My Pet Dog

Loneliness and fatigue were what I got on seeing the vanity and motifs of human fraternity. Why on earth should I lay spent all the days of my life in appreciating their misdemeanors?  I definitely wanted to break free from their wanton bonds. That was when the idea of bringing home a pet began to occur in my mind. 

With so much of love to give and so much more to be subjected to I brought home my chosen Labrador. My first lovelorn look at “Barnie” (That is how we call him) still stands witness for the phenomenon of love that is exercised by me on him. Never in my optimistic dreams did I wish to have a life that is secure and stable as this one I have been sharing with Barnie. Barnie looked so delicate and vulnerable at the 30th day of his life when he came to us. He looked drenched with his virgin hairs sticking together. I wiped him off with a soft napkin tenderly, afraid of hurting him with my firmness. He looked yielding to my tender care. I gathered confidence and stroked his head. He looked at me with longing. A longing, I am deigned to satisfy. I offered him milk and he drank it dearly. It gave me great satisfaction to feed someone who was hungry. I found the purpose of my life in seeing him engorged and satisfied.

Innocence gets paid. That is what I learnt on that day. Outright innocence and empathy does earn a savior. My Barnie did just that. And he knew what he did. 

Then came the days when we got to know more of each other. He, of me and I, of him. He obeyed my eyes, listened to my footsteps and appreciated my presence by way of wagging his tail. I have always had an intuition of what he was going to do next. None would have known him better than me. I knew how to hold him secure and to make me his much preferred stronghold. My arm is where he found his entire dilemmas end. He was possessive of me and wouldn’t mind to occupy me totally no matter where I am up to. 

Every morning I would take him for a walk where every step of mine is acknowledged and every pause adhered to. He listens to me with wide eyes that answer me with their shine and sparkle. The tilt in his head and the life in his face are something that I would always derive confidence from. He can be seen playing with anything and anybody when he feels so. At times he would strive to draw attention by racing ahead madly and pouncing on me in return at the same speed, making me lose balance and fall. He wouldn’t stop at that. Not growing tired he would pose to do that again, which I have to discourage with a scowl or a cane. But obvious is the sense of triumph on his face of having won over me.

Barnie gave me the confidence in times of crises, a confidence that makes me fit to face any kind of challenges this world had to offer. In my anger Barnie incites passion and in my impasse Barnie shows me the way out. The challenges facing me are flawed before I have to be put up with them. I have had many friends in my lifetime that offered me respite but none like Barnie that transformed me anew. Long live, Barnie!