a lungi spat, “Get lost, you kutta!”
Technically, she was a kutti because she was female, but the insult itself wasn’t what annoyed her. Ghini was just tired of humans constantly mislabeling her species. Their identity had been dragged through the dirt for far too long.

She sat in the dust with her big eyes half-closed, spending the next half-an-hour pinching her lower lip with her upper like Kishore Pasha and brooding over the whole insulting kukur-kutta dilemma.
“Why do they always call us kutta, Mom? Do we ever walk around calling humans moisya?” she asked, letting out a soft bark.

Her mother, Urni, burst out laughing.

Honestly, Urni shouldn’t have laughed. Life on the streets was a brutal nightmare back then. Stray dogs lived in constant terror of humans. City dwellers kicked them for fun, while municipal officers shoved them into ominous black vans. No four-legged creature knew where those vans went, but everyone knew whoever went inside never came back.

Urni had heard older dogs whisper that humans once did the exact same thing to their own kind. Bizarrely, those hypocrites now held annual memorial days to show off those dark chapters! Yet no one shed a single tear for the hundreds of dog intellectuals wiped out by human cruelty. If those brilliant minds were still around, they surely would have engineered a strategic way out of this hell.

Lately, life was even worse. Men were now catching strays and clipping their ears before spaying the females and neutering the males. Those monsters were ruthlessly stealing their fertility, snuffing out the pack’s very future. 

Lalu, an old dog with faded reddish fur, tried to act wise. “We are the crown of creation! Disasters test the best of us. At this moment, we must stand tall on our four legs and play a game of wits! Otherwise, what kind of ‘crown’ are we?” His strategy was simple: secretly plant street puppies into the cozy homes of human animal-lovers.

Sigha, a hot-headed young ‘communist’ dog, hated the idea. He spat on the pavement in disgust and snarled, “Humans don’t love dogs. They love slaves. Most keep us to play security guards, or to show off - ‘Look at me, I’m so rich that I own animals!’ Or ‘Look at me, I’m so kind that I fed them my food scraps.’ Overseas, women keep dogs for even more horrific things!”

By saying the last line, he implied something extremely vulgar, and Urni’s skin crawled at the thought. A wave of nausea washed over her, though she managed not to vomit.

Arguments aside, the pack then gathered behind the crumbling wall of the old Kali temple to bid Ghini farewell. Ghini was a brown-and-white pup entering her teenage months, blessed with large, striking eyes. Her ears weren’t that much pretty, but the elders were ready to lay down their lives to protect them so that she could carry on their bloodline.

Their initial targets were Lea and Danny, a newlywed human couple. Lea adored animals and dreamed of a sweet baby playing alongside a cute puppy, laughing at their antics. Danny couldn’t care less about strays, but he didn’t want to hurt Lea. Better yet, Danny was a local influential - the neighborhood’s undisputed Bhai. Under his protection, the pack believed, no one would dare touch the pup.

Following a group discussion, Urni had orchestrated the adoption over two long weeks. Every time Lea walked down the lane, she nudged Ghini into her path until the woman fell in love. Lea begged Danny relentlessly, painting the picture of her dream home, until his eyes glinted and he caved. And today was handoff day.

Ghana, Ghini’s father, sat off in the tall grass weeping uselessly in dramatic, pathetic whimpers. But Urni, a hardened street bitch who understood the world’s cruelty, kept her composure. Her heart was breaking into a thousand pieces, yet she forced herself to stay calm, thinking, At least my daughter will live. Besides, she actually liked Lea.

Lea arrived, glowing with happiness. She immediately renamed the pup ‘Shahzadi’ and promised herself to wash her with Lifebuoy soap to kill every single germ. Clean house, clean puppy, ready for a baby. A tear of joy slipped down Lea’s cheek as she held the pup.

On their way out, they crossed paths with Sigha. His fur bristled with rage. “Peace is an illusion! We need a full-scale war! We must tear humans apart and make the earth livable again,” he ranted. The rest of the pack ignored him, but Sigha screamed, “Should we run like cowards? I want to die fighting like Hector!” He glared at Danny and Lea, but held back for Ghini’s sake. “Let them take her,” he muttered bitterly.

“Our war with the municipality comes first. We can rescue Ghini later. She’s safe for now.”

Three hundred yards away, Urni stood with her back turned, digging her claws into the dirt. No tears fell. Yet if Lea had looked into her eyes, she would have recognized the exact, heavy gaze of a human mother surrendering her daughter to her new in-laws’ home forever.

Lea scooped Ghini into her arms, tenderly stroking her head. Seeing this, grief suddenly fell over Urni in cold, sharp flakes. A wild howl ripped from her throat, and she charged at the couple! Danny reacted instantly, grabbing a heavy tree branch and swinging it like Sindbad’s sword.

EPILOGUE
The next morning, a news post went viral across social media:
A local youth lost his private parts in a brutal dog attack inside his home last night. Residents are frantically searching  for the animal. Eyewitnesses report the attacker was a brown-and-white pup with large, striking eyes.

The blow landed with a loud thud. Urni yelped with a sharp koo-ooo, and stumbled backward. But she didn’t run away. She just backed off step by agonizing step, staring back with an ocean of pain in her eyes.
Ghini buried her face deep into Lea’s chest, unable to watch her mother suffer. Lea held her tight and carried her away as Urni’s desperate koo-ooo cries slowly faded into the distance.

The writer is a journalist and the story is inspired by true events surrounding the treatment of stray dogs across Dhaka around 2018