The cheetah is faster than any human, the bull is stronger, the eagle more keen-sighted and the tortoise lives longer than any human. But for affection and spontaneity, I wonder if any creature can match a dog. This is about a moment when I felt I was in touch with the true message of the universe.
Five years ago, every day for about 20 minutes, I used to play with a dog named Jojo. Feisty, intelligent and not particularly obedient, Jojo a Boxer, was faintly threatening as she raced up and down, up and down her garden fetching the ball I threw for her, sometimes catching it like an expert fielder even before it hit the ground.
As soon as she spotted me, Jojo set up a joyous demanding bark till she was unchained and free to dash about in expectation of the worn tennis ball that her keeper used to hand over to me. Jojo’s uncertain temper or excessive exuberance, I’m never sure which it was—could sometimes injure the persons she liked! So I learnt to keep my hands out of her reach because she loved to try her teeth on peoples’ wrist watches and bangles. Because I loved her, I stroked her back and neck rapidly and with extreme caution whenever I could—that is to say when she was distracted or occupied by the ball in her mouth—before she swung round and in an enthusiastic leap and tried to return the gesture with tongue and paws.
One morning, I ended our game earlier than usual and was making my way indoors when Jojo reached the verandah at the same moment I did. Suddenly, her face was inches from mine because she had bounded up onto the granite ledge that bordered the verandah. She craned forward and licked my cheek and ear. I longed to embrace her but was sure I’d get a friendly nip which would set me back in the mirror by a couple of weeks! As I leaned back, Jojo reached out poignantly with her forepaw as if to say, “Come here...come to me...I am your friend.”
Never before or after did Jojo reach out to me in that touching manner. But the memory of that moment warms my heart even today. How people ignore their pets or take them for granted or hand them over to indifferent staff baffles me. Is it any wonder that in the Mahabharatha the honourable and dharmic Yudhishtra refused to enter a Heaven that had no place for his faithful dog?
Mini Krishnan
Email: minioup@gmail.com