When our ‘Hitler' became a hero (Short Stories: Sreedevi Krishnan)
Published on 13 May, 2020
“We’ll call him Ginger, said my daughter enthusiastically. No, We’ll call him ‘whisky’ suggested my husband apparently keeping in mind, the true tradition of the Navy. A thunderous ‘No’ from my son shook the entire house. ‘He is somebody to be feared a great force to reckon with. After all, he is a German. Dobermaan-pinsher, what do you say, mom?”, he shouted.
I looked at my happy family, seated in a circle around the wailing brown pup and admiring that shapeless thing with flopping ears and a tongue that lolled out like a lump of dark pink wool, a one-inch stump in the place of a tail (I’m told that a Doberman’s tail is cut off as soon as it is born) I certainly could not share enthusiasm.
To begin with, let me confess that I’m not an animal lover. In fact my husband has been trying unsuccessfully for the past ten years to impress upon me the necessity of bringing up a watch-dog. First he said very poetically that the greatest urge of any human being was to love and to be loved. “Don’t we need an emotional ‘anchor’ (again the ‘Ship’ language? Who could fill up the gap better that a pet dog would be more) faithful and grateful than our children?
When I refused to be convinced, he started another line of argument. “Look, I’m away from home, most of the time, considering the thefts, house-breakings and murders around, don’t we ne need some sort of safety protection from criminals”? Children too joined my husband and soon I was fighting a lone battle against the idea of buying a dog. Finally I had to give in, when I heard how a pretty, petite Rajalakshmi hoodwinked my smart, clever, worldly-wise neighbor Prema Nagarajan and walked away with jewelry weighing twenty five sovereigns.
As the story goes, a charming confidence trickster named Rajalakshmi went inside Mrs. Nagarajan’s flat about 11 in the morning pretending to be her daughter Rama’s friend. She enquired after her engagement to a green- card holder engineer in Los Angeles. Mrs. Nagarajan was most eloquent as usual about her great luck in getting an NRI son-in-law and narrated everything in minutest detail, right from bride-seeing to engagement. Rajalakshmi listened to her patiently then went inside their bedroom on the pretext of tying her sari and flicked off the jewelry from the cupboard and walked away, after drinking the steaming hot coffee offered by the gleaming Mrs. Nagarajan.
Would this have happened, if she had kept a watch-dog?
Well, I was thoroughly convinced and the next few days, all of us frantically went through the “Kennels & pets” columns of our newspaper. Finally my husband and daughter went, and bought a 15 days’ old Doberman pup, paying a formidable sum of Rs. 5000, which came as a rude shock to me.
“C’mon ma, Isn’t ‘Hitler’ a suitable name for him?” insisted my son.
“Leave me out of this naming ceremony for God’s sake. Paying Rs. 5000/- for this wailing pup was ridiculous. You must’ve been cheated To think that we’ve to spend another Rs 1000 every month for his milk, eggs meat & vitamins , call him ‘white elephant’, that would be more appropriate”, I could not conceal my disapproval.
“What do you know? The choicest & most ferocious blood is running in this pup’s veins, father champion , KCI registered, thank our stars that we got it so cheap ,considering the demand for pedigreed pups now”, waving the pedigree sheet in front of me, my husband thundered.
“Ignore her, Appa, she‘s always a wet blanket,” that was my daughter.
“Let ‘s take a decision about his name, I tell you ‘Hitler’ suits him, said my son emphatically and a chorus of ‘Hitler’ went up to the skies. Despite the clapping and deafening chorus, ‘Hitler’ continued his wailing non-stop that day
Slowly Hitler got adjusted to the new surroundings, in about six months he grew up into a ferocious –looking but handsome dog. He was unusually tall and had a shining, velvety brown coat, shapely head with hazel eyes, long snout and flopping ears. He ran around the compound breaking all my favorite potted plants. But I stoically bore the loss, hoping that Hitler was going to be feared and respected by everyone. But alas that was not to be!
Hitler no doubt had a large frame and forbidding appearance on the whole. But that was all. He developed such a love for ‘humanity’ which would have made Adolf Hitler hang his head in shame. The moment our gate is clicked, Hitler would become alert, stand up looking towards the gate anxiously. By the time anyone entered the gate, he went blindly charging forward. Then he stood before the intruder, wagging his one -inch stump relentlessly, body curved up, waiting to be patted. When patted or stroked, he would melt immediately, roll his hazel eyes wag his tail more vigorously as if to say,” I’m really sorry that I frightened you, I was only trying to welcome you.”
