Meow!
After the last two very heavy newsletters, this one is going to be lighter. It is about my dogs. And cats. And LOVING.
When I was younger and saw my friends or people petting dogs or cats, I wondered how they did it. When they were petting street dogs, I didn’t think I could do that at all and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was mildly disgusted that they were touching stray dogs.
I was scared of dogs, had never been around one, except when my friend Vibha got a complete goof ball of a dog, Robin. He taught me how to love him by drooling all over me, being my foot rest, climbing all over me, licking my face, giving me a metaphor for my enthusiasm (lab-pup-like enthusiasm), and leaving me with no choicest to surrender. It was easy to love him and other labs though they are a tad bit smelly.
There have been other dogs too that I have liked but their humans always showed me how to and I loved them because I liked the humans.
When the lockdown started and I thought I should feed the dogs in the neighbourhood, I didn’t have the first clue as to how or what, dog food wasn’t available, so I asked Vibha and she said, “Give them roti and eggs.” My mum made the dough, I, the rotis. I was sacred and I asked her if she’d accompany me. She agreed. The roads were empty, we chose a pack. It seemed like something I could do and that’s how it started. I learned to make dough, something I had avoided for the longest. I would roll out rotis, break an egg on the hot roti, let it cool, tear it and run down to feed the dogs. I did that everyday no matter how busy I was. It gave me purpose. (Oh I also cut my nails every few days on instructions from my friends so I was not bringing back stuff from their fur.)
There were five dogs, one was this furry white dog who’d run like a Chandni with his fur swaying from one side to the other. He was named Fluffy. And there was another black and brown, young dog who scolded and complained to me when I missed going down once. He’d run too. Other than Fluffy and the one who scolded me, I couldn’t tell one from the other, they were just black and brown.
But as I kept with my evening routine, I bonded with the five and learned new things, their eyes, their fur, the colour, the dynamics between them and how unique each one was. Fluffy would sometimes just go and pee in another territory and the dogs there who weren’t as powerful as these would bark their heads off, Fluffy would nonchalantly finish his job and come back while the others kept barking. Complainer dog was and is also extremely enthusiastic, affectionate, greedy and would often climb on me. Something I wasn’t and still am not comfy with at all, so I told my friend Matt who told me, “You have to be the alpha dog.” So I tried, I shouted, was angry but Complainer dog remained the same. Fluffy and Complainer dog still hogged my attention, the others were still black brown dogs for me.
The markets started opening up, we decided to get dried fish for our cats (kittens born in March, their mother and aunt under a car near my building and Big Beautiful Boy in another territory).
Look how pretty Big Beautiful Boy is and how he purrs! He is super friendly and that’s not what I had heard about tom cats. Anyway, when we first got to know each other, if I missed seeing him and he saw me, he would purr till I saw him and went and petted him. The roads were empty then and it was easy to spot him. Now he waits for me or I meow looking for him under parked cars and he always comes running. The kittens who are big now are absolute touch-me-nots but love climbing on my legs and jump right in front of me when I am walking in the park. They think I exist to feed them fish.
Coming back to my dogs, they know I don’t feed them in the mornings but always trail me in the park like I am their celeb. And once the cats started eating dried fish, so did the dogs but with some rice. From dried fish they now et cooked fish and rice and the day I gave them chicken they had NO CHILL. Especially Complainer dog.
Now that I have known them for more than six months, I also know so much about them, more than the just about Fluffy (he has been in hospital for a nose infection) and the Complainer aggressive dog. I know who is calm and wise and is the mother and who instigates whom and who has trauma and fights a lot, who is the alpha. NOT Me. :( Complainer dog is so distracted and excited, he is also the first one to eat but as soon as I give food to others he tries to eat their share too. Complainer dog’s mother has little energy but she isn’t distracted like the young fellow, so while he is being greedy and trying to eat other’s share and fighting with them, his mum sometimes eats her share and his. I secretly feel very happy.
A month or so back, I went to the store near my house and I met all except Complainer dog because I just didn’t want him to jump at me. So like a ninja I was getting into the store when he saw me and dashed towards me, I ran into the store. Through the glass door I could see he was waiting for me outside with his eyes fixed on me. When I went out, he did jump and then walked me home, asking me to pet him frequently. I shared this with my friends and my friend Rohan said I should name him. I thought about it and his cartoon but I wasn’t ready.
More here
All of them have names now and I will tell you how. My friend and children’s author, Nandini Nayar and I were talking about our lockdown lives. I am not sure how the dogs came up and she gave me tips from her son about getting them to behave. She told me how he has the dogs wrapped around his little fingers, especially Dogma. I thought Dogma was such a clever name and that’s how it started, Dogma is the mother of Complainer dog who is Drama, then there is Trauma who took forever to warm up and is sometimes angry and fighting with Drama. The last one remained unnamed and I took the matter to Twitter and someone suggested Nagma, so Nagma it is. Nagma puts her face on my knee when I walk in the mornings and asks me to pet her. They all come and meet me whether I have food or not.
Drama can get Nagma to be very aggressive, otherwise Nagma is calm. There is absolutely no way to avoid Drama, after months of trying to be alpha with him, I now sometimes get angry and upset and ask him to sit and he does. Like Nandini’s son suggested I am stern with Drama and he behaves but sometimes he is way too excited to behave.
I read this somewhere, “by nurturing or caring for something, you pay more attention to it,” and I can’t agree more. Recently I met a few friends and a friend had gotten her dog. She said how one of her cousins said, “She couldn’t pet a mutt.” My friend smirked. I was like that cousin too, too scared and didn’t think mutts were worthy of my attention but starting to feed the dogs changed everything. If I could appropriate Lincoln, I’d say, “Don’t like a dog, give them a meal and get to know them better, they will teach you to love.”
Warmly,
Indu
Woww this is absolutely brilliant. And the first picture of yours with the doggo is soooo cute you look pretty! Loved the story about the dogs and the cats, reading through those felt like i was a part of the story. We have many dogs and cats in our vicinity as well and they are all familial with us. It feels so so good and special when a dog or a cat recognises you and wants to be pet . Honestly the best feeling. Even humans dont make us feel this way. Thankyou for this lovely story indu :)
such a nice post!!! :-)