Travel: May 2016

Before i start with my blog, I would like to give pointers on few things you must be aware of before travelling with your dog in the Indian Railways.
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1. You need to have a confirmed ticket.
2. You need to visit the parcel office ( railway station you want to board from ) a day before you travel so that you can book your dog's travel. If someone else has booked then you are out of luck as they have only one cage per train. So reach early.
3. You don't need a dog cage. In fact you cant take one. The train will have a small cage in the last coach.
4. Reach the parcel office early during the day of travel as they issue the dog's ticket only during the day of travel.
5. I was told we can travel with only one dog. Also if you have a grown labrador it will not be possible to fit two labs comfortably in that small cage.
6. Make a note of the stations which have stoppage time of more than 10 minutes. These are the stations you can bring your dog out of that cage to give him/her a small walk along the platform.
7. This is very important. Find out where if at all they change the direction of the train. So for instance when travelling from Bangalore there was a direction change at Howrah, where they change the direction of the travel and the train engine was attached to the coach where the dog is held. You have to take your dog to the opposite end and put him in a similar cage present at that end.
8. The train signal guard who travels in that last coach changes on every major stoppage. Keep asking every other guard who takes charge if you can travel in that coach. If he allows you then you can at least keep your dog outside on the coach with you instead of keeping him/her inside that small cage.
9. If you can carry a small mat you can very well keep it on the floor of the cage because the cage is usually very dirty.
10. Keep a big bowl of water for your dog to drink inside the cage. They don't provide any bowls or anything necessary for feeding the dog.
11. Give a nice bath to your dog the day before because he/she will get messy during the travel.
12. If you are travelling alone, like i was, make acquaintance with the fellow passengers on the coach you are travelling with so that you can keep your luggage in their trust.
This is important because you will have a hard time running to see your dog during the short stoppages. Also if possible try to book an AC coach for yourself so that there is less chances of having your luggage stolen.
13. Buy biscuits because processed foods like pedigree, they wont be able to eat much due to the stressful conditions of travelling in a rocking coach inside a non ventilated cage.

These are the few pointers which i came to know after my experience of travelling with my dog and which i found important.

I had to travel via train because my dogs is a cockier spaniel and in India they do not take the risk of transporting this breed.
For more details on jet airways rules check this out http://www.jetairways.com/EN/IN/TravelInformation/Travelling-with-pets.aspx

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So as it happened I decided to take my dog ( Blossom ) back home to my place. My hometown is Kalimpong, a quite, serene and peaceful place near to Darjeeling where the climate is much more beautiful and mellow than compared to Banglore where i currently stay.
Dogs, I feel should not be constricted within the four walls of our concrete apartments ,no matter how much you love them or take care of them. They should have at least a small area outside on the open to run and dig around, to chase cats and play around, whenever they want to. They should be free to enjoy and run like animals do.
It was basically my wife's idea of keeping a dog with us to which i was quite reluctant at first.. but then you know who wins an argument between husbands and wives. So we brought home this small teeny weeny bundle of brown fluffy long eared cockier spaniel and named her Blossom.

But had it not been my wife I would not have been able to experience this journey and write this blog so anyways i have to thank her just as much.

So days passed and blossom got bigger and the more i kept her indoors the more I felt sad for her. I had to take her to a better place.

Finally after six months of living with us we finally decided to take her back home. By now she had grown pretty big and I felt quite confident she can take up the challenge of a long two days travel via the train.
So one fine day I went to the railway station and enquired everything about travelling with a dog.
The journey started on a busy Friday morning after much waiting and howling by my sweet blossom who did not have a hint of what was coming her way the following two days. It was difficult for her and so was for me because i was travelling alone. I kept a minimum of one back pack and took her feeding bowls and pedigree in a seperate bag. So once we reached the train compartment which was the last boggy of the train, I was heartbroken to see the condition of the cage. It was one medium sized boxlike thing which just had one measly looking small slit at the bottom with no other ventilation. The door was a sliding cardboard which was about to fall off and was carelessly stuck together with small nails sticking out everywhere. I began to realize the trauma my poor blossom would be facing for the entire journey. But then again I did not have any choice and hoped that maybe i can talk my way through with the Train Ticket Examiner to allow me to travel with blossom in the same coach as much as needed. But in the mean time I had to first get her used to the cage so i just put her inside and closed shut the door. The poor thing just stuck out her nose through the small slit and began to bark which sounded more like wild screams. The train started to move and i had no choice but to leave her there and find my own compartment..

