Whenever I see stray dogs or pet ones down the street, a sudden joy lifts my mood. Sometimes, I talk to them and crack jokes because “I love dogs”.
I also had a pet dog, ‘Maniya’. She was a stray dog and she grew up with us. The first time we saw Maniya was in the back area of our home, which is covered in trees and fields. She was peeping through the big see-through iron gate that opens to the fields. She may have come wandering into our house.
I, my sister, and brother spotted Maniya in the evening when we came downstairs. She was peeping through the gate with her sparkling navy-coloured eyes and shiny black nose. She was a tiny black dog with a white strip around her mouth and belly. She looked so cute!
All three of us decided to pet her, hesitating a bit about our parents' reaction since they had gone outstation. We convinced Babba & Mawa (our grandparents).
She started living with us. My sister gave her the name ‘Maniya’. She liked her name and everybody called her Maniya.
Those winter days, piling ourselves in sweaters, sunbathing with Maniya, playing with her, bathing her in the sun, flying kites with her on the terrace, eating my favourite winter khichdi, sleeping with her were all so mesmerizing.
Initially, when she came to our home and we started petting her, our parents asked us not to pet dogs and to leave her somewhere else. We were a bit sad, but we did that. My brother took my cycle, placed her in the basket, and left her in some fields and shrubs. He came back, but we were feeling sad. So we thought to just check if she was still there and feed her. Surprisingly, she was sitting in the exact same spot where we had left her for a whole day. She hadn’t moved from there, and my brother brought her back. Since then, she officially became our family member.
Maniya’s favourite food was Parle-G. My Babba used to buy her Parle-G, and even I used to feed her Parle-G. But I was a notorious girl. I wanted to get some entertainment, so I used to place Parle-G pieces on some elevated spots. It was entertaining for me to watch her struggle, jumping like a monkey for Parle-G.
I was studying in 3rd grade when she came into our home. I remember going to the streets and feeding Parle-G to all the other stray dogs I found on Christmas with my favourite purple cycle.
Maniya loved my mother a lot because she always cared for her, fed her, and stopped me from teasing her. Maniya didn’t like me because I annoyed her a lot and that’s what I liked doing as a child. One day, she bit me when I was bothering her while she was sleeping. I got 2 injections for that and, since then, I annoyed her even more. But anyway, I know she still loved me.
She also liked my Babba. He used to walk with a stick while going anywhere, and she always came along with him whether going upstairs, downstairs, or to the shop.
As I already told you, I was a notorious girl. I had this habit of asking for 5 or 2 rupees from my Babba, who sat at the shop, for wafers from Babu Ram’s Shop.
Babba always used to ask what I was going to buy before giving me 2 or 5 rupees. If I said Kurkure, he used to give me a lecture about the adverse effects of eating Kurkure in our stomach. So I always told him that I was going to buy Parle-G, since he considered Parle-G nutritional crunchies. But instead, I went to buy wafers. Hiding my wafers, I ran swiftly while passing him. One day, he saw me buying chips with the money he gave. He called me and offered one piece of chips to Maniya. She didn’t eat it at that moment and Babba said, “See, even the dog is not eating the chips.”
My God, that was an insult for me and that clever Maniya! She always ate chips excitedly, and this time she intentionally refused to eat. I’m sure she was Babba’s clever disciple.
Nevertheless, I really love her, and she has become a mesmerizing story from a chapters of my life. I miss Maniya, Babba, and Mawa. Mawa’s story is full of laughter maybe I’ll write about her in my blogs, or maybe not. But it’s surely full of fun moments. I cherish the time I spent with these three lovings, and we talk about the funny and happy moments together whenever my parents, sister, and brother gather.
The movie ‘Dog Gone’ stirred old memories and inspired me to pen this blog.
This is the first blog I’m writing today, and I’m excited to share my experiences, fun stories, informative posts, or anything I feel like writing about.
Thank you for Reading!
Comments