Istanbul - Choose Your Path Back to Reality
While living in Istanbul, the street dogs were some of my favourite everyday sights.
Among them, I had day friends and night friends. The day friends, I never saw at night, and the night friends were nowhere to be seen when the sun was up.
This particular one-eyed dog captured both my imagination and my heart. It seemed to have its personal jurisdiction of a few blocks and would be waiting for me once I entered. After a short and dignified greeting, very unlike the exuberant greeting of the day friends, it accompanied me at my side back to my flat.
As I greeted to say goodnight and goodbye on my last night in the city (my right hand to my left breast, with a slight bow of my head), I could've sworn that I'd received a deliberate wink of its good eye in return.
I spent a month in Turkey when I was in my 20s, I loved it. I wasn't in Istanbul very long though. It's amazing that these dogs just live on the street? Do people feed them?
They're sort of taken care of collectively by the residents and shopkeepers in which ever area they live. I love that whole sense of community and how it extends to the four-legged ones, too.
They're tagged, too (I'm not sure if you can see that in the photo) as the government makes sure they get their shots, from what I've heard.
We could learn something from the Turks I think ... especially in the Eastern Cape!