Pets - some connections and memories.

Pets have more love and compassion in them than most humans. 

~Robert Wagner

I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon, and a cat that comes home late at night. 

~Marie Corelli

Two different opinions yet convey the same meaning that  pets display and shower unconditional love. They bring so much joy in ones life. They end up becoming a part of your life, your better caring half.

I don't have any pet at the moment but we have had pets. My parents loved them and brother was so fond of them, I was kind of okay, liked them but I wasn't the one who could really take care and manage the puppies then, especially when they were very young. The puppies require the same attention as that of a little child.

The first pet we had was a white pomeranian. We brought her home when she was just a couple of weeks old. She was fond of my mother, mom took care of her like a little baby, feeding her with the feeding bottles, bathing her, comforting her and making her grow from this tiny little thing into a handsome pup.We called her Ginny. Once mom was going out, I was in the 10th grade then. Ginny was still a little pup. She told me everything that I had to do. The first chore was to feed Ginny, I was to give her some milk. I did that but didn't take a note that the milk was hot. Offered it to her, she took a sip from that and shrieked, it was such a painful cry. She left the milk and walked away immediately, giving me one dirty look. I didn't realise what went wrong . Then on, Ginny would never have anything that I gave her. 

When Ginny was about an year old we got a little labrador we named him Dash. It was black and the coat was shiny. Mom gave Dash the same love and care as Ginny. Dash and Ginny bonded well and started growing up together. 

We had fights among us siblings but the pups were well behaved. Looks like they listened to mom more than we did and they didn't do anything that she'd disapprove.

They were all grown up and formed a pretty picture. Loved my mom and were fond of dad. They had a coordial relation with me and never interfered. Probably Ginny had communicated my inefficiencies to Dash and must have told him to keep me at an arms length. Ginny also knew exactly how dad's scooter sounded and would rush to the gate when he got back home from office. 

I left home and came to Mumbai for my graduation, I guess Ginny must've been thrilled to get the bitch out of her way... anyway as I said we shared a coordial relation. I would see them only once in 6 months that too for just two weeks. But being away from home made my heart grow fonder of this black and while pair, I guess distance did the trick on them as well. During my second year vacation, I was home for nearly two months. I used to take them for walks. Yes I was in college and third year meant being prepared for the campus interviews; fitness and looking my best also was a part of it. In this pursuit the two of them also became involved. Ginny didn't like waking up at 5 am and giving me company for walks. She pretended to be fast asleep just when I would get ready for walk, she gave up just in 3 days flat. But Dash being the adventurous one and I guess being protective about me came along. He loved those walks. Somehow the two months flew by and I came back to Mumbai. Putting Dash into a good fitness mode. He continued getting up at 5 am, would then go into my brothers room and lick his face if he didn't wake up on time. Somehow spared my sister. She was the little princess in the house and Dash knew it well. But brother had to take him out for walks everyday. Brother got quite irritated with the whole drama at home and when we met next he narrated all the morning walks saga, we still talk about them and have a good laugh.

Dash and Ginny lived with us for about 10 years, then dad got transferred to another city and we had to move there. Since we were going to be living in  an apartment in a high rise building, we decided against taking  the pets with us. So we had to look for secure homes for both of them. Dash was sent to dad's colleague's house, the lady was extremely fond of pets and Dash had company. We heard that he didn't eat for a couple of days but eventually the lady got him on track and he was fine. I am sure he missed my parents a lot,just the way they missed him. Mom cried often.

Ginny on the other hand went to my aunt's house. They are vegetarians so she had to deal with a lot of vegetarian food but aunt did give regular non vegetarian treats to her. She was stronger and adjusted into her new home well. We saw both the pets settling in and we shifted base too.

We came to Mumbai and started living in an apartment. Brother wanted to get another pet home. I didn't like the idea as everyone loved the pets but mom had to take care of the logistics part and going out or out of station required huge planning. Told my brother that he could think of having pets in the house only after he got married and  managing the pet would be his and his better half's responsibility. 

He got a Dalmatian puppy home one day. Parents were out of station and I had started working. My little sister was home on study leave. She took care of the pet, I was amazed at the way she was looking after it. It wasn't trained on anything and we weren't trained on taking care of it either. I wasn't good at it anyway! It would shit all over the place and my poor sister would be on a cleaning spree. She was someone who didn't even step on the wet soil while walking in the rain and I couldn't see her doing all that. Gave an ultimatum to our brother that the pup had to go, he needed to find another home and people who were better equipped to handle him. The puppy was really cute but somehow we couldn't keep it, was getting it very difficult for my sister and I couldn't see that. Brother found some people in Kolkata who wanted the pet so it went there by flight. Yes we missed it and I kept wondering whether we did the right thing by sending it away. But parents were out and we couldn't handle it. Managing ourselves was a huge task in itself! then the news came of Ginny dying of old age, we all missed her and felt the void of losing someone dear. 

This post is written for http://indiblogeshwaris.com/2013/09/that-tuesday-thingy-pet-peeves/

pictures have been taken from google with due credits.