DONNI

I chose her as my first friend to introduce as a tribute to her. Donni , as we fondly called her, left us to become an angel in the second week on March. I first met Donni sometime in July, 2013. I was out walking when i saw this young dog , all excited, very energetic running up and down the lane. i stopped to play with her and she obliged . i was not carrying anything with me and she looked hungry. As she waited outside the society gate i ran up to get some food for her. When i came down , she was gone and no matter how much i whistled, she was no where to be found. I came back upset. I did not see her in the next few days and then again i met her. She became a constant partner during my walks only going upto a certain point and then waiting for me there to come back. Gradually her courage increased and she started sneaking into the society to meet me in the wee hours of the morning. She would walk around with me and with every round I would give her half a biscuit. Sometimes, if she was in a mood to play, she would nibble my hands and jump up to plant a kiss on my cheeks.
She has made friends with the society dog Kalua and both used to sleep in the basement during very cold winters. Donni always made it a point to wish me good morning and my morning walks were never complete without her.
Donni loved to explore and she was once locked in the park beside our building. I laughed when she ran to the gate as she saw me, pleading me to get her out from there. I got her out but again she was inside the very next day.
Donni loved milk and so one often saw her licking the empty packets of milk or trying to strike a friendship with the milkman outside the society gate. She also had a boyfriend: Brownie and they both never failed to embarrass me on the streets jumping on me, biting me and tugging at my tracks.
We left for our school camps , had met her the day i left but when i came back i learnt she had died. She was found dead inside our society, probably had come in to look for me. I don't know what happened to her. I miss her everyday during my morning walks but i know she is always there with me....

who are they........

people who know me call me silly and some even call me mad. Rajib, my husband, calls it an obsession.... what ever it is .... i love THEM......
Who are they??????? The are the innumerable dog friends i have who light up my life every day. I was always a dog lover.. got it from my father maybe..... Baba grew up in the tea gardens of Assam and always had a pet dog .... i have grown up hearing stories of Jill, Baba's pet Alsatian and her numerous exploits from Baba and Amma.....
I so wanted to have one of my own.... my mom had given an ultimatum at home.. a dog or she and Baba did not want to take any risks..... a house with an old mother and two naughty kids without a wife.... was not the brightest of ideas, so no matter how much we yearned for a dog, we had to shelf the plan.
Our alternative arrangement were the numerous stray dogs Baba used to feed and my association with dogs started there. Baba had named all of them after the leading politicians of the state, so we had Mamata, Buddha and many others.... To add to my mom's misery these fellows used to follow my mom wherever she went around the neighborhood. They even followed my brother to the bus stop and waited till he got up on the bus. They were embarrassed but that did not have any impact on these little furry friends.
After i got married I discovered that my husband was petrified of dogs... so my obsession of strays continued. We could bring our first pet home in 2009 as a gift to my son. He was not fond of dogs, so i had to get someone else in my team. Cocoa, our Labrador brought a lot of change in our life. My son turned out to be a dog lover too and Rajib changed into the very caring daddy to Cocoa. Now that my son  has also joined me, we have numerous furry friends who have adopted us and made our life even brighter. Cocoa was upset initially but now he also knows that there are many others whom his mummy and dadabhai loves...... though he will always be our priceless possession

Now we have Rajib, Cocoa and Ruru all lazying all day long , only getting up to eat...... lots of love and positive energy from Cocoa has made our lives more meaningful.... This blog is a tribute to Cocoa and all others who have brought in so much meaning to our lives.