In Conversation with a Dog

Sunil,

Get yourself another dog as soon as you can. I have had a few over the years and at the moment, have a senior citizen who came with me to the US from India. I cannot bear to go to where my dogs are buried and my only hope is that when I die, I would be buried somewhere near where they are.

Of my dogs the one that lived the least was a cocker spaniel called Princess who died at four of kidney failure. I still wake up at night sometimes with tears in my eyes thinking about her. When I took her to the Veterinary College Hospital in Chennai for drips, her arteries grew hard from the frequent IVs and it would be difficult to give her a drip. Normally she would never be muzzled as I would hold her in my arms and she was one of the gentlest and best behaved dogs to come there. On the last day, it must have hurt her terribly and she yelped and caught my hand in her mouth. She then realised that she had done something terribly wrong and then lay back and cried. I knew the end was near.

I went back home and put her on her bed in the afternoon and tried to give her favourite ice cream - I was told that was a good thing to give her during her illness. She licked it twice and went into a sleep never to recover. A few hours later, I heard two short breaths and she was gone.

I now have a canine friend who is nine years old and who loves me every bit as dearly as I love him. He was a gift to me from an animal welfare organisation where a previous ``owner`` ahd left him because he decided that he didn`t want him after keeping him for three years. Some people laugh when they hear that I brought him with me to a different country. I smile because they would never ever know what it means to love a dog and even more, to be loved by one.

Thanks for all the interesting interactions. I really enjoyed them, and I feel no offense. Well, Mr Jahil, there is nothing called Maliali, it is Malayalam. What do others feel if misspelt Handi (for Hindi of course) or Ardu (you know it). And which language I spoke to the dog, well, you will never learn even if you knew that. Thanks

My dear BJ

You weren`t hard at all...

You just admitted the fact which I try to establish every-now-and-then, and that is to be an illiterate (jahil) you don’t necessarily have to be an illiterate! As a majority of jahils are literate ;)

Anyways, thanks for the verse, I would try to hold it next time... and btw I’m not a humorist but after reading the essay I just couldn’t hold, fold or mold it…

Best

jahil

#12 Jahil

My very, very dear Jahil:

I guess I was too hard on you the first time.

To make up for that, I’d like to forward to you what Kenny Rogers tendered as advice to budding humorists:

“You got to know when to hold’em
Know when to fold’em
Know when to walk away, and
Know when to run!”

Keep trying! