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THIS LOVE STORY ENDED PREMATURELY
This love story ended prematurely
By Chandan Mitra Agenda The Pioneer Sunday, July 24, 2011 When I wrote 'This Loin lived life king size' in these columns last October, I never thought another obituary would be on its way so soon. We named her Bou -- wife in Bengali as opposed to bahu meaning daughter-in-law in Hindi -- as we hoped to get our sherdil Loin to build a family with her. Bou came complete with a pedigree certificate from the Kennel Club of England, testifying that the eight-week old Labrador pup had immaculate English ancestry her original name at the breeding farm was, in fact, pucca British -- Nicole. As we waited for formalities to be completed, Bou got into a scrap with two other pups of different breeds in the same cage. She insisted on taking away a toy fish and managed to clobber her bigger cage-mates into yielding, emerging triumphant from the cage holding it in her tiny mouth. That was a characteristic she never abandoned, she was obsessive about greeting people with a toy between her teeth. If a toy wasn't handy when we came home she would run upstairs, select one carefully from among a dozen-odd strewn across the bedroom and hurtle down the stairs to demonstrate she hadn't come empty-handed, rather empty- mouthed. Initially, her prospective husband, then a full-grown four-year-old, did not take kindly to the ebullient puppy. To begin with Bou decided that the large, somewhat well endowed dog she met was appropriate replacement for her mother and proceeded to attack his teats. Loin let out yelps of distress and jumped onto the bed to escape her forays. Since the tiny pup couldn't emulate him and vault over, she just kept staring at the big, curious beast who would watch her antics from the safety of the bed with a mixture of amusement and trepidation. Bou was touchy-feely unlike the 'macho' Loin who hated skin contact and even resisted petting by all except a chosen few. Finally, one day Bou cleared the hurdle and Loin's last refuge was gone. Despite his discomfort at her cuddling habits, he would at best shift position but never growled or snarled at her. In fact, over the years Loin got accustomed and could often be seen in a huddle, especially during winter. Bou happily accepted her status as junior partner and allowed Loin to lead without demur. Female Labradors have better sniffing capabilities than males and are usually more alert too, as you may notice at airports. If somebody came to the gate, it was Bou who let out the first 'woof' to be followed by Loin's baritone bark that resonated through our lane in Sainik Farms. A particularly intelligent canine, Bou memorised more words than I have seen most dogs achieve. But she hated words she didn't understand being hurled at her. One day, Shobori decided to teach her Hindi in addition to English and Bengali. As soon as she started directing a few commands in Hindi, an agitated Bou jumped onto the bed and began to thump Shobori vigorously on the head with her paws! It took her a few days to understand a new word but once she did, the associations were clear. For example, I began to call her bakri a few years back because of her habit of knocking her head between my knees like a ram when I sat on my chair. Endearingly, I started to call her dumba bakri because of her girth. This soon became a ritual and one would just have to call out 'Bakri' for her to come running to perform this act, anytime, anywhere. She had a special bonding with Shobori and much in the manner of Bo Peep's lamb would follow her through the house, even spending long periods in the kitchen despite the heat. Bou had a tendency to put on weight despite her reluctance to eat proper meals. I think that had something to do with her metabolism rather than fondness for food -- a point that never convinced her doctor. She was prone to ailments but always recovered quickly to become her sprightly self. I think there is something about pure bred dogs that make them less resistant to infections that abound in India. Our six adopted desi dogs that stay in our backyard, on the other hand, rarely contract diseases. Bou was transformed after her lifelong companion passed away last October in our chalet in Uttarakhand. For the first few weeks Bou was visibly inconsolable. Significantly, she never sat in the cosy corner of our bedroom, which Loin had made his favourite cove. In fact, she always skirted that part while moving around the house. Initially, she would rush to the balcony each time a car was heard as if hoping to see Loin in it. The next time we took her to our house in the hills, a good nine months since Loin's expiry, she went sniffing all over the room to recall traces of his presence. Barely six weeks after Loin's death, Bou got a companion whom we named Rocket Singh. Just as Loin took some time to accept Bou, it took a few weeks for her to warm up to the new arrival. But Rocket soon endeared himself and Bou began to combine the role of a family elder, companion and playmate to him. May be it's our imagination but we think she had a role in potty-training young Rocket; Bou hated her own potty, running away as soon as she'd done it, and naturally found his stuff distasteful if he did it in the room. Rocket followed her like a shadow, so much so that he would mope each time Bou went away to the doctor, lying listlessly in a corner till she returned. But now she never will. Bou died early Thursday morning after struggling three days with a lymph-node infection at the young age of seven-and-a-half years. Being a diabetic since last April her natural resistance to infections was low, but we never expected her to just go away like that. We console ourselves in the belief that she was in a hurry to join Loin in dog heaven; I can quite imagine her snuggling up to him and he, wagging his tail, may be even uttering a muted bark to greet her. Bou was buried next to Loin's marble tomb in our Sainik Farms garden, along with her favourite toys, which included a furry monkey that contained a chip which made a recurrent shrill noise. It was a toy Bou used to lead my wheelchair-bound mother to the bathroom. I had got her a replacement from the US only three weeks ago. TAILPIECE: Last Sunday, Bou was very annoyed because I bathed Rocket after she was given a bath by Shobori as usual. Rocket was proving to be a menace in the bathroom with all his enthusiastic prancing, so Shobori asked me to handle him. Bou sat just outside the bathroom door right through, apparently cocking her ears to catch every sound of activity inside. When I emerged she was still sitting, looking at me indignantly and started to walk into the toilet as if to demand I give her a bath too. Cuddling her I promised to do so 'next Sunday'. That would have been today! Comments: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This love story ended prematurely By Arti on 7/24/2011 7:04:55 PM My condolences, Chandan. I can understand your grief. I have had many dogs since my childhood and have gone thru this grief whenever they died. I now have a black lab called Marhsall and out of my 3 kids, he is the most well behaved and obedient. He too has this cute habit of greeting everyone with something in his mouth. If a toy is not handy, a piece of paper, socks or even shoe will do. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Unmentionworthy film but memorable lines By anonymous on 7/24/2011 2:36:02 PM The smart ones, they get tired of being lonely all the time and it sometimes takes another animal just to soothe them a little... understandable why the author's grateful to all the dogs in his life - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://dailypioneer.com/355395/This-...urely.htmlhtml More at: http://www.dailypioneer.com Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi Om Shanti o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the poster. 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