Our Hitler certainly was a symbol of universal love and brotherhood. He did not confine his love to humanity alone. He loved crows, sparrows, mice, chameleons and even befriended cats and shared his food with all of them. But strangely he developed an inexplicable hatred towards squirrels alone.
Squirrels seemed to be his born enemies. When squirrels scampered
up and down the clump of trees, he barked at them continuously. If they happened to come down, he chased them around; he even caught a squirrel and even killed it in spite of our desperate attempts to save the innocent victim. His hatred towards squirrels was quite puzzling to everyone except my daughter who, acted as the Devil’s advocate & said firmly, “Just like Hitler hated Jews and sent them to gas chambers mercilessly, our Hitler too hates squirrels, in any case squirrels are real nuisance, they chew up all our coconut flowers and eat up all our mangoes and guavas before they are ripened.”
“As though his enmity towards squirrels is of any use to me. All my jasmine flowers, banana leaves and even tender coconuts are stolen regularly right under his nose. What does he do the whole day except eating & sleeping? Someone regularly climbs the wall & plucks all these things, when we‘re away and he does n’ do a thing about it. What a disgrace!!”
“Hitler does n’t sleep a wink at night. I’ve seen him going around the house & watching it all night. In fact his presence gives me courage to study late at when you’re all fast asleep. Anyway, why should he worry about petty thefts? If there’s a serious crime, I mean a major theft I’m sure he would prove his true mettle,” my daughter defended Hitler vehemently.
But I kept on grumbling that Hitler was only a nuisance as far as I’m concerned. Apart from the considerable expenditure on his daily meat, eggs & milk, I had to take him to the Veterinary Hospital for his periodical check up, vitamin injections & regular immunizations.
When Hitler was two, as suggested by his Vet, we gave an advertisement in ‘The Hindu’ for mating him. I was overjoyed as each ‘successful mating’ would entitle the male dog’s owner the option of either claiming the best pup or the price of it (Huh! how nice to know that even among canines, ‘dowry ‘is acceptable!),
The very next day of our advertisement, a black Doberman bitch was brought to our house in an air-conditioned, chauffeur-driven car. A jean-clad, charming, English lady, obviously the proud owner of the bitch also accompanied her. ‘Diana’ our Hitler’s bride was brought to our verandah. Hitler, ignoring Diana completely, went to her owner, curved up his body, and wagged his tail and waited anxiously to be stroked on his head. The moment the lady stroked him, he shook hands with her, licked her & wagged his tail relentlessly, as if to say that he is extremely honored by her very presence.
“Oh! he’s very friendly, a real Hitler to look at, he has already fallen for my princess”, so saying the lady gently pushed her Diana in front of Hitler. That was all; Hitler snarled at Diana, pounced on her and nearly bit her ears. Diana’s loud wailing coupled with our combined screams for ‘help’, brought my son who, heroically controlled Hitler with all his strength & Diana with her owner took to their heels without even bothering g to look back.
Despite the nightmarish experiences, my hope too triumphed over experience and I tried my luck once more. But, a similar feat was repeated in the case of another bitch too, proving Hitler’s hatred towards the bitches. Huh! another striking similarity with Adolf Hitler, ‘Hail Hitler’.
Hitler continued his uneventful, all the same enjoyable life by eating, sleeping, welcoming strangers, playing with crows, chameleons, cats and mice but chasing & barking at squirrels. Over the years, I learnt not only to tolerate Hitler but also to love him for what he was. After all, when I come tired after a day’s work, he was the only one to welcome me by galloping towards the gate, vigorously wagging his tail & licking me to show how much he missed me.
Hitler kept company with me, when my husband sailed off and children stayed away in hostels. As time passed, understood every syllable we uttered, shared our joys & sorrows. When my husband came home after a spell of separation, he welcomed him, licking him all over, circling around him without letting him move away, his hazel eyes conveying the message, “Don’t you see how I missed you, missed you so much ,much more than you could ever imagine?”
If a suit case was packed for any member of the family to leave, he at once sensed it and bid ‘goodbye’ shedding tears .Hitler became the most lovable member of the family and we celebrated his birthday in May by giving him presents& taking him to beach for playing in the water. Even I, who was once Hitler’s worst critic, started loving him from the bottom of my heart.
Then, one night the most unexpected incident happened—Our Hitler rose to the rank of a great hero. Yes, he was instrumental in nabbing a notorious criminal gang involved in a series of crimes & murders for gain, not only in Chennai but also in Karnataka & Kerala.
