Flying high

It was a typical Bombay summer morning. Clear blue sky, the sun was out, the crows had started crattering, and a bunch of bright green parrots with even brighter red beaks flew by making their presence felt. A gentle sea breeze drifted into the house as if wishing everyone a good morning.

Suddenly a shrill shriek ripped through the apparent chaos. The crows were silenced for a moment. The parrots had flown off, far into the distance. Almost instantaneously, an excited young boy ran through to the window of his house and bared it open. There it stood, on the terrace of the next building, the queen of the Bombay skies, a magnificent bird, the Black Kite. Its sharp, piercing eyes looked straight at the boy for a moment. The boy was awestruck. And just as he thought he was the luckiest person alive to witness this majestic bird of prey, it gave out another cry. Reacting to it, the boy gave out his own imitation of the cry, almost like an extended, high-pitched, horse's neigh.

As if stunned by the sound and looking for its source, the bird frantically scanned the horizon, its head bobbing from side to side, its eyes searching. And then, as quickly as the whole episode had started, it came to an end. The bird unfolded its massive wings and glided off, riding the waves of breeze flowing in from the sea.

So continued the love-affair of the boy and the birds; flying high, birds of prey.

Sunday evening

Last Sunday, I think like for the first time in a long long time, I FORGOT about the F1 race!! All because of this silly, but rather engrossing, movie I was watching called '1408'.

I'm not so much a person for horror flicks, but I do like it when any movie transports me into another world. And this one does it quite well. Its got plenty of those moments that made my hair stand up, and my body thud back onto the chair... But now that I think of it, 3 days down the line, I can't remember too much else.

There was always a sense of what's going to happen next, but in the end it turned out to be a strictly okayish film. Though I must admit feeling quite satisfied that I'd managed to kill an hour and a half rather quickly :-P

The rest of the evening of course was devoted to switching between ESPN & Star Sports watching the finale of the EPL. A tense game at the JJB against Wigan, and a rather sloppy one at the Bridge rounded off a successful evening :-) The battle-royale is now set for Moscow on the 21st, and I'm looking for friends & a bar which'll show it through the night. Or else, the beer shall flow at home! Go ManU!

Jimmy

October 6, 1996. My family got a new member. A cute little labrador+golden ret+cocker spaniel. Shyam (bro) and I were always fond of dogs.. memorizing the names, heights, food requirements, health issues & what not of several dozen breeds. Shyam was the one who always wanted one at home. I didn't mind, thought it'd a nice to have one around. We managed to convince everyone. And we got Jimmy.

Having a dog, is like having a baby in the house. They demand a lot of attention, care and their every move delights you!

Jim was an immediate hit with everyone. As his teeth started sprouting, he'd be chewing on just about anything, including our hands! But its one of the nicest things to experience, getting your hand chewed upon by a pup :-P (Later on in life, even with much a much bigger mouth and stronger teeth, Jim didn't mind chewing our hands, but somehow he always did it with the right amount of pressure, as if taking care not to hurt..!)

As he became more and more used to us, and we did to him, we found an ideal comfort zone... His daily routine was set and we knew exactly what he wanted when he wanted. He was a huge fan of Idlis, any South Indian dish, for that matter. And like a true brahmin, he was pure vegetarian! :-D Once when he was sick and the doc asked us to feed him some (non-vegetarian) dog food... he flatly refused to eat it (even though he was hungry, as he subsequently devoured like 5 Idlis)

I don't know how they do it, but dogs seem to know exactly what we're feeling at any time. I've read that its because of their acute sense of smell, sensing minute changes in our body odour..
He'd come and curl up to you when you're sad, and just giving him a nice petting would immediately make you feel better. Its one of those things that emphasizes how important 'touch' is to human beings. And dogs seem to have it all wired into them.

If you're looking for the meaning of 'true love', then you can't feel it easier than when you come home to your dog. The absolute joy which exploded from Jimmy when any one of us came home was the purest kind of love that one could see. As soon as I rang the bell, the barking would get louder as he ran from one corner of the house to the door. On opening the door, he'd want to be the first one to meet me. Jumping, baring his teeth, as if he were smiling ear-to-ear, vigorous tail-wagging, running around in circles. He would just be totally out of control! And every time, without fail, it had brought a smile to my face.

But, for all the joy and good times that he gave us, we always knew he'd not be with us forever. I wonder sometimes why they say 'All good things must come to an end'.. well that's part of life I guess, you need some bad times to really appreciate how good the good times were/are...

Last Saturday (3rd May), home went silent. After two months of hell, as Jim grappled with acute kidney failure, we had to take the incredibly difficult decision to put him down, out of his pain.

The last moments at the vet will forever be etched in my memory. He looked calm and peaceful, waiting to be poked for what would have seemed to be the millionth time. A few moments after the vet put in the injection, he closed his eyes... And he never opened them again

Goodbye Jim, you gem.

Miss you forever.