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Spice of life | Life feels better with a dog by your side
We feel nobody can ever replace them, yet we yearn for someone to fill the vacuum and rekindle the missing spark in our life. So as time passes, the desire to possess another, perhaps somebody like the lost one, resurfaces
When we lose a pet dog, the nostalgia stays on for a long while. The golden moments spent together with the canine keep surfacing repeatedly. Subconsciously, we miss their incessant barking, wagging tails and soft furry bodies, their antics around the coffee table and voraciousness for food. We reminisce about the leash around our hands as we took them for a walk and their notoriety at holding everything in their jaws, our cherished mobile phone and wallet, too, once in a while.
We feel nobody can ever replace them, yet we yearn for someone to fill the vacuum and rekindle the missing spark in our life. So as time passes, the desire to possess another, perhaps somebody like the lost one, resurfaces.
Having remained with us for 11 years, it took us almost a year to recover from the loss of our beloved labrador. But as the wheels of time rolled by, ultimately, last Sunday, I called my vet friend to suggest a pup. He shared the number of a client whose female labrador had recently given birth to five puppies. I called up and took the address and location on WhatsApp. Then, I asked my better half to get ready for the errand. She was more than willing to oblige; anything else on a scorching Sunday afternoon would have needed more convincing.
Though we live in Ambala city, and despite Google baba’s help, we had difficulty finding this place in the civilian area of the cantonment. Not too impressed with the house’s external condition, the curiosity to look at the pups drove us inside as a girl in her late teens opened the door. Right at the entrance, a radiant, golden-brown, healthy female labrador tied to a leash greeted us with a wagging tail and animated jumps. Perhaps she had no clue; we had come to take away one of her kids; else, her friendly demeanour would have been otherwise.
It was a modest home; the girl’s two elder sisters, younger brother and mother immediately joined us. Collectively, they led us to a small room where the five cute puppies were roaming in carefree abandon, with a pot of water at the centre. All five pups had the same looks and mannerisms, but one of them caught our attention. As my wife lowered herself to seek their attention, this one naturally gravitated toward her. It felt like parents going to an adoption centre to take up a child. We don’t have a particular criterion for selection, but on the spur of the moment, we have to make a choice.
As we closed the financial deal with their mother, we could see the sisters and brother taking turns caressing and kissing the baby, who was about to leave their company. Before handing the pet to us, the mother passionately took the pup in her arms and whispered, “Khush rehna, Munna (Stay happy, baby),” as if she was parting with one of her daughters. But, of course, she wouldn’t have bothered if she knew our state of mind. We held the sentiments of Dean Koontz, who said, “Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one is a life diminished.”
vikasdeepak23@gmail.com
The writer is an Ambala-based prosthodontist