One night our Hitler’s deafening barks near the compound wall separating our house from the National bank, woke up not only us but also the entire neighborhood. In no time people came running from all directions with flashing torch lights, to find a few masked men working on the strong, grilled entrance of the bank.
Resisting all attempts to go near them by pelting stones and throwing knives they ran. Meanwhile, the armed Police alerted by a phone call arrived at the scene and after a hot chase, caught the gang. During the robbers’ stoning operation, a stone hit Hitler on his forehead & he was bleeding. My daughter immediately attended to him, sutured& bandaged his wound.
Imagine my surprise when I got a call from the Police Commissioner next morning, thanking me profusely for the wonderful performance of Hitler without which they would never have caught this notorious criminal gang!
Hitler became a hero overnight. Newspapers carried an impressive account of his heroism under his photo with his bandaged forehead. Our relatives, friends, neighbors & even strangers sang hosannas to Hitler.
After a couple of days, in a glittering function before the flashing of TV cameras, Inspector General of Police garlanded the ‘hero’ and presented him with a cheque of Rs.2000 and a medal. An advertising company advanced Rs. 1000 and booked him for an advertisement. Though unaware of the historical significance of his non-stop barking on that fateful night, Hitler enjoyed the publicity & looked every bit a hero
But, the very next day of this attempted robbery, I carefully surveyed the other side of my compound wall& amused to see a brown nest with two baby squirrels swishing their bushy tails, which had obviously fallen from our mango tree. At last ,the mystery of Hitler’s heroism was solved. But, my children argued vehemently that the way Hitler barked as he had never done before, proved clearly that he had barked at the criminals, who tried to break open the grilled entrance to the bank. I only wondered what Hitler would have done, if he had the powers of speech, would he have confessed the real cause of his unusually loud bark & shattered the pedestal under his feet or enjoyed the greatness thrust on him?!!
I looked at my happy family, seated in a circle around the wailing brown pup and admiring that shapeless thing with flopping ears and a tongue that lolled out like a lump of dark pink wool, a one-inch stump in the place of a tail (I’m told that a Doberman’s tail is cut off as soon as it is born) I certainly could not share enthusiasm.
To begin with, let me confess that I’m not an animal lover. In fact my husband has been trying unsuccessfully for the past ten years to impress upon me the necessity of bringing up a watch-dog. First he said very poetically that the greatest urge of any human being was to love and to be loved. “Don’t we need an emotional ‘anchor’ (again the ‘Ship’ language? Who could fill up the gap better that a pet dog would be more) faithful and grateful than our children?
When I refused to be convinced, he started another line of argument. “Look, I’m away from home, most of the time, considering the thefts, house-breakings and murders around, don’t we ne need some sort of safety protection from criminals”? Children too joined my husband and soon I was fighting a lone battle against the idea of buying a dog. Finally I had to give in, when I heard how a pretty, petite Rajalakshmi hoodwinked my smart, clever, worldly-wise neighbor Prema Nagarajan and walked away with jewelry weighing twenty five sovereigns.
As the story goes, a charming confidence trickster named Rajalakshmi went inside Mrs. Nagarajan’s flat about 11 in the morning pretending to be her daughter Rama’s friend. She enquired after her engagement to a green- card holder engineer in Los Angeles. Mrs. Nagarajan was most eloquent as usual about her great luck in getting an NRI son-in-law and narrated everything in minutest detail, right from bride-seeing to engagement. Rajalakshmi listened to her patiently then went inside their bedroom on the pretext of tying her sari and flicked off the jewelry from the cupboard and walked away, after drinking the steaming hot coffee offered by the gleaming Mrs. Nagarajan.
Would this have happened, if she had kept a watch-dog?
Well, I was thoroughly convinced and the next few days, all of us frantically went through the “Kennels & pets” columns of our newspaper. Finally my husband and daughter went, and bought a 15 days’ old Doberman pup, paying a formidable sum of Rs. 5000, which came as a rude shock to me.
“C’mon ma, Isn’t ‘Hitler’ a suitable name for him?” insisted my son.
“Leave me out of this naming ceremony for God’s sake. Paying Rs. 5000/- for this wailing pup was ridiculous. You must’ve been cheated To think that we’ve to spend another Rs 1000 every month for his milk, eggs meat & vitamins , call him ‘white elephant’, that would be more appropriate”, I could not conceal my disapproval.
“What do you know? The choicest & most ferocious blood is running in this pup’s veins, father champion , KCI registered, thank our stars that we got it so cheap ,considering the demand for pedigreed pups now”, waving the pedigree sheet in front of me, my husband thundered.
