Puppy and I

She came into our world barely one month old, along with her brother, both cuddly puppies and offspring of stray parents.



Few days after she arrived.



In the initial period, they fulfilled the desires of our 7 year old boy who was desperate to be seen as owning a puppy in his circle of friends! Although hesitant and not very pleased to have them at our house because of their parental background, our compassionate Buddhist nature and the puppies’ cuddly innocence combined with our son’s persistence won us over and all too soon, we were bathing, grooming and feeding them daily, almost as members of our family. 



Grooming and picking fleas!

The male puppy, however, disappeared one day to live the life of a stray as ingrained in his blood. We never looked for him since we felt that.. as a male offspring, he understood the heavy responsibilities that fell on his shoulders, ie, to uphold the noble traditions of his parents and ancestors to never be attached to one particular family but live on bits and pieces and the generosity of all the human residents in exchange for enduring frequent kicks, stones and sticks.

The female puppy stayed with us, occasionally disappearing, but nevertheless, making herself present during the mealtimes, which she would remind to us with short barks, even when we forgot!

Time went by, and it was past fifth month… yet, she was still with us, now a grown up puppy, strong, sturdy and healthy. The bonding became so strong that at times, when we returned home from dinner parties, she would sense our arrival from half a kilometer away and greet us expectantly with short yelps and jump up to check any plastic bags that we carried, just like a human child, for any eatables that we normally brought for her.

(Playful days)

The beginning of this week, on Monday, we could sense that she was not her usual self. We thought she might be hungry and so we cut pieces of leftover pork, mixed it with rice and fed her. She picked the pork pieces but didn’t eat the rice. On Tuesday, being the Pedestrian Day, I was walking to my office and for the first time, she followed me to office and decided to take a nap outside, refusing to come home along with me after the office hours. Yesterday too, she was there outside my office the whole day, taking a nap with heavy breathing. I thought she would have eaten her fill from the leftovers from the office canteen and relaxing for digestion. I called out to her and she just wagged her tail but never even looked at me. Lazy puppy.. was all that came to my mind.

This morning, I drove to my office. There, at the exact place that I normally park my car, was my beloved puppy… dead!

A strange sense of foreboding emptiness crept upon me and a lump filled my throat. This dumb puppy did not have the ability to speak out her deteriorating health condition… and I failed in my responsibility to understand it..

This stray puppy with dubious background emerged out of nowhere and left an indelible mark in our lives… even if it was for a few months. My driver gave her a decent burial. May her soul rest in peace!