Small joys of life

Ammulu loved to go the temple often and one day she found the cute little pup who had barely opened his eyes outside the temple.
Finding no mother dog nearby, she brought him home, kept him in a cardboard box and gave him milk.

Juju as she called him was curious about everything.
Her mom, Prema let out a scream as Juju entered the kitchen and sniffed the onions.
The house already seemed to be full with Ammulu’s grandparents, parents, the kids, the fish, Katty the cockatoo and now ..a pup.
“Unimaginable” she grumbled but the kids promised not to trouble her at all.

Ammulu’s younger brother Karthik was so excited and introduced Juju now officially Bairav to the other pets.

By the next day, Bairav had successfully mastered the art of scrambling out of the cardboard box.

As soon as he was out, the whole house was his to explore.

As he sat with the tablecloth pulled over his head, snatched the newspaper and chewed it to pieces, Ammulu’s grandparents watched from a distance with a feeling of dislike for the poor little pup who knew nothing about it.

Watching the fish and dozing off was Bairav’s favourite pastime.
It was only Katty that Bairav stayed away from. She would give such a loud shriek whenever he stopped by her cage that he would hide and watch her from beneath the sofa as she babbled away.

“ This pup is a handful,” mummy complained everyday. Ammulu told her to see the bright side of having a companion like Bairav. “He’s so adorable Mummy..see how he can make us laugh so easily” , she would say.

6 months flew by with each day being even more entertaining than the other.

Once Mummy was so furious that she sent Bairav to the naughty corner for frightening the neighbour’s little boy. She proudly showed Ammulu when she returned home from school, how she had managed to handle the pup finally. When Ammulu turned to look, she burst out laughing. Bairav had quietly chewed off Mummy’s new plastic glasses.

Mummy stomped her feet and walked off…that pup..hurrummphhh.
Ammulu’s aunt Akila was just like the kids..loving pets. She had found a tiny little kitten on her way from office and brought her to show the kids. Naturally the kids begged her to let them keep the kitten over the weekend.
Akila knew about Mummy’s dislike for pets, but had to finally agree.

The kitten was just too weak and ate nothing on the first day. Bairav watched soulfully as the kids tried hard to make the kitten eat.

A day passed and the kitten had eaten nothing at all and kept mewing.
Mummy and the kids got worried. Bairav silently pushed his ball towards the kitten inviting it to play but no response. “ Would you please stay away from her” Mummy chided Bairav.
That evening, suddenly Bairav started to bark nonstop and run around the feet of the milkman who had come to deliver milk.

While Mummy got irritated, Ammulu understood that Bairav was trying to convey something. He ran back and forth to his bowl and the milkman.
“ oh..so you want to drink milk, you little fellow,” asked Karthik.
Bairav barked a yes.
Karthik got some milk in the bowl and placed it near Bairav.
As they watched, Bairav slowly pushed the milk bowl closer to the kitten and gave a short bark.
The kitten stood on wobbly legs and started licking the milk.
“Ooh!” The kids exclaimed.
In a while, the kitten moved to the ball and nudged it towards Bairav.
What a scene it was!
“ You do brighten up everything. Come to me my sunshine”, Said mummy as Bairav ran into her outstretched arms.

Originally published at http://charukriti.org.