My home, Appu’s too. That has been the hardest reality I am trying to put up with recently. Apart from global warming, world poverty, Indian politics and general joblessness. Seems that even if I survive them all, I can never accept the existence of this new member of the family. This blog was planned exactly a year ago. When I was away from home, my family celebrated the first birthday of our pet dog, Appu. Cake, a fancy cap, sadhya with payasam, (though the dog had it’s routine curd rice) and a prolonged description of all these to me. The pet’s birthday was quite a big deal. That’s when I thought of the title – the sharing of my home and my family with a new unwelcome member.
Owing to many reasons, read excuses, like lack of time and laziness, I never completed the post. Coming to think of it, perhaps, I was just giving myself time, to know the dog better, maybe try to adjust with it’s existence, if not love it, and then write down something nice instead of my generic snarls about animals and their domestication. As things turn out to be, a year passed by and the dog is a year older now. But nothing changed about the ‘two of us’. Oh wait, I just addressed it as one among ‘us’. That changed I guess. Then again, as I write this, there’s some barking in the background. It doesn’t particularly annoy me, out of habit, but nor does it make me feel warm to the supposed ‘guardian’ of our home.
There’s a lot I learnt about Appu, over these two years. It’s basically a scardy cat, more than a dog. It’s scared of lightnings and thunders, rains, and even the slightest change in tone of anyone of us at home. It has befriended a lot of birds, and suddenly I see many types of them around my home, talking to the dog, stealing it’s food. That’s something I do appreciate about it’s presence at home. Appu loves mangoes, and raises serious doubts about it’s ‘dogliness’ when you throw a slice of ripe mango at it. The dog stinks, and sheds way too much hair for an OCDed human like me to deal with. It’s been the menace of my life, while it’s the apple of the eye for the rest of my family. My parents think of it as their begotten son, and my sister as her lost brother, I assume.
All that said, I don’t hate it. I never did. I am too scared and annoyed of its presence, but I am trying to live with it. Like I said, a reality I am trying to accept. My mom, on the other hand, is pretty convinced that I might even kill it on purpose. My sister wouldn’t disagree, I guess. But what they don’t see is that, there are a lot of ways to cope with things. Ways unknown to many are the norms of many others. When my entire family and extended family loves that 4-legged hairy barking creature unconditionally, I am genuinely intrigued. Why?! And at the end of the question, I am easing into a home that’s not just mine, but also Appu’s. Ente veedu, appoontem!
The Last Straw 