I don’t know if you look forward to the night. Well, I don’t, because the thought of having to endure the night, literally gives me nightmares! Don’t get me wrong. Its not that I do not want to rest my body, tired as it is after the innumerable chores of the day. Nor is it because I do not enjoy having a deep, sound sleep. Well, the reason is the big, barking dogs in the house right across the road.

Silent and docile they may be during the daytime with nary a whimper nor a whine to mark their presence. But in the night, they suddenly spring to life. When our aching ears and heavy heads yearn for a few hours of peace and quiet, the dogs choose to protest. Shattering the stillness of the night, their ear-piercing barks and howls seem worse than the sounds that have hit our senses all through the day.

Well, aren’t the owners disturbed too? How come they don’t try to quieten them down? And then again, the watchman who is supposed to be on night duty also seems oblivious to their barking. Is the sound audible to my ears only? To liven up the band, the street dogs join the chorus. Sometimes it seems that the defiant brigade just wont give up. Just when you think that one’s barking is dying down and there may be some respite, the next one takes over and the others join in, till it reaches a crescendo.

Exasperated, one night I rang up the police for help. I was politely informed that such matters do not fall within their purview and they would give me the corporation office number and I could seek their help instead. Expecting the corporation van to arrive in the middle of the night to pick up the offenders when they excuse themselves from the duty of picking up rabid dogs in the daytime, would be nothing short of day-dreaming!
Resigned to my fate, I decided to go back to sleep. But then again, I thought I could make the best of this hopeless situation and do a night shift instead. So I began cooking, cleaning, dusting and tidying up the place, consoling myself that I could catch up on lost sleep during what used to earlier be my waking hours.