Doogie: The dog who travelled alone by train from Delhi to Bangalore

Doogie in his infancy

Transfers and posting of the soldiers, sailors and air-warriors is well-known and is a part of life. What’s not known is that they move not only with the family and household luggage, servants but also with their pets and horses on military warrant. And this time during our journey from Shimla to Bangalore, Doogie was our proud pet moving by train with us! But we had no clue about what lay ahead and that this journey would turn out to be a memorable one.

Traveling long distance with pets by train involve certain details. The Guard’s cabin has a dog-box where booked pets are kept during journey. The owner has to provide food and water periodically. Only ‘pup in the basket’ can travel in a common carriage with the  owner/ ‘pet-parent’. A full-grown dog could also travel with the owner in a first class coupe those days.

Journey from Shimla to Bangalore by train is not straightforward. One has to travel by the toy-train from Shimla to Kalka junction, and by broad gauze train from Kalka to Delhi. Since Karnataka express originates from New Delhi, journey from Delhi to New Delhi junction too is a story in itself.

It was month of July1999. Transition from cool Shivalik hills to summer heat in Delhi had to felt to be believed. We reached Delhi early in the morning and went straight to the to the railway guard and told him about our onward journey by Karnataka Express from New Delhi the same evening. Having done that I took it for granted that the railways would send my pet to New Delhi Jn and see to it that he accompanied us to Bangalore by Karnataka Express that evening. For us we had the whole long day to spend in the retiring room at Delhi Jn.

Army does not accept any last minute ‘flap’ and we believe in ensuring things to the last detail. So, I traveled to New Delhi Junction in day time to ensure a ‘smooth operation’. But it was shock to me to find no trace of Doogie at the parcel office at the New Delhi railway station! This was a disaster I wasn’t prepared for.

Some say, to survive in the Army you have to be all in one- a crook, a liar, a killer and also a b…..d! I too was left with no option but lie.  So, I instructed my children (one in college and the other a high school student then) to see to it that they board the train at New Delhi with mother safely in the evening while I saw to it that Doogie was settled properly in the dog-box with the guard. Everyone agreed. Now, having achieved success in the first falsehood at which I have a poor record, I kept visiting the non-existent pet in the guard box periodically throughout the 2-day long journey without anyone suspecting what was amiss!

But things took a different turn when we reached Bangalore. So, I had to put a convincing act of shock to declare that Doogie was lost mysteriously!

There was a fair amount of shock, anger, shedding of tears as also the resolve to sue the railways (!), and finally a promise to find the ‘most loved’ Doogie at any cost. I took everything in my stride without a word.

Those who have served in transferable job know the chores one undertakes on reaching a new station. In the Army, they always provide a temporary accommodation on arrival. But you have to run for school admission, gas connection, and permanent accommodation, and in my case to the nearest library without which my wife children won’t survive; books are their staple diet. That done, I joined my duties once the journey period and joining time came to an end. And once you join the unit, you are back to the grind. But my children would have none of it. Doogie had to be found!

So, about a week after we reached Bangalore, one day in between my hospital duties I found time to travel to Bangalore City Jn and went straight to the parcel office and as I inquired about my dog, the lady clerk sitting behind the desk almost jumped out of her seat and exclaimed: Col Jha you left your dog and forgot!

I had no time to reason. Finding Doogie was my sole mission. So, I asked. ‘Where is he?’ The lady pointed to the far end of the platform across rail lines. I lost no time and as I walked across, lo and behold! There was Doogie at platform number eight!! Tired and dirty. He went almost berserk at seeing me. It was a happy ending finally.

But as the news of his travel alone by train from Delhi to Bangalore spread in our residential colony, children started flocking around him whenever we took him for a walk. Many would ask with twinkle in their eyes, ‘uncle is he the dog who travelled from Delhi to Bangalore alone?’

I had no doubt, a chance separation from the owner made Doogie such a hero among children in the Air Force colony.