By Monali Das
Woof woof, woof woof! Okay stop Neoo, I am here to speak; no one will understand your gibberish. Hello, all my fellow companions! I am Monali and this is my hooman Neoo, the super shihtzu. Yes, you heard it right! I am saying so as I believe in the saying “You don’t own a dog, you coexist! Dogs don’t need you, you need them”.
I was born a cynophile, I love spending time with dogs since I was a child, maybe it came to me from my mom. This love is not restricted to a specific breed or a dog, I love them all. When I was young, while coming back home from school, I used to feed and play with all the doggos and little puppers in the vicinity and just the sight of them playing, eating, and having good time would make me a happy clam. So before going home, I would stop by and play with the dogs around, which in turn ended up in me getting scolded for not coming home right away. But all was good as long as it was about playing with dogs.
Then there came a time when we shifted from that place to a new place. I missed everyone. It was hard to leave them all behind, but then it was not possible to take everyone with me as well. Days passed by, we grew older, and there were things to take care of. I would still feed and spend time with dogs whenever I saw any. A few months ago, my friend, roomie, gossip partner, giggle mate, and the only sister got married and all of the fun had gone with her. As we all say, every cloud has a silver lining and this was the time when my loving jiju gave me the ultimate super little cute baby lion, Neoo.
Neoo was a teensy-weensy ball of fur when he came to me, I was so happy and overwhelmed, tears of joy rolled down on the sight of this adorable little monster. He was so small that he could fit in my palms. Despite being small he had a huge personality. It didn’t take much time and effort for Neoo to become the most pampered kid of the house; he is the ‘Rajasahab’ here now. He’s ‘mummy ka ladla beta’, everyone loves him so much. Neoo has turned my “No dogs allowed!” dad to “Where’s my little baby monster”, both of them adore each other so much and they are bestest of buddies now (happy for this!)
He has been with me since the day he came home to us. Not a single day has passed without us seeing each other. Neoo is such a darling and has personalities of almost 100 men. Sometimes, he’s a grumpy old grandpa, the other moment he turns into a super dog flying around the house and all over us. He’s such a cuddle baby, he sometimes eats like he’s been hungry for ages and sometimes he throws tantrums like a spoilt brat and turns into a picky eater.
Neoo is the reason that this Covid-19 lockdown and work from home has been so bearable for me. I need to wake up at any hour to do my work and this little companion of mine would just lean on me looking into the laptop screen. God knows what he understands, but if we keep going on like this, soon he’ll start helping me to get my work done!
Neoo and I, we’ve been to many places. We love travelling and he has seen most places in Pune now: We are planning to extend our adventures to far distances after the lockdown. Neoo loves running through grass, in water streams, chasing birds, meeting new dog buddies, watching people, cars moving, and sometimes, he’ll behave like a wise old retired man who’s got his life sorted, has enjoyed, has lived his life to fullest, and now is just calmly adoring things around. Neoo also has his own page on Instagram named ‘neoo_the_supawtzuu’ that we have recently started where we post all the adventures of this little fellow. He has also got a number of buddies whom he likes to meet often.
Neoo has now become a part of our family and has rooted so deeply in such a less time. He is now growing from a small little furball to a cute majestic lion. We will continue to explore places and make new buddies. One crucial thing this furbaby of mine has taught me is, ‘to live in the moment’.
With this I’ll stop and wish all the companions a wonderful and bright future ahead. Lots of Love from Neoo! Stay safe! Stay Healthy! Take care of one another!
