My First animal was not mine, but my Dad's. The Dog was a humongous Alsatian, that my Dad had got with him from Germany/Russia...I forget which. He was called Taras Bulba ( blame Baba), shortened to Toro.
Toro was my parents' first baby, our life long babysitter and nanny. How the huge hulk had patience and bodily, the stillness, to always monitor a four and a six year old, I never knew. Even though my Mum hated to admit it, he loved my dad. And he started to die the day dad left.
While I have ALL memories of the dog, my brother had once said he doesn't. I hope he didnt mean it.
Then we moved houses, and we had the local cat giving birth to a litter in our kitchen. Cats were new to us, and we had no idea that they were going to take over our lives. And how. Dad flipped. He had never, in his whole life, had cats in the house. Mum was calm. She had done this all her life. BrahmoDeb, BishnuDeb, and BudhhuDeb. That set of a lifelong tryst with felines. We never hd a day after that, where we did not have *at least* five cats in our house at a time!
Then one day, my mum realized, we needed a dog. Bhai was still tiny, and I was PlanB for everything that would go wrong. The mother dog was so, SO huge, that she knocked over my brother in just gently nudging a hello. The little pup was a bearlike ball of Bhusho fur. That night, we were tired and too dazed with a new animal. The puppy got a sharp slap from the Don Cat, and scared the Little Cat, and annoyed another by peeing in the middle of the room. That was it for that night.
Next day, was a new beginning. Nothing looked like it was going to work. And the three human beings were going to make it work, by god.
Thus began our new lifestyle. We would travel, do homework, find bastekball and football practise, piano lessons and choir practice. Mum had classes, invegelation, friends to visit, students to talk to, corrections....but we would have to do our duty to the animals. Buy food, walk them, clean them, feed them...all of that.
Those time were tough on us in many ways. My mum realized, we needed animals. I would bring in cats, birds, squirrels...and be thrown out of the house for a little while ever so often. My brother would ask if he could bring in a stray dog...and he would be firmly said "NO!" to, and sent out with a huge pot of dog-food stew to feed the dog. And my brother gradually had a pack of dogs he would go feed every night. And come home once in a while, to report that one was injured, one had puppoes, one was feeling cold. Aaaand my mother would give him a blanket, some warm milk, or go out armed with dressing and medicines.
Piu did the strangest thing once. I was to go visit her, and she called me to tell me she was going to Bombay. Would I go with her? To get a cat? Of course, I would.
I had a lot of things to tell Piu. To give her a stern talking to. To get many in return.Needless today, nothing like that happened. I was blissfully happy in the knowledge, that she has things planned, and was in control. Where to get a cab from, how to find the cat, how much time to spend in mumbai etc. And Piu, was happily not very bothered by such things, safe in the knowledge that not too much can go out of control when Sajani was around. We realized, many months later, how scared we were, or how nervous, at given times of that day.
Piu's life was as chaotic as her many new ideas were. In the midst of that, she made space, and a firm commitment, to a cat.
She allowed the cat to run her life, and things fell into place. Gradually.
Animals. So much needs to be said of them. I love all the cliches, and believe them,too! I realized how much of my "mental"-ness can be calmed, by just a little nuzzle.
And thus, I continue my many conversations with goats, sheep, cows... recently I have spoken to a giraffe and a baby elephant. :) And a Zebra. :P
Not to mention the cats and dogs who find me. Cats and dogs are like emails now. :)
I wish I had my animals with me now. I miss them all so much. If only human beings werent to be reckoned with, in this matter. gah!
Toro was my parents' first baby, our life long babysitter and nanny. How the huge hulk had patience and bodily, the stillness, to always monitor a four and a six year old, I never knew. Even though my Mum hated to admit it, he loved my dad. And he started to die the day dad left.
While I have ALL memories of the dog, my brother had once said he doesn't. I hope he didnt mean it.
Then we moved houses, and we had the local cat giving birth to a litter in our kitchen. Cats were new to us, and we had no idea that they were going to take over our lives. And how. Dad flipped. He had never, in his whole life, had cats in the house. Mum was calm. She had done this all her life. BrahmoDeb, BishnuDeb, and BudhhuDeb. That set of a lifelong tryst with felines. We never hd a day after that, where we did not have *at least* five cats in our house at a time!
Then one day, my mum realized, we needed a dog. Bhai was still tiny, and I was PlanB for everything that would go wrong. The mother dog was so, SO huge, that she knocked over my brother in just gently nudging a hello. The little pup was a bearlike ball of Bhusho fur. That night, we were tired and too dazed with a new animal. The puppy got a sharp slap from the Don Cat, and scared the Little Cat, and annoyed another by peeing in the middle of the room. That was it for that night.
Next day, was a new beginning. Nothing looked like it was going to work. And the three human beings were going to make it work, by god.
Thus began our new lifestyle. We would travel, do homework, find bastekball and football practise, piano lessons and choir practice. Mum had classes, invegelation, friends to visit, students to talk to, corrections....but we would have to do our duty to the animals. Buy food, walk them, clean them, feed them...all of that.
Those time were tough on us in many ways. My mum realized, we needed animals. I would bring in cats, birds, squirrels...and be thrown out of the house for a little while ever so often. My brother would ask if he could bring in a stray dog...and he would be firmly said "NO!" to, and sent out with a huge pot of dog-food stew to feed the dog. And my brother gradually had a pack of dogs he would go feed every night. And come home once in a while, to report that one was injured, one had puppoes, one was feeling cold. Aaaand my mother would give him a blanket, some warm milk, or go out armed with dressing and medicines.
Piu did the strangest thing once. I was to go visit her, and she called me to tell me she was going to Bombay. Would I go with her? To get a cat? Of course, I would.
I had a lot of things to tell Piu. To give her a stern talking to. To get many in return.Needless today, nothing like that happened. I was blissfully happy in the knowledge, that she has things planned, and was in control. Where to get a cab from, how to find the cat, how much time to spend in mumbai etc. And Piu, was happily not very bothered by such things, safe in the knowledge that not too much can go out of control when Sajani was around. We realized, many months later, how scared we were, or how nervous, at given times of that day.
Piu's life was as chaotic as her many new ideas were. In the midst of that, she made space, and a firm commitment, to a cat.
She allowed the cat to run her life, and things fell into place. Gradually.
Animals. So much needs to be said of them. I love all the cliches, and believe them,too! I realized how much of my "mental"-ness can be calmed, by just a little nuzzle.
And thus, I continue my many conversations with goats, sheep, cows... recently I have spoken to a giraffe and a baby elephant. :) And a Zebra. :P
Not to mention the cats and dogs who find me. Cats and dogs are like emails now. :)
I wish I had my animals with me now. I miss them all so much. If only human beings werent to be reckoned with, in this matter. gah!
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