Teddy (continued)

I do not know how to continue from my last post about him. Teddy was a ball of fur; soft, black and sparkling. He was the handsomest devil anyone in our neighborhood had seen before. He belonged to the mongrel breed but he was so beautiful that people almost invariably asked us whether he was a Labrador. And well, yes we felt very proud when they complimented him like this. He hated the water like most street pups. Warm water along with Clinic Plus Shampoo was needed to bathe him and three of us- my sister, my brother-in-law and my mother were needed to push him to the bathroom. Phew! As I said in my previous post, he sure was a handful!

He was a good tempered puppy initially but then I used to irritate him so much that he began to lose his temper with me. Lols. I don't blame him. I have a penchant for trying out people's patience to see how much they would be able to tolerate me. I and my mother used to irritate the hell out of him by rolling him out like you roll the dough to make chapatis. From the next time whenever he saw me and my mother, he used to scurry below the bed post.

Teddy used to be very curious. I remember one day I was working over something barring him from the view of my work. He could not see what I was working upon. I saw that and pretended to be more readily engrossed as if by something absolutely interesting. He came over, peered over my neck, pulled one of his paws over my hand and tried to move it aside to see what I was doing.

Such was his curiosity.

At one time in the darkness I was sad about something. The lights had gone off. There was no current. I was unhappy. He came over to me and called me with his paw. I hugged him. I have yet to find out someone else who would understand my feelings without my saying anything.

But good things are for short periods only. He fell ill one day. He had some sort of an infection on his mouth. Mother called the doctor and he suggested an antiseptic. In the midst of this, he fell down from the bed one day. He could not regain his balance. We called the doctor. He came and concluded that he had been running a temperature for the past few days. He was not able to give a conclusive proof of what had really happened. But right then, in front of our eyes, Teddy let out one final gasp of breath and left us.

P.S: We took him to a cemetery in Behala where he was buried. Exactly ten days later, my sister's pup, Pipi who was suffering from many days owing to old age and distemper also left. He was also taken to the same burial ground, Karunakunj.


The First Part: http://sojournoflife.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-was-in-midst-of-writing-another-poem.html