By Kamal
My name is Tommy, at least that is what they – my Lord and Master – call out looking at me. I am getting kind of used to this sound and vibration. I find it curious at times, why some human beings big and small want to play with me. I am generally a quiet dog, however, at times it gets on my nerve when they keep on calling out to me; then I try to threaten them by showing my teeth. I do realize that they feed me and clean me so I must behave to avoid being back-to-the-street situation.
I am short-heighted with white fur.
‘Let me appreciate myself a little’… I crane my neck to look at myself.
Where was I? Oh Yes! My coat is bushy and keeps me warm in winter. You know, my Lord and Masters are kind people. Though they do not allow me in their house, they have built a small place for me. It is made out of wood and covered on all three sides. It is situated above the ground at a height from which I can jump effortlessly. They may have thought that I may fall off while asleep. Their knowledge of dogs, their behaviour and life style is as good as mine of these human beings. To say the least, ‘poor’! My house has padding; if I recognize it rightly, it is the same kind of thing that I saw the other day in a shop where I just sneaked in. They are tall and round in shape filled with something.
My staple diet is something of white stuff mixed with other things. When I eat it, I can easily chew and swallow it. I have found that the taste lies in the kind of liquid they pour into it. If I see something yellowish with no distinct smell my hunger pang vanishes.
Sometimes it comes with greyish colour that just makes me go mad. Even before they put my bowl down I am prancing around them. The sweetest part is when I get a nice big bone in it, I take it back to my bed and chew on it as and when I like.
My Lord and Masters are amongst the early risers. There is clinking of utensils, running taps, sweeping of the front courtyard, gargling – all those things humans do when they wake up in the morning. I feel terribly disturbed. At dawn, there is this hurly burly in our household as I wake up.
My favourite person is the youngest son of the family who is jabbering all the time and looks happy any time of the day. He sits with me, talks to me, and pats me regularly. My forefathers said ‘men who love us are good people’. With this thought I lie by his side and feel comfortable.
Of late, I have noticed a few strangers in the house. My Lord and Masters are cordial and hospitable. Strangely, I noticed the strangers act and behave as if they are indebted to them.
Amongst this entire hullabaloo, the oldest son of the house is in the limelight.
‘Ramesh please see them off’
‘Ramesh show them around’ so on and so forth.
One day, I woke up, it must have been around four in the morning and to my surprise, I saw the front courtyard wet and the main house door decorated with garlands. Quickly, people started to swell-up in the house and to my great surprise they all left in two to three Jeeps to somewhere. They were decked up and looking smart. The house fell silent. I stretched out in the winter sun and slept.
In a dream, I saw a new woman has come to the house. She looks pretty and charming. She learned my name as well. I was a little muddle why someone has suddenly come to this house and started living here. It is beyond my small brain to comprehend the magnitude of this new event.
At that point my forefather came to me and said ‘older son Ramesh has married the woman and they are husband and wife’.
I wanted to ask him why such things do not happen in our world but he was gone by then.
By this time an enemy has emerged in the form of a cat in my life. Initially, I tried to ignore it and let it pass but it started taking advantage of my good nature. One night, I was in my dreamy world; I was startled by the kind of noise that I get to hear in odd hours from the houses. Sitting on my bed, I realized that it was not a desperate cry of a child rather a sort of pleasant exchanges. I did not know what it was. I barked towards that direction. It stopped for a while and began again. When I came to know, it was the same cat making that funny noise. I chased it. Since that night, I am on guard all the time, day and night. I watch it like a cat watches a rat.
You must have gathered by now that there are a lot of things going on in my life. It is not as simple and straight forward as humans think. I guard my house. Stay awake all night. Fight cold and heat; being patient with human’s annoying habits and now an enemy.
OMG! I have to deal with this all by myself.
The house is once again busting with laughter and merry making. Now I connect that the man who was almost bending backward to please my Lord and Master and looked so indebted was the father of the woman.
I am still trying to make a sense of this event. A man comes and gives a grown-up woman to a house that too she comes overdressed from head to toe. To me it looked a happy moment. Then her father looks and acts as if he is obliged. I have never seen this in our world.
