Stupido

Stupido was such a lovely puppy. She and Fenny struck up a friendship, something I had never expected out of my girl. But Fenny has shown me several things that she is capable of doing, one such thing is to go make friends with strays who she thinks my dad and I will approve of. So Stupido became a common visitor near the gate when we took Fenny for a walk. When Fenny would return home from the walk she would run straight inside for some biscuits and milk/water/mango juice (she is totally pampered) and Stupido would wait outside and she would get her share as well. There are several instances when Stupido tried to get me to pet her, but I wouldn’t because my mom has banned me from petting strays every time I see one. Stupido would follow my mom and me as well when we would go for our walk. She was such silly pup, half the time we would be worried that some big dog would come and attack her. Thanks to her I had to carry pebbles in my pockets to shoo the bigger dogs away. So Stupido started looking up to me as her protector, something I wish she hadn’t done. So 4 months into this routine, I started using a special whistle for Stupido because if I used the one I used for Fenny, Fenny would probably get jealous. So one day when I whistled, Stupido came running straight at me. Stupido had an exceptionally long tail which would spin and go whoosh-whoosh and when she got super excited the tail would get confused not knowing which direction to spin in, so it would go clockwise half way and return anti clockwise. She came and licked my hand and so I pet her. I mean she had already licked my hand so I would have to wash my hand so why not pet her as well and then wash my hand. She was so happy that I pet her. Two days after that she just disappeared. 2 weeks later I saw her and she was in such terrible condition. The big dogs had gotten her. She was so badly bruised, the flesh on her leg was torn, there was huge gash on her back, she was just a small bag of bones. Seeing her like that made me hate the dogs that did that to her. That was probably the first time I ever voiced hatred towards the canine specie. That was the last time I saw her.

4 weeks back I saw a little dog follow my mom and me, instinctively I turned around and said, “Hey, Stupido.” But this wasn’t Stupido; it was tan colored dog, almost the same size as her, but not her. So I turned and decided not to look back at the mutt, it followed us for a while but then went its own way. The same weekend, I saw a lady on our street hitting a really tiny puppy. Initially I thought it was their puppy so I decided to mind my own business. But when the beatings continued and the pup kept crying, I just had to go and find out what was happening. Turned out the puppy was a stray and was “scaring” the aunty ji. I picked it up got it home, fed it, put it in a cardboard box and the chappie was christened CROCKERY, that was the label on the carton and thus the name. We tucked him in the box for the night. When we woke up in the morning, Crockery was gone. No amount of searching helped. In a way I guess it was good that he left, but on the other hand he is such a tiny guy, I wonder if he will survive. But then again these strays are survivors aren’t they? But even they could do with an occasional treat or pat on the head to know that they are wanted and are welcome in this world.

P.S: I never meant to blog about Stupido, as much as I loved her she has probably been my most favorite stray pup. When you see the pup all happy and fine around you, you don’t think beyond that. I never did. It was only on two occasions that I cried into my pillow thinking that I love Fenny so much. One: when I read Marley and Me and the second time after Stupido.

Fly Away Birdie

This is a picture of one of my birdie friends who was giving her young one a lesson in flying. The little thing was so petrified it remained on the hibiscus bush for more than an hour and we had to make sure no cat gets to it and meanwhile to pass time i started clicking phutos.

A frustrated mommy left her baby to make up its mind. The little one looks grumpy but two mins later it was flying.

My Tenants

It all began when we moved to our home. It was brand new and so empty. We still had plenty to do for the insides of the house. I was in my 2nd sem when we moved here. Two months into living in our house I noticed a nest on our terrace and in it were 3 eggs .I used to constantly go and check the nest. One day I saw three little birdies craning their necks looking at me, they had their mouths open expecting food. They were smaller than my thumb. Their head was as big as the remainder of their body. I kept visiting them till one day they were gone. I thought ah well they had to leave some day. Then came my third sem, I had just started classes and as always during the odd semesters we are plagued by the rains which fall only when I’m on my way to the college or when I’m on my way back home, till then the rains hold out. On one such day I went to my room to find grass strewn all over my bed. The next day I found a trail of grass leading to the loft in my room. On climbing up there I saw one busy bird weaving furiously to make a tea cup size nest. I was pleased that they choose my room to build their house and I considered it a secret between me and the birds. So I did not tell my parents about the activities in my room. The couple used to start working early in the morning, and they went about their work noiselessly. After almost 2 months I could hear a chorus of chirping and I climbed up to see a brand new set of babies. I couldn’t keep this to myself and had to tell my mom about it. She gave me a lecture on how I have to remember we have Fenny at home who would probably attack the birds incase they got to close or were not on guard. Now that was a valid reason but the birds were to high up for Fenny to attack them so i didn't worry.

When summer came they built their nest out on the terrace and when it rained they were back in my room. After their second monsoon in my room they decided I was harmless. They used to fly closer to me, follow me when they weren’t busy with the nest. They knew they had a free reign in the house. I occupy the first floor. It’s got the room and the study. Initially the birds wouldn’t venture outside the room but they soon started flying around in the study as well. They used to sit on the monitor and watch me when I was doing my work or when I was just studying. I never shooed them, they probably thought I was the coolest human on the planet.

Once when I woke up I could see from the corner of my eye that the silly, stupid, sparrow was sitting on my pillow watching me closely, next to me was Fenny. Now I know Fenny is a sweetheart and she would do nobody any harm unless she knew they were a threat to us or her. So Fenny just stared at bird; bird stared back at Fenny, the next thing I know Fenny is back snoozing, now who would have thought she’d react like that!

This is my 9th sem and the birds have now taken over the whole of the first floor, now I don’t have one pair but two pairs of birds building their nests up stairs, one in my bathroom and the other in the study. They aren’t all that quiet any more. When I’m ironing my uniform in the morning they start bickering and no amount of shouting “shut-up” stops them from bickering. I think the women keep nagging their hubbie birds about “how nice their nest is”. But in the evenings when they are done for the day the couples take their positions on the bathroom and study room window sills respectively and glide away to lala land and alls quite till the sun comes up and I wake up to the screeching of my friendly tenants.