“Ignore her, Appa, she‘s always a wet blanket,” that was my daughter.
“Let ‘s take a decision about his name, I tell you ‘Hitler’ suits him, said my son emphatically and a chorus of ‘Hitler’ went up to the skies. Despite the clapping and deafening chorus, ‘Hitler’ continued his wailing non-stop that day
Slowly Hitler got adjusted to the new surroundings, in about six months he grew up into a ferocious –looking but handsome dog. He was unusually tall and had a shining, velvety brown coat, shapely head with hazel eyes, long snout and flopping ears. He ran around the compound breaking all my favorite potted plants. But I stoically bore the loss, hoping that Hitler was going to be feared and respected by everyone. But alas that was not to be!
Hitler no doubt had a large frame and forbidding appearance on the whole. But that was all. He developed such a love for ‘humanity’ which would have made Adolf Hitler hang his head in shame. The moment our gate is clicked, Hitler would become alert, stand up looking towards the gate anxiously. By the time anyone entered the gate, he went blindly charging forward. Then he stood before the intruder, wagging his one -inch stump relentlessly, body curved up, waiting to be patted. When patted or stroked, he would melt immediately, roll his hazel eyes wag his tail more vigorously as if to say,” I’m really sorry that I frightened you, I was only trying to welcome you.”
Our Hitler certainly was a symbol of universal love and brotherhood. He did not confine his love to humanity alone. He loved crows, sparrows, mice, chameleons and even befriended cats and shared his food with all of them. But strangely he developed an inexplicable hatred towards squirrels alone.
Squirrels seemed to be his born enemies. When squirrels scampered
up and down the clump of trees, he barked at them continuously. If they happened to come down, he chased them around; he even caught a squirrel and even killed it in spite of our desperate attempts to save the innocent victim. His hatred towards squirrels was quite puzzling to everyone except my daughter who, acted as the Devil’s advocate & said firmly, “Just like Hitler hated Jews and sent them to gas chambers mercilessly, our Hitler too hates squirrels, in any case squirrels are real nuisance, they chew up all our coconut flowers and eat up all our mangoes and guavas before they are ripened.”
“As though his enmity towards squirrels is of any use to me. All my jasmine flowers, banana leaves and even tender coconuts are stolen regularly right under his nose. What does he do the whole day except eating & sleeping? Someone regularly climbs the wall & plucks all these things, when we‘re away and he does n’ do a thing about it. What a disgrace!!”
“Hitler does n’t sleep a wink at night. I’ve seen him going around the house & watching it all night. In fact his presence gives me courage to study late at when you’re all fast asleep. Anyway, why should he worry about petty thefts? If there’s a serious crime, I mean a major theft I’m sure he would prove his true mettle,” my daughter defended Hitler vehemently.
But I kept on grumbling that Hitler was only a nuisance as far as I’m concerned. Apart from the considerable expenditure on his daily meat, eggs & milk, I had to take him to the Veterinary Hospital for his periodical check up, vitamin injections & regular immunizations.
When Hitler was two, as suggested by his Vet, we gave an advertisement in ‘The Hindu’ for mating him. I was overjoyed as each ‘successful mating’ would entitle the male dog’s owner the option of either claiming the best pup or the price of it (Huh! how nice to know that even among canines, ‘dowry ‘is acceptable!),
The very next day of our advertisement, a black Doberman bitch was brought to our house in an air-conditioned, chauffeur-driven car. A jean-clad, charming, English lady, obviously the proud owner of the bitch also accompanied her. ‘Diana’ our Hitler’s bride was brought to our verandah. Hitler, ignoring Diana completely, went to her owner, curved up his body, and wagged his tail and waited anxiously to be stroked on his head. The moment the lady stroked him, he shook hands with her, licked her & wagged his tail relentlessly, as if to say that he is extremely honored by her very presence.
“Oh! he’s very friendly, a real Hitler to look at, he has already fallen for my princess”, so saying the lady gently pushed her Diana in front of Hitler. That was all; Hitler snarled at Diana, pounced on her and nearly bit her ears. Diana’s loud wailing coupled with our combined screams for ‘help’, brought my son who, heroically controlled Hitler with all his strength & Diana with her owner took to their heels without even bothering g to look back.
Despite the nightmarish experiences, my hope too triumphed over experience and I tried my luck once more. But, a similar feat was repeated in the case of another bitch too, proving Hitler’s hatred towards the bitches. Huh! another striking similarity with Adolf Hitler, ‘Hail Hitler’.
Hitler continued his uneventful, all the same enjoyable life by eating, sleeping, welcoming strangers, playing with crows, chameleons, cats and mice but chasing & barking at squirrels. Over the years, I learnt not only to tolerate Hitler but also to love him for what he was. After all, when I come tired after a day’s work, he was the only one to welcome me by galloping towards the gate, vigorously wagging his tail & licking me to show how much he missed me.
Hitler kept company with me, when my husband sailed off and children stayed away in hostels. As time passed, understood every syllable we uttered, shared our joys & sorrows. When my husband came home after a spell of separation, he welcomed him, licking him all over, circling around him without letting him move away, his hazel eyes conveying the message, “Don’t you see how I missed you, missed you so much ,much more than you could ever imagine?”
If a suit case was packed for any member of the family to leave, he at once sensed it and bid ‘goodbye’ shedding tears .Hitler became the most lovable member of the family and we celebrated his birthday in May by giving him presents& taking him to beach for playing in the water. Even I, who was once Hitler’s worst critic, started loving him from the bottom of my heart.
Then, one night the most unexpected incident happened—Our Hitler rose to the rank of a great hero. Yes, he was instrumental in nabbing a notorious criminal gang involved in a series of crimes & murders for gain, not only in Chennai but also in Karnataka & Kerala.
One night our Hitler’s deafening barks near the compound wall separating our house from the National bank, woke up not only us but also the entire neighborhood. In no time people came running from all directions with flashing torch lights, to find a few masked men working on the strong, grilled entrance of the bank.
Resisting all attempts to go near them by pelting stones and throwing knives they ran. Meanwhile, the armed Police alerted by a phone call arrived at the scene and after a hot chase, caught the gang. During the robbers’ stoning operation, a stone hit Hitler on his forehead & he was bleeding. My daughter immediately attended to him, sutured& bandaged his wound.
Imagine my surprise when I got a call from the Police Commissioner next morning, thanking me profusely for the wonderful performance of Hitler without which they would never have caught this notorious criminal gang!
Hitler became a hero overnight. Newspapers carried an impressive account of his heroism under his photo with his bandaged forehead. Our relatives, friends, neighbors & even strangers sang hosannas to Hitler.
After a couple of days, in a glittering function before the flashing of TV cameras, Inspector General of Police garlanded the ‘hero’ and presented him with a cheque of Rs.2000 and a medal. An advertising company advanced Rs. 1000 and booked him for an advertisement. Though unaware of the historical significance of his non-stop barking on that fateful night, Hitler enjoyed the publicity & looked every bit a hero
But, the very next day of this attempted robbery, I carefully surveyed the other side of my compound wall& amused to see a brown nest with two baby squirrels swishing their bushy tails, which had obviously fallen from our mango tree. At last ,the mystery of Hitler’s heroism was solved. But, my children argued vehemently that the way Hitler barked as he had never done before, proved clearly that he had barked at the criminals, who tried to break open the grilled entrance to the bank. I only wondered what Hitler would have done, if he had the powers of speech, would he have confessed the real cause of his unusually loud bark & shattered the pedestal under his feet or enjoyed the greatness thrust on him?!!
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Comments
Sushma Nair 2020-05-14 12:57:24
This is a very enjoyable piece...a very lucid way of expressing I could picturise every line...Kudos keep writing...
Bindu Tiji 2020-05-15 11:43:31
Final twist - revealed the real hero ...nice narration... Congratulations Aunty !
Sudhir Panikkaveetil 2020-05-15 19:56:00
The story is about a pet dog turned into a hero. The author did not like him when he was brought home by the sheer insistence of her children and her affinity with him slowly developed during the course of his growing from a puppy to a full grown dog. Her disgruntlement however continued unexpressed although she was thankful to him for guarding the home in the night when other family members were away. It happened one night the dog helped to catch a criminal. His heroic act brought him many recognitions and cash award. But the author was not convinced to accept his heroism as she had indicated in the story about his lethargic attitudes where he was supposed to be active. She had also mentioned the constant enmity between the squirrels in the yard and the dog. On her surveying she had found a fallen brown nest of squirrels and she assumed that the barking of her dog was not at the criminal but seeing the baby squirrels that were in the fallen nest. The readers get the idea that the author is not in favor of the celebrations to honor the accomplishment of the canine heroes. A skillfully structured story based on a simple plot. Well done Ms.Sreedevi Krishnan.
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