As soon as I came to Talas, I noticed that there were quite a few stray dogs. Later I found out that they were not really stray; they were just not kept at home and fed consistently. Naturally they scavenged around piles of trash. For some time I wondered why the people here didn't feed their own dogs. 

It didn't take long, however, for me to find out their reasoning. To my question they responded with the question, “Why in the world would you feed the dogs when the people don't have enough to eat?” Then I realized that I was looking at them once again through my own lenses rather than through theirs.  To keep the record straight, there are some who feed their dogs here (like a couple of my neighbors), although I’ve never seen people strolling or playing with their dog(s). 

About a month ago, I picked a puppy from the street in front of our house.  While I was talking with some neighbor kids, I noticed a small puppy which was in an obvious pain.  It was completely wet.  It was shivering and was walking with a limp.  I was about to come back into the house but I just couldn’t let this little thing go.  I asked the neighborhood kids if they knew anything about this dog, and no one said they did.   

So I decided to take the puppy in.  Some of the kids followed me into our house.  By this time, Minu and Audrey joined.  I went to the bathroom to get hot water and told Audrey to get the blow dryer.  I gave the puppy a warm bath and dried it with a towel, followed by a blow dryer.  I then gave it warm milk.  As I was shampooing and blow drying the puppy, the neighborhood kids giggled and laughed.  It probably was their first time looking at a dog being washed and blow dried.  Well, with what I mentioned earlier, I don’t blame them.  Anyway, this was how  Bikky became an additional member of our family.   

Next morning, one of our neighbor’s kid, whose name is Argen, brought another exactly same looking puppy to our house.  Argen said he found the dog in front of his house again.  Well, what the heck, we decided it would be good for Bikki to have a companion.  We kept the dog.  Unfortunately, the second puppy didn’t live too long.  So we have just one puppy, Bikky.  To find out more about the event, read the kids’ articles at NYAM’s Corner. (I was amused to see different versions of the same event which will help you understand why there are four versions of the Gospel rather than one^^.)  Oh! one remaining mystery about the dogs here.  Around 12 to 1 AM, all the dogs start barking.  I haven’t figured out why.