We had around 29 stations till we reached out destination, New Jalpaiguri, which we would reach only on Sunday morning. My compartment was halfway near the middle so the very first thing i did was try to make friends with the people on my compartment. Luckily i found some students who belonged from my place and it did not take much effort to mingle with them soon after we met. I explained my situation and told them i would be frequently checking my dog and they were very supportive and helpful and i left my back pack in their good hands. After a few hours the TTE came in and I asked him if i can stay with my dog during the daytime at least to which he denied immediately. So i was left with no choice but to run and check on blossom during the short halts in between stations.
This is summer season, and it is kind of hot in Bangalore, the further north we traveled it would get worse. The train kept moving steadily and before we reached any station i would go to the end of the train from inside so that i need not cover the entire distance when the train stopped. So during this short halt, i took her out , replaced the water and tried to give her some food. But maybe due to the heat and the unusual environment she did not drink or eat much. Then as soon as it was time I had to quickly push her back into that cage and had to leave her howling and barking back there. I noticed that after every stop the signal master who stayed in the last coach where blossom was kept changed. Since the TTE was not helpful enough i decided to try requesting these guys. Most of them declined but however a few ( in fact two ) were nice enough to let me stay back there. It was during these times i took her out of that cage and let her breathe some fresh warm air.

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Next day we were crossing Orissa. The daytime was hot as hell, the night was warm. I was travelling on the AC compartment so it was not at all bad for me. Perhaps only blossom knows what went through her in that box she was kept in during the midday heat when we were crossing Bhuwaneshwar. The weather forecast was showing around 48 degrees and it was painfully hot outside. When we stopped at that station we had some 10 minutes halt so i decided to take her for a walk outside. Every time i took her outside she is always excited as anything and this time also she reacted similarly however this time blossom began to poop on the platform. I felt so relieved because she had not pooped since we boarded. She was doing well coping the heat. It was then that i realized what must have happened. It was midday, and it was extremely hot. I removed my slippers and felt the platform, it was scorching. Poor blossom must have felt that and the pressure build up must have triggered her bowels to drop like bombs out of a charging air fighter. Me and my newly met friends had a nice laugh but rushed her immediately towards the shade of the platform. Anyways that solved the number 2 issue i was worried about. So i gave her some biscuits and changed the water in the bowl. Now things were much lighter for both of us. Soon after the train started moving and I had to leave her howling inside the cage once again. It was later in the evening that we were approaching kharagpur that the signal master changed again and I requested for staying with blossom. This time the nice fellow allowed me to stay with blossom till Howrah. It was near about 2 hours distance and blossom finally got some really good air and also most of her fur which was soaked got dried up. This time she finally got to see how fast we were moving and what it was to look outside. It was a good ride.

The next stop was Howrah, and I had to take blossom to the other end of the train because the train switched directions. Howrah is crowded as always but the heat was not so bad so we slowly walked to the opposite end of the train. Here the cage was much better as it had netted doors. Much more ventilated than the previous one. It was anyways dark and so there would not be much heat either.
Blossom received a lot of attention and everyone was either jumping away or adoring her. Finally after feeding her some more biscuits I put her back in the cage. This time while leaving I did not hear her bark. She finally had started to get adjusted to this grueling trip.
Tomorrow early morning we will reach our destination. New Jalpaiguri

It was a beautiful day. The sky was not blue but rather it had patches of clouds smeared across. It was welcoming because the sweltering humid air was not present. The train slowly moved through the vast tea plantations, a sight we usually see when we reach the outskirts of New Jalpaiguri.. Most of the passengers were busy getting ready and excited to take off after the long and tiring two day journey across the great eastern coastal line. I myself was feeling much lighter and happier to the fact that the worst is over for blossom. Now we just had to get down , find a cab and start towards kalimpong, which was another 2 and half to 3 hours trip. This is nothing compared to what we had spanned in the last two days.

Finally the train stopped, I rushed towards the end and found blossom peeping through the netted cage, happy to see me, and her eyes glowing and her short tail shaking, a sign of excitement after seeing me..

After bringing her out and bidding my farewell to the helpful and cheerful guys who helped me during the trip, blossom and I boarded the back seat of the taxi and headed towards our final destination, Kalimpong.

I kept her on the seat next to me. For the next 15-20 minutes she stared relentlessly over the window of our moving car. Perhaps trying to understand the new faces and sounds of a new foreign place, thousands of miles away from a place where she was born and raised. A place where she had grown realizing that her only purpose in life was to just eat, sleep and look out of that balcony from our apartment, a moving but yet static image of things that never changed during her entire life. A place where happiness was just to see me back from work and sadness was when i left her alone within the four walls of the place which she believed, was her home.