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Showing posts from August, 2007

Charity for a price?

This happened about 2 years back. I had noticed an animal ambulance running around the neighbourhood and had noted down the phone number. One day, unfortunately, I had to use it. There was a stray dog in our locality with a badly hurt ear. Every night, it would howl and was in obvious pain. People, including my family, would curse it as a dog howling at night is thought to bring bad luck. I hated it. If anything, it was the dog who had a hard luck. The poor dog would come as soon as someone got out of their homes. With his ear hurt, his head would be bent to one side and he looked menacing. But once I petted him, I realized that that was the only thing he wanted. When I could not bear it anymore, I called the number that I had seen on the ambulance. The lady who answered noted down the address from where the ill dog needed to be picked up for treatment and then asked the magic question. "How much will you donate?" I was taken aback. I asked her what she meant. She told me in