Of Cats & Dogs & In-House Pets!!

 

A true story spiced with a dollop of exaggeration!

 

We are a ‘No Pets’ family.

And we have been like that for the last 38 years since we got married.

And even longer since my family   relocated from a sprawling country house in Dehra Dun to a 2 – bedroom flat on the second floor in Bandra, Mumbai. We had 2 dogs & 3 cats then. But they never entered our home. 

 

We like pets.  To be precise, we like ‘third party’ pets.

And we love dogs & cats at a 2 feet distance.

And if one of these inquisitive quadrupeds came near me and offered me a ‘Friend’s Request’, I just say ‘hello’ to them. And only in a couple of extremely rare cases I have bent down and scratched them behind their ears or given them a rub down under their belly.

 

And our house adequately reflects our attitude – that of a conservative South Indian Brahmin family to whom the only four legged animal that merits their love & respect is the holy cow (Pasum-Maadu or Gow-Maata)

And every morning and evening we welcome the good spirits into our home with a variety of different scented floral agarbattis - inside our house and outside in the lobby as well..

And Jayanti meticulously maintains a clean home & a cleaner floor – as clean as the synthesized white marble floor can allow. And our maid ensures that our house gets dusted each day and is   properly sanitised with Germisol & Lizol even before the COVID days!!

 

And then the weekend came. And the grand kids and the dog!

 

And coming to think of it, we were somewhat mentally tuned towards hosting a pet.

Six weeks back a stray cat, Miko, had adopted us. Each morning he would plant himself in front of our door,  and meow continuously - until Jayanthi hurried to warm half a mugful of milk in the microwave, or pour two ‘karandis’ (ladles) of freshly boiled milk into a pan and then cool it by floating the pan on a tub of cold water.

Then she and my son would carefully open the mesh door, shuffling in tandem so that Miko could not slip between their legs and run into our house. And this became a routine each morning and evening.

And in my enthusiasm, I also bought a pack of premium cat food from Amazon!!

I assumed cat food would smell, but I was not prepared for the first pungent whiff that assaulted my vegetarian nose when I opened the pack!  Quickly we emptied the remaining chana dal from a plastic airtight container and tossed the cat food into it.

Since Miko has a voracious appetite we need to refill his bowl 3 to 4 times a day! And each time we opened the container, our servant room would be flooded with the smell of Mackerel flavored cat food that is Enriched with Vitamins, Minerals and other nutrients promote the health benefits of cat

Prebiotics and Probiotics improve the digestive system and keep the immunity strong

The blend of organic minerals along with the essential ingredients help to control urinary pH

And so on….

 

So, my routine was to fill Miko’s bowl first, then run the fan @ full speed for 10 min then light a Mogra agarbatti. And I did it 3 – 4 times a day.

 

But this procedure had its side effects too.

We store all our fresh fruits in this room and very soon all our bananas & papayas started smelling & even tasted like Mogra & Mackerel flavored cat food – enriched with Vitamins, Minerals …..

 

And the saga continues…..

 

Come Friday evening, our daughter landed.

And she brought along her 2 daughters. And they were accompanied by a 2 year old, 30 kilo grossly overweight & hyperactive Golden retriever.

And our home was transformed.

 

For a starter, the ambient noise level rose by a few tens of decibels, and regularly punctuated by excited barks. The meticulously laid out bed sheets in all our rooms were constantly rumpled, toys all over, paper and color pencils & Crayons on all flat surfaces.

And our home looked ‘lived in’ and ‘alive & bustling’ with kids.

The sanitized look of a ‘homestay’ in a typical hill resort was gone.  The regular morning serene atmosphere was gone. You could see action everywhere.

And some in a continuous action – like the continuously “ON” TV with cartoons running and my large screen monitor blaring with ‘Matilda’ & ‘Sing’ videos on Amazon Prime.

And we bore all this chaos with some well-practiced patience. We had gone thru such ordeals before and were mentally programmed to this chaos.

 

But we were not prepared for Fuzzy, the 2 year old 30 kilo Polar Bear of a Golden retriever.

And since we never had a ‘live in’ dog or any pet (except lizards), it was a challenge!

Fuzzy came in with that typical animal (dog?) smell. And she has long hair that kept shedding everywhere she went. And very soon our whole house was smelling like a SPCA shelter.

And Fuzzy left her footprint (literal & figurative too) everywhere. Her paw marks, her hair on the sofa, beds, floor mats and in the kitchen as well. And we made it a point to wipe eery utensil carefully before we started to use them. And wherever she sat or lie down, she left a spot of drool.

And now you can guess what a challenge we faced.

And no amount of Dettol Blue nor Lizol nor Kohinoor agarbatti / Sugandi Sambrani / Cycle brand  3–in–1 Chandan  & Mogra & Champa could clear the air.

 

And soon we got used to the chaos and smell as well.

And 2 days zipped by like a wink.

The kids kept us busy. Talking nonstop, eating nonstop, playing nonstop. Taking frequent walks with Fuzzy nonstop, watching the screen nonstop……………

And we did the same – talking nonstop, eating nonstop and watching them nonstop..

And Fuzzy also ate nonstop, followed us everywhere nonstop and barked a few times to register her presence!

And every time I dropped Fuzzy a piece of biscuit , I also helped myself with a generous portion.

And we went on an overdrive, playing chess, going around the campus shooting pictures many times, playing with Lego blocks &  toys, browsing thru old family albums, Printing out coloring sheets and clearing the floor and putting the toys back into their boxes. And petting Fuzzy, rubbing her belly, scratching her ears & cleaning the floor wherever Fuzzy sat – nonstop!

And we started enjoying every bit of such nonstop activities until we crashed on our bed in the night and fell asleep instantly!!

 

On Sunday, post lunch, my daughter with her daughters and Fuzzy  returned back to their home !

 

And today morning we did a ‘ctrl-alt-del’ to our home and reset ourselves!!

The indoor plants, the crystal glass vase, my huge quartz trophy, and other articles returned back to their original positions. The large bronze Guruvayoor Krishna Idol got back to its place on the side table. And so did the well-polished 20 inches high ebony ‘thin people’ African art pair.

The hall had a bowl full of ‘Sungandhi Sambrani’  dhoop sticks billowing thick fragrant fumes.  Every room had a slow burning floral agarbatti stick.  We also had a lemon grass oil vaporising lamp on the corner stool.

 

And those folks who passed by our balcony today   would have noticed that every centimeter of our overhead clothesline & our two aluminum clothes stand, and the balcony grill was packed!

With 3 double bed sheets, plus a ‘singles’ one. Four pairs of pillow cover.

3 comforters and one light shawl.

All double washed & double spin-dried.

With extra capfuls of blue liquid Dettol!!

 

Yes folks, we are back to normal!!

 

Krish..