CHEEET LITTHLE DHOGGY!

…………..That’s what I call my pet. His name is Tommy.

HIS ENTRY INTO OUR LIVES

He was hardly 2 weeks pup when he landed into our lives. I still remember my sister bringing a Kismi toffee bar when I was in my Math class, our way of celebration. We were pestering our father to get us a new pet dog. We promised that we would take care of him….give him milk…take him out for his walk….. But we never knew we will have to clean his shit also….

One of my father’s friends got a couple of daschund puppies in a plastic and let them loose on the ground. One was jet black and one was brown. Both of them were rustling in opposite directions. My sister picked up the brown one (earlier we had a brown hound, may be she was a little emotionally affected in her decision) Lucky pig! She got the chance to pick up and there I was racking my brain with math problems…….. and that’s how tommy entered into our lives.

HIS FIRST FEW DAYS

He was as small as my palm then……… so cute with jet-black eyes and drooping ears. Actually he is not a pure daschund, his mother was a cross between normal hound and daschund. So he didn’t inherit that typical daschund legs. All that night he couldn’t sleep. He was terrified of the new surroundings (poor fella). We put him in an enclosed basket scared that the cats might carry him away. All night he was pissing and shitting all over the room. And my sister (very smart at her evading nature) broke the promise of looking after the pup the next moment. She was horrified at the thought of cleaning dog’s shit. So me being the elder one had to attend to it all that night. The next day I was dozing in the class. This went on for a week, till he was assured that we were not his enemies – in fact his family.

HOW DO WE CALL HIM?!?!#!!!@@

Then came the debate about his name, I suggested sunny (Sunny scooter was just introduced then). But my sister was so stuck with Tommy. She vetoed it very furiously and successfully. She very well knew all the tricks of the trade – of getting things done her way and mastered it at quite a young age. And he was thus named TOMMY.

MY RESPONSIBILITIES - MY SISTER’S AMUSEMENTS

I used to give him his bath….powder him(Thank god he has no fur)…… Cut his nails…. Feed him….make his bed……put him to sleep…take him out for his walks…and once in a while clean his shit….. And there she used to play with him….in the process tear all the sheets (wrap it around her wrist when he was teething – shrewd kid she was)……get bitten… bite back in childish temper…….teach him all that dirty tricks…….

GROWING UP

We never knew when he grew up…… though he was of a small built he was very strong. He literally used to drag me around when taken for a walk. I used to tell my mom in fun that it’s only till this side of the gate we take him out for his walk, once on the other side he will take us for a ride. Then on my father took up the job of his shikar (that’s his word for a walk).

He was growing up ….. slowly started wondering…………… and was very curious to know the world that was on the other side of the wall. His understanding was that there was freedom on the other side…………… whenever we were taking out our bikes to go for our classes, he used slip through the gate like fluid……….. he was as swift as wind….. and we were there playing kabbadi in the middle of the road ( kash we had a little more practice we would have ended up winning gold medal for India in the Olympics). Then started his extensive walks …….. Watering all the plants on both sides of the road (making sure none of them feels left out)…. Sniffing at people……..

INTERACTION WITH OTHER SPECIES

Wondering what the huge animals (buffaloes) were made of…….. Staring at the strange wingy things ……… ready to pounce on to the other dogs, so proud and confident with his master next to him with the stick……… once he had the shock of his life when my father took him to show the camel….. he kept running around…. Puzzled ….and little scared………making slow grunts at the STRANGEST thing he had ever seen in his life………… Once there was a monkey sitting in our compound eating a fruit…… we were all busy closing the doors and windows never knew how he slipped through silently…. We were worried when we found him sniffing at the animal…. Slowly making advances…… and all of a sudden there was a big Phaat sound… the monkey slapped him for making advances and passes at her…… he came in immediately sulking so sweetly – his male ego was hurt. It was his favorite past time to quietly observe the squirrels and lizards …. lying down in the grass. And pigs, he was so sick of them… “Yack! Dirty foul smelling creatures”………Cats………initially he just hated the creatures… but later on when my mom started petting them….he used to just ignore and avoid……he used to pass by, next to them, royally as if he never knew them…. Has never met them earlier… and not bothered about their existence at all….. even if the cats were gnawing their teeth at him….The crows surely annoyed him, they had absolutely no sense at all - to crow when mom was making milk for him …… “Gosh! Noisy stupid creatures with strange wings” …… and sparrows were so dumb to disturb his master in his sleep. “Gosh! How and Why did God ever forget to give these stupid wingy creatures brains instead of those awful wings……………” He was so sincere at his job of silencing them when his master was napping… but never realized that he was the real one who was making all the noise in the world to wake up him up instead…. And when father woke up …..” Oh! God…see dumb idiots, now you woke him up…” Now he misses all that fun in this concrete jungle… all he gets to see here is human faces….. Everywhere… and once in a while a pigeon or two…… some of his own breed on the roads…..

LIKES AND DISLIKES

He just loves Cakes- Pastries- Choco doughnuts- Ice cream- anything made of Sugar and Jaggery (usually known as Sweets)- Pizzas- Samosas- Aaloo curry- and all sorts of fries. He relishes Bitter gourd and we get to hear nice little lecture from our Pops “Watch and Learn, Even Tommy knows the nutritional value”……. and oh my my ! The look he gives when my father says that “You gals are such a disgrace to the family! I’m the True Heir!”

SHIKAR

He just jumps at the word. “What? what did I hear you say? Come again? You mean it? WOW! Come, come…make it fast………(hopping all around the place)…. dumb hands you human beings have, can’t you leash me properly? and do pick up that stick. Enough, now I can’t wait…..”

The way he walks, “Who in the world would dare touch me?!, with my master on besides me with stick in his hand”. He is so reserved – polished – Page 3 types when a familiar person says “Hello Tommy!” - “Who the hell are you? Sorry! I don’t know you.”

And not at all friendly with any one of it’s own breed, “Gosh! These dogs are such stupid asses! Trying to make friends with all strangers?!”

Well well well…….

GOODNIGHT!

And by 8.30 P.M he is off to bed. Sulks till my father makes his bed. “Oh my God! When will my master ever learn? I can’t take it any longer, my eyes are ……. That’s for today, I’m Signinf off! Goodnight and Sweet drea….mmmmmmm…….ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ”