Encounter with a Bull Dog

Halifax, Nova Scotia is a city of three hundred thousand people. Although it would be relatively new in Europe and spanking modern in Asia being founded by the British settlers in 1749, it is considered an old city in Canada. There is a lot of Canadian history here but its main claim to fame is the biggest manmade disaster of all times that happened in 1917. An explosion of a ship loaded with ammunition destroyed everything in a two square kilometer area around the harbour and killed 2000 people. Thanks to that explosion and the fire that followed, every street in the city has freshly painted bright red fire hydrants a few meters apart. The paint is so new that a visitor would be forgiven to assume that the dog owners of the city carry a can of paint and a brush with the mandatory scoop when they take their pets for the walk.

Ravi’s latest visit at the end of October was not the one he would have looked forward to. His childhood friend, Komal, has lived there for thirty years. Komal’s only child, daughter Bimla, moved to Vancouver soon after finishing college and the wife passed away a few years ago. He has a lot of very good friends but there are times he feels lonely. To make the situation worse, he has had various health problems over last five years. A few months ago he gave in to the entreaties of Bimla and bought a condo near her home. However, no sooner had he packed and shipped most of the furniture, his kidney failed and he had an operation to remove it. He needed help and Ravi and Monica were happy to be useful. Komal is fond of Monica with good reasons. She is a doctor and, among other things, her medical advice to that family has been very valuable in the past. They felt that tender loving care of Monica after he was released from the hospital will accelerate the recovery process even if the visit lasts only five days.

Monica and Ravi spent their time in Halifax tending to the needs of Komal as well as doing odd jobs to facilitate his departures later in November. Only time they got out of the house was to drive him in his rarely used Saab to the doctor and to the clinic for blood tests. They also called on an influential medical friend to push for a special medical treatment Monica felt Komal must have before his flight. They cleared the driveway of droppings from the chestnut tree and put scores of charity items and bags of garbage and recycling on the side walk.

Alas, much too soon the pleasant and hopefully useful stay came to an end. Monica was leaving for San Diego for a conference on a noon flight and Ravi was to catch an evening flight. Ravi drove to the airport to see Monica off. They were at the airport in good time and had a pleasant conversation after depositing her suitcase with the airline. Monica mentioned how she waited in the line for coffee for more than ten minutes but no sooner a man showed up an extra cashier was called in. Ravi pointed that as a brownie he has had trouble getting used to being invisible most of the time. They talked about Komal looking well in the morning and what he should do to keep the recovery on track. It was now time for Monica to head for Gate 28. They walked hand in hand towards security. Ravi noticed a rather short plump man with pasty complexion and shaggy hair sitting on a stool twiddling his thumb, yet trying to look important. At the entrance Monica presented her boarding pass and was directed to a short line of passengers waiting to be stripped for the check up. Ravi stood there waving. At this point the lady who ‘manned’ the entrance pointed out the back of a sign and asked Ravi to move behind it. Just as he turned around to follow instructions, as he always did irrespective of who the instructor was, he heard a growl. The bulldog of a man began shouting, “You are not supposed to be here. Get out of here.” Ravi was shocked at the outburst. The man did not seem to be the authority figure, perhaps he was showing off his might by screaming at some one he expected to sneak away. Ravi slowly walked out of the dog pan. Then he turned around, returned to the man who tried to shoo him away and said, “Sir, Can I ask you a question?”
“Get out of this area and then ask your question, will you?”
“I can’t shout as loud as some people so I will ask you here, ‘Would you have been just as rude if I were a white man, especially if I were young and six foot tall too?’”
“Go out. Or else I will call the guards to put you away. Do you hear?” The man was waving both his arms.
“I have got my answer. Thank you.”
With that comment Ravi walked to the parking lot and drove to Komal’s home. Two old friends had a pleasant few hours discussing what needs to be done for Komal’s recovery. They hugged in a fond farewell when the cab arrived to take Ravi to the airport. When Ravi entered the security entrance he noticed that his nemesis from the morning was not there. He prayed that the temerity of a short, fat, bald, aging brownie had not caused a heart attack.