Victor received his second service medal for rescuing the inspector general (IG) who was attacked by a prisoner when he was on a visit to the police camp. Leaving the other policemen outside, Inspector Janardhanan and Victor had accompanied the IG on a tour of the rooms where the prisoners were held. An emaciated, half-dead prisoner had, with the unfathomable energy of an animal about to be slaughtered, jumped up from where he was huddled on the floor of his cell, grabbed the IG’s neck and held on like a python from a nightmare. Shocked into inaction, all Inspector Janardhanan could do was to holler for the policemen outside, while Victor had, with great presence of mind, bitten the hapless prisoner’s neck, pulled him down, mauled him and dragged him back into the cell.

One day, Inspector Janardhanan got word of a burglar who had been on his radar for a very long time, and a group of policemen, led by a sub-inspector and Victor, set out to apprehend him. The burglar was on the terraced roof of a concrete house—extremely rare in those parts—spending a few stolen moments with his beloved, gazing at the sky. As soon as he saw the police, he jumped off the terrace to the ground below, and Victor jumped after him. The burglar had his legs broken, and Victor broke his spine. The burglar spent the rest of his days begging in the streets, pulling himself around on a small wooden platform fitted with wheels. The inspector got a special wheelchair made for Victor, and the policemen who were out of favour with him found themselves assigned to the jobs of wheeling him around and cleaning his kennel.

Adam lived out the rest of his days in such a way that did justice to the original owner of his name. Perhaps because of the heroic act of getting rid of the dog catchers, he became the forever lover of the local bitches. They had never seen a dog with such valour of heart or splendour of body. His self-confidence was forged in the fire of the hardship of his youthful days. Not satisfied with his love life on the streets, he entered the houses secured behind boundary walls, mated with the pampered bitches inside, and even freed some of them from captivity. And as though to replace the dogs killed by the dog catchers, a new generation of stray, half-starved puppies with mahogany-hued fur and black mask-like marks on their faces began to appear all over the place.

Adam’s luck began to change after he swam to the middle of a pond and rescued a drowning child. He was middle-aged by then. He did not have to break into kitchens any more. People fed him lovingly. Soon, the land was freed of the fear of burglars, and people slept peacefully through the night to the music of the frolicking new-generation puppies.

The morning after Inspector Janardhanan retired from service, Victor’s lifeless body was seen hanging from a cashew tree beyond the parade grounds. There were signs of an attempt to skin his body and gouge out his eyes. The former police minister, who had by then lost his seat and almost ended up in prison, came to pay his respects. He stood before Victor’s dead body, which was laid out with all honours, wiped his eyes and whispered something to the person next to him. Watching him, the people gathered there suddenly found themselves doubting all that they had heard about this obviously soft-hearted person.