The dogs of Vashisht

 Morning, Kriya

Morning, Jacko

Want to play?

Sure

And so the two friends
rolled around in the dirt
and bit each other gently
for a while

 ♫ ♫ ♫

Let’s go for a walk

Okay

And so they headed off
in the direction of the waterfall,
smelling flowers
and chasing butterfies
along the way

♫ ♫ ♫

There’s a new dog in the village

You mean that Rottweiler Saint Bernard mix?

Yeah

She’s really cute

Yeah, and she’s growing quickly

I’ve heard people call her Thola

And I’ve heard some call her Charas

How many names do you have?

About ten

I’ve got eight that I know of

Are you hungry?

A bit

Let’s go back to the village and make the rounds
and see what we can find

And so Jacko and Kriya began the journey back
to the temple square,
stopping at all their usual feeding places
along the way

 ♫ ♫ ♫

 The milk they give us at the purple house
is pretty good

Yeah,
fresh is best

Too bad all those Hindus are vegetarian

Yeah
Fortunately the Muslims sometimes give us meat

 Some of that vegetarian food
is pretty good

Yeah,
and some of it is excellent

I really like the masala dosa they give us at Shanti Space

Me too

I feel like taking a nap

Me too

Sun or shade?

It’s a bit warm today

Shade it is then

And so the dogs lay down
in the shade of a wall
in the temple square
and rested
for a while

♫ ♫ ♫

In the late morning
some other dogs came by
to hang out

Hey, guys
Rainbow Baba is back in town
Just rode in on his bike

Cool

He gives a pretty good neck massage

Almost as good as that Japanese girl
who sometimes hangs out at the German Bakery

Yeah, she’s pretty good
Maybe she’ll come again this afternoon

 I hope so
I can relax around her

Yeah
She’s not like all those fake babas that kick us
just for sleeping near the entrance to the temple
I mean,
we behave much better than most of those Indian tourists
who come and defile the temple all day long

 Yeah,
they take photos of people bathing in the temple

And they talk really loudly

And they keep hitting that bell
as hard as they can

And some of them don’t take off their shoes

What a bunch of degenerates

Yeah,
no respect for the temple

Or for peace and quiet

They behave like animals

Dude, we’re animals too

Yeah,
but we’re a higher caste than they are

Yeah,
but they don’t know that

That’s because they’re ignorant, dude

Yeah,
and they lack compassion

They have no understanding
of how things really are

Some of them do

Yeah, man,
some of them know what’s what

Not many though

No, not many

That French baba seems to understand

Yeah,
he knows

That baba from Kerela,
the one with the black Enfield,
he knows too

Yeah

There are some interesting characters here

There sure are

Dude,
do you remember when that Swedish dude
started throwing stones at the temple?

Yeah, man,
the locals killed him

Throwing stones at the temple
was pretty stupid

Yeah

He was high on acid

That explains why he had been behaving strange all day

That punishment was pretty extreme

Yeah,
they could have just tied him up for a while
and then had a good talk with him
when he returned to his senses

 Yeah

 They beat up another foreigner last week,
the one who going out with the baker’s daughter

Yeah, they got him good

They treated him like a dog

Yeah

I wonder why
He was always nice to us

Yeah,
he used to pet me every time our paths crossed

Seemed like a nice kid

Yeah,
he was one of us,
a real dog

And the girl was really into him
They seemed to get along well

But her family was against him

 What a lame family

 Yeah, super lame
I let my daughter go out with whomever she likes

Me too

And then the dogs fell silent
for a while

♫ ♫ ♫

 Man,
I’d like to go for a ride

Me too

Almost nobody gives me a ride anymore

Me either

People used to stop and offer me a ride all the time

Yeah, me too,
and sometimes they’d take me to Goa
The beaches there are great

I prefer the ones at Gokarna

Me too

I got a ride to Rajasthan once
It’s really hot there

Tell me about it
I once spent a summer in Hampi
What a sauna

It’s nice up here in Himachal

Yeah,
except for in winter

Yeah, man,
winter sucks

Almost nobody offers us food

And it’s really cold

Sometimes people let me sleep with the cows

Cows are cool
They’re super warm

Sham,
that guy who lives over by Mushroom Guest House,
gives me something to eat every day –
even in winter

Yeah, he’s cool

He’s got a good heart

He knows how to share

Where are you guys thinking of spending winter this year?

If I can get a ride,
I’ll go down to Kerela
I’ve got a friend there who I’d like to see

I’m going to try get to Kodai

I’ve got family in Gokarna
and I promised my mom I’d visit

Anyone feel like coming with me
to visit the pack in Old Manali?

I’ll come with you

Me too

And so Jacko, Kryia and their friend
headed down the hill
and across the bridge
to the other side of the river

♫ ♫ ♫

It’s pretty over here

Let’s explore

I’ve been in every building in Old Manali

No way

It’s true
I used to live over here
I know every room in the village

Show us some of your favorite ones

Okay

And then the dogs began
to walk around,
going into homes
now and then
and greeting friends they met
along the way

♫ ♫ ♫

Let’s go back to Vashisht

Yeah,
it’ll be dark soon
and the cars won’t be able to see us very well

 Cars suck

Yeah

Except for when they give us a ride

Yeah

And then the dogs headed back across the river
and up the hill

♫ ♫ ♫

Hey guys
How was Old Manali?

Excellent

We had lunch behind the pizza place

I love pizza

Me too

Shall we make the rounds again
and have dinner?

Good idea

Yeah,
I’m feeling kind of hungry too

Have any of you tried the leftovers
offered by the new woman in town,
the one living in the blue house over by the school?

Dude, stay away from her
Worst cook in Vashisht
I almost died after eating her aloo parantha

Yeah, man
She’s the worst
I vomited for five minutes
after eating her vegetable curry

Let’s go to Sham’s place for dinner

Good idea

Yeah,
he’ll have something nice for us

And that old man in the house next to his
sometimes throws me a bone

 And so off they went
along the path and up the hill
to Sham’s home

♫ ♫ ♫

Thank you, Sham
That was really good

Yeah, man,
it was excellent
Your wife is a great cook

Sham pet each of the dogs
for a little while
and then they headed back to the temple square

♫ ♫ ♫

Looks like we have the square to ourselves tonight

Cool

What do you guys feel like doing?

Let’s howl

Okay

And so the dogs howled
in harmony
for a while

♫ ♫ ♫

Where shall we sleep tonight?

Under the stairs by the bakery
is a pretty good place

Sounds good to me

Me too

Nobody will step on my tail there

 Let’s go

 And so the dogs walked over
to the stairs next to the German Bakery
and settled in for the night

♫ ♫ ♫