One of the biggest adjustments for me relocating back to my motherland is not weather, or lifestyle or food etc. but is the wailing of stray dogs each morning and night on the street below my building. Each and every day without fail, they wail in unison. Most of the time they bark which is what dogs do. But sometimes they make this sound as if they are weeping. Initially I used to think they are in some kind of pain, or someone is pelting stones at them, or they are fighting with each other etc. So, I had a lot of anxiety and fear that I will see some disturbing things happening to them. But when I saw through the window, they were perfectly normal, no soul near them, all okay but everyone making the crying sound all at once. It is a mystery to me what exactly they were doing. I can totally understand them just barking – that’s what they do. Forget the fact why they constantly bark which is so annoying and disturbing. But I just don’t understand this crying sound they make – and that too all at the same time. Maybe it is some kind of a bro/sister code between them, or some kind of angst towards us humans or who the hell knows what. And passersby coolly walk past them. And those dogs also do not show any interest or pay attention to the passersby either. They are just wailing away in glory. So, the curious mind that I am, I asked some folks why this sound – I thought I just don’t get it as I was away from the country for three decades. But nope. Nobody knew the answer to this. It was equally a mystery to them.
So, after a couple of times looking out the window when they started wailing, now I don’t bother as I know they are not in any kind of danger. But this remains a mystery. Being a very logical and practical person, I want to know the why. But there is just no answer. I just have to accept this phenomenon – one of those things in life which has no explanation. Who am I to judge or speculate the reason they do this. Maybe our human interactions sound wailing to the dogs, and it may be equally amusing to them to see that they don’t see any of us in pain etc. as we appear normal to them from outside. And they may also feel that we are crying but no one around us is paying any attention whatsoever. This must be very interesting to them as well.
I don’t know if I will ever find out the reason. But Iam trying to think from their perspective. The lesson learned for me with this episode is one never knows what another person (in this case dog) is going through. I always say that with humans behind every smiling face, there are ongoing struggles and sorrow. In this case with the dogs, I guess behind the wailing there maybe struggles or sorrow…I think…or could be nothing…but who the heck knows!