What It Is To Have A Pet

This lockdown and home quarantine undoubtedly confined all of us in our homes. We were indeed circumscribed, but our mind wasn't. I had someone special to spend my day with. I spent the whole quarantine with smiles, fond memories, adventuresome anecdotes, many sniffs and licks. I have a unique friend or companion or confidante, "Kaalu".

Yes, she is a stray cum pet dog. She is two years old and is a Mongrel. She has changed me and my family's life. Every morning she would come to our home wagging her tail. I have a small black box kept for her in the corner. so whenever she would be hungry firstly, she would stare and me. But I would want her to express profoundly, so she would fetch her box to me. This would compel me to get something for her.

She certainly had something different. She would not eat food herself whenever we would be around her wandering around aimlessly. She would just quietly sit in front of us [especially me]. Stare at me, and want me to feed her. I would take some amount of food in my hands and bring it near her mouth and would lavishly lick my palm. Also, today I fed her. I cherish feeding her bread malai, any parantha with butter and malai, rice with curd, raw paneer [cottage cheese], different fruits, semi-cooked veggies and much more. She loves to eat it. We even gave her Prashad [holy offerings] of temples like boondi, laddu, sooji halwa [semolina cake] but in less quantity.

On my fifteenth birthday, I brought Kaalu a big pack of "Pedigree". We would feed pedigree to her in lunch and dinner only. It was meat flavoured so we decided to keep it out. Once after she finished her bowl and wanted more, she ran towards the pedigree packet, grabbed it with her mouth, opened it and started to eat from it. From then on, she would grab her food on her own and keep it back by herself only. But after that, I never purchased pedigree. Because many pet owners said those dog foods aren't healthy for them. Home-cooked foods are more beneficial for them.

Kaalu is mischievous but in a positive way. Whenever I would go out and meet her, she would jump on me and keep her two legs on me and stand, [taking my support] in excitement. I would caress her head and cheeks. Her next step will always be to lick my hands. Then I would delicately hold her legs and place them on the ground. But the moment I stood up she would again jump. Again I would place her legs on the ground and she would jump again and over again. This would follow every time till her best friend Paasha [ a pet German Shephered] would come for a daily stroll. The moment he would come she would leave everything and accompany him for his walks.

Something really strange she did which made all of us astounded. Whenever she would be scared of the other dogs she would immediately jump and sit on the roof of a car and bark from there. Also, there is something playful about her. Once when Deergha and I were playing badminton, she was gazing at the shuttlecock. We ignored her. After all, there was nothing wrong with staring at a shuttlecock, but it was and that was our mistake. The moment the shuttlecock fell, without losing any minute she ran towards it, grasped it with her muzzle and ran. It took us twenty minutes to take that shuttlecock from her. Yes, twenty minutes. And indeed, it was troublesome.

The next I got her some dog treats and a chewy green coloured ball. The treats were Dogsmith "Fishy Affair" Dog Biscuits. I used those treats and that ball to teach her some tricks. Now if Kaalu can shake a hand, give a high five, sit, look at you when asked to. I also taught her some other tricks like "Peek a boo". So whenever she lies on her back and I say Peek a boo, she uses her two hands and covers her eyes and then look at me. That's so cute. The other interesting one is the spin. She spins balancing on two legs. The rollover is super amazing. She lies down and rolls like anything. The fetch one was the hardest to teach because she has her teething period going on so she loves chewing her ball. So even today when she was tired she got her, sat in a quiet corner and chewed her ball.

This is her "Happy Holi" picture. I had put a sandalwood vermillion spot on her head because I thought colours might turn out to be problematic. She also enjoyed having her favourite food "Bread Malai" and some treats.

There is a lot more for me to tell about Kaalu but, I think that I am running short of words. Maybe I am bound to experience more fun-filled and enamoured moments with her. May God Bless Kaalu with a long life.