Budi’s Crushes

Back to my puppy days, when we lived in a rented apartment on the second floor. The owners of the building lived in the first floor with their two daughters.

I had strong likes and dislikes. My favorites were female species, whether human or animal, provided they had feminine qualities of beauty and softness. I did not like the stocky dark woman, who came for cleaning the house and would express my displeasure by creating a hungama, in spite of her best efforts to woo me. But I became the butt of jokes when I took instant liking for the washerwoman, who used to come twice in a week to do the laundry. I would run up to her and cling to her sari until she would pick me up in her lap giggling indulgently. While she washed clothes, I would be hanging around her splashing in the water.

As I took Baba out for walks, I sometimes, saw the two young girls of the landlords. I was eager to make acquaintance with them but sadly they never responded to my flirtatious looks.

One evening, as Runudi returned home after office, I sneaked out from the gap under the front door, climbed down the staircase and reached the first floor balcony. The younger daughter was sitting on the rocking chair reading something. I stood up on my hind legs, placing my paws on her knees. This alarmed the girl. As she saw me she let out a fearsome shrike, as if she had seen a ghost .Her mother, the landlady of the house came running to see what was happening. The girl started crying with fear - I had done no harm to her. Her mother looked at me threateningly to which I answered her back with loud barking. It all happened in a few seconds. Hearing the din downstairs, Runudi came running, grabbing me with both hands, she looked apologetically at the landlady, brought me back home shutting the door with a loud bang. I could sense it was going to be the end of my days of free movement.

That day when Babididi returned home from office she was summoned by the landlady. Babididi in the last two years had nurtured very cordial relationship with the landlords - it all went up in smoke. The landlady gave her a piece of her mind - how dare that brat living in my own house shout at me! Atrocious!! Insulting!! She won’t endure it anymore and the flat should be vacated.

Not that it troubled us very much as our own house was almost ready for moving in but it surely strained the relationship - all because of my infatuation for pretty girls. Any takers?

That Black Friday I want to Forget

I strongly refute the accusations that I create a 'ruckuss'! Are you trying to imply that I am intolerant and jealous of my other friends? Yes, I bark a lot – but that is only to assert my seniority. When we came to live in our new house, I was the only dog who went out for a stroll with Baba. Now I think its become a style statement to own a dog. I have many friends – Alsatians, Labradors and even Rottweilers. They were pups when they first came here – but now they have grown thrice my size. But their imposing size does not really matter – I am their childhood friend. And I mean it. Have you not seen – how we embrace when we meet each other during our walks? Our parents still laugh and wonder at our friendships! And Chotu didi, have you not seen the puppies who come running to me under the watchful eyes of their mothers. They know I love them – they just sense it. So, I am not the ill mannered brat that you describe me to be.

I admit that it is not as if I am friends with every dog in the neighborhood. I could never establish a rapport with Sunny. Every time he passed our house, I created a ruckuss and he paid me back in the same coin. But I think, it was a healthy verbal duel – very much enjoyed by our neighbours. Sunny died last year – he was quite old. I miss him. I miss our barking duels.

So what I am saying is that I love to make friends – now if humans don't understand our language, that is not our fault, is it? But there are bad experiences too – like what happened on 16th May.

On that day, when I was returning home with Baba from our evening walk, an Alsatian appeared from nowhere and attacked me. With my survival instincts, I slipped out of my collar leaving the leash in Baba's hands and ran towards our house. When I reached our gate, I looked back to see that Baba was hitting at the dog with my leash, trying to stop him from chasing me. Then the owner of the dog came out and dragged him into the house. Never before had I been attacked like this! I was traumatized by this incident for at least two days – I did not even take my evening meal of milk and roti. Next morning when I did not wake up Baba, Ma suspected something was wrong with me. She found me crouching in a dark corner of the bathroom. I was put under close scrutiny and a gaping hole was found in my chest – I had been bitten by that dog. My vet was consulted. As I had been given my yearly shot of vaccines, the vet assured us that there was no cause for worry. But Baba gave me a course of penicillin anyway for – extra precaution and some powders for healing the wound – and for some days after I went around with a purple tongue (I licked on my wound which was coated with this powder which made my tongue go purple)

Later we learnt that the Alsatian was a visitor to our neighbourhood – a visitor from Vazirabad in Pakistan. I am sad – we could not be friends. Then I could have proudly told my sisters – who seem to have friends from all over the world – that I too have friends – from across the border….