Me, Cats and Dogs…

     If you don’t have a clue about it, then let me tell you that I’m a fanatical animal lover. But, as the typical story goes, my mother cites various reasons to not allow me to pet any sort of creature that stands on four legs. There is a loophole to this, but being a late riser, I don’t want to pet a rooster and get woken up at the wee hours.

   Let’s take a little diversion.

    I had managed to pet a dog in 2005, it was pretty much of an adventure doing so! Within three days of getting him home, he was kidnapped or dognapped by a few kids from the neighbouring colony. As I am too bored to study, I shall go on and tell you what exactly happened. Although these events occurred 6 years ago, I pretty much remember the details as it is all about things that I love.

    I had got a dog on the 23rd of January 2005 from ‘PAWS’, which is a local animal welfare centre. He looked like a mixed breed Alsatian, was black in colour and after pondering over what to name him, the name ‘Roxy’ struck a chord with me. Little did I realise that it was feminine name and a short lived character of the same name would make her appearance in Mr. Bean’s Animated Series. It used to remind me of my dog all the time.

Mr Bean in Love with Roxy!

   As soon as I had got him, a little puppy that he was, he used to be huddled up inside my apartment on the ground floor. But on the first night itself,  I had taken him out for a walk and left him around in my colony parking lot and had gone inside to fetch him water. When I returned, he had already disappeared.  A frantic search followed under all the cars and around our colony. Sadly, I had to return back home late at night not knowing where he was. But the very next morning, when our maid went to the terrace to keep stuff to dry, she found him there tired of whining and sitting in a corner. Now who would have expected such a small pup to climb up two floors just out of curiosity? Thus, the place had gone unsearched! The problem he had with is was that he could climb up, but unfortunately couldn’t come down (maybe he was inexperienced and scared to do so). And that was not the end!

   Roxy, as adventurous as he was, he never escaped the eyes of the neighbouring kids who managed to lift the petty bag of muscles and bones up when he was let out to answer his nature’s call or calls in the evening. Although it was negligent on my part not to be with him, I was sure that it was they who took him. In the night, me and my friend roamed the neighbouring buildings in search of him, but it was in vain. But on the 26th, as luck would have it, another guy who was much younger than me managed to give me clue of where he was. For a day and a half, he was kept hostage on the terrace of an adjacent building (his fate was interlinked with terraces, I guess!). It took my dad to rescue him from there and give the kids who had done it a good scolding. Phew. Another day gone by!

    For the next few months, being with him was an amazing experience, and leaving him out in the open was a wilder one. Although he was very playful, people used to mistake it for aggression a lot of times. He grew tall and strong, and he used to drag me down the street in a few months. It looked as if I was under his leash and not the other way round. The wild guy once even managed to run after my dad’s bike to half the distance between my house and my shop! He was my life for a few months! I very well remember him nearly getting me down on the floor after he saw me returning from my vacation, I was just away for 5 days! That made realise that dogs are much more emotional that people think of them to be. They might not have brains to send sent a probe to dig up Mars, but they have a very large heart!

  Then comes the sad part. Not exactly sad but weird enough to raise your eyebrows. Me and my parents were away, so we decided to keep him at out experienced granny’s house for a few days. I say experienced as they once had five or six Pomeranians making their house their domain.  Now the dogs were gone, but there was my cousin brother, 5 years of age and as they say he had the same blood running in his veins.

    What he did was that he displayed a little too much affection to the dog. He fed the dog water and maybe as a sign of brotherhood, he drank from the same plate! Yeah, he was caught once while doing that. And that was the end of Roxy. Added to that was my mother’s opposition and a pretty bad time that we were facing that made granny pack the dog off to somebody. Now I don’t remember who he was, but he also passed on the dog to some-one else. When I tried to track him down, all my efforts were in vain. That was the end of it.

  Here is what my friend Pawan Garde had to say about the loss of his dog when he was young- “He was great friend!! I used to go on adventures investigating with him..we both were about the same height.. and he was an expert in fighting against snakes..his speciality were cobras..but alas it was a cobra who killed him…on a Sunday afternoon in mid April..Sandy was a real Baazigar!!” This makes me realise that I am not alone. Aniruddha & Anjali Sen Gupta, two of the most devoted dog lovers that I have ever come across recently lost their dog Hero and the post that Annie made about it was really heartening to read!

    But I guess Mother Nature always gives you a second chance. And it did just that. My not-so-far away neighbour adopted a dog that looked just the same! And it grew old under my nose. He was fun too! The photo that you see, is of the very same ditto-Roxy dog that we all loved. Unfortunately, he was found dead one day, suspected of being poisoned to death. Sick people around.

   Years have gone by, but my affections for them hasn’t died. I think I can still make most of the dogs wag their tails by whistling alone. My mother says that they can perhaps sense a person who is good to them. I know I’m being a little kiddish, but that statement does make me happy! After my Tenth Std. Board examinations, I decided to keep two dogs, Romeo and Juliet. It was rather unsuccessful. My mother couldn’t bare them after two days. Funny part is that she likes dogs very much, but not when they are in our house. Makes me go crazy! I searched for half an hour now, seems that the photo that I had clicked of theirs is lost. I leave you with some of the photos of cats and dogs that I have clicked over the years! Overdose of cats coming in your way! Enjoy!

        Chupke Chupke,  on my Granny’s roof            A few of the ferocious cat’s at Percival sir’s house

     A sleeping pup at Kala Academy                              My old neighbour’s dog, alive and kicking!

  

   Chuku, Percival Noronha’s old cat, royal!                   A monsoon shot, from my window

   

  One of my favourites, near Boca de Vaca!                    Recent capture, just outside my door!  

  

    Just opp Police Station, on the HDR trip                   Again, my old neighbour’s dog!

Me, in 2009 with the cat that shares her home with my uncle. They need not be invited to my grand-mother’s place, they just come along as if it is meant to be a Noah’s Ark! I leave you with a video below that is of the same cat as you see. I was at my granny's house to check on her cat and the kittens and LUCKILY I had my camera along with me. I could witness this happening as I had left the door of my aunt's room open by mistake. This is one of the best videos I have ever recorded. In the end, I was really stunned to see the way she carried the kittens on the bed!

My granny’s cat transporting her kittens!

I sign quoting a good friend of mine

"I always fought for a baby sister. Its too late now so now I’m fighting for a dog!"

Feed them and they will return,
love them and they will die for you....

Bow wow!  

Mid@$ Touch