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The first thing I did after I got married was to get home two naughty puppies. I learnt to feed them, clean up after them and worry when they were sick. My life changed, almost overnight. I now had two friends who were always there for me, wagging their tails each time I came home!
Growing up, I knew nothing about four-legged furry creatures. I did love animals and enjoyed watching documentaries on National Geographic, but my first-hand experience of living creatures was limited to plants and flowers.
I loved stories by Gerald Durell and always dreamed of having a dog at home, but my mother would not hear of it. In my childhood, I loved visiting my aunt in Chennai, whose home was full of animals and love.
So the first thing I did after I got married was to get home two naughty puppies.
I learnt to feed them, clean up after them and worry when they were sick. My life changed, almost overnight. I now had two friends who were always there for me, wagging their tails each time I came home.
I have told them everything— my joys, my failures, my darkest secrets. Not only that, but I have sung lullabies for them and have dressed them up in bow-ties. I usually value my personal space, but with my dogs, they are free to use my bed and sometimes my lipstick. (Okay, the last thing is a joke, don’t freak out!)
As if all the chaos was not enough, another little one wrapped herself around my legs a few years later and did not want to let go. Yes, she came home too.
People would ask me, “Why three dogs?”
Frankly, I do not know. It is like asking a mother, why do you have two kids, when one is enough? They just happened and I do not regret it. In fact, my life was so much happier. To prove it, here are some valuable things I learned from my dogs.
Well, they would do anything for food, but I would do anything for their love and affection.
Each time I came back home, I received the same warmth, the same affection, the same “Where-were-you-i-missed-you-so-much” look.
Each day, our dogs would do a new funny thing. We talked about it, we laughed. Like how our labrador would wait at the door once he had made up his mind to go on a walk.
Or my german shepherd that used to stand on two feet in the balcony and ogle at girls (No, that is NOT a joke!). Or how Lulu snuggles under my husband’s arm each night. Life is all about these lighter moments, isn’t it?
Thanks to our dogs, our days were full of them.
Dogs do not hold grudges.
They do not remember how you treated them yesterday; they only care about today. Right here, right now, I lick you, you hug me and all is fine. Seems like the perfect theory of happiness to me.
So that is why I once had three of them.
Because you can never have too many friends.
Image Source: Author and Lum3n via pexels free on Canva Pro
Vaidehi is a teacher and mentor who is extremely passionate about pedagogy, writing and the arts. read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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