A Bowl of Elusive

On the face of it, this trip my wife and I went on was nothing significant. We drove down from Guwahati to Shillong, stayed at a homestay and visited some nearby attractions on the following days, and returned back on Day 4. Two details make this trip special - we went on a motorcycle, which frankly wasn't made for mountainous terrain, and we traveled with our little doggo, Corey. Let me introduce you to Corey - she is a Spitz aged about five to six years. My wife rescued her back in May 2021, when we were just engaged, and soon both of them became vital parts of my life.  Here's how Corey looked when Eva first took her in: The timid little dog didn't bark or bite. She just came near us and sniffed us and looked at us with those eyes. Her eyes and nose were heavily infected. Someone had abandoned her back in February 2021 and I can't imagine how this little one spent months on the streets. She was scared of everything - other dogs, other humans, but she barely ever bark

Back in school, there was a guy called Rishikesh Bhatia (name changed) and he was a bully. He was short but domineering, maybe because he came from a wealthy Punjabi family and Punjabis are naturally boisterous, at least in comparison to the east Indian population. Coming back to Rishikesh, he was entitled, loud and angry. I am sure there were reasons for him being the way he was, but I had my own troubles and tribulations to keep me busy and look at him from a 360-degree angle. I did not like him that much and I am guessing he did not like me either. But we rarely crossed paths, our friend circles were different, and we did not have to interact most of the days. And then one day, we got into a fight. I can’t for the life of me remember what the fight was about. But I do remember how it played out. When school ended, I was walking home with another friend, dragging our cycles along with us, just outside the school gate and Rishikesh Bhatia came charging at me from behind with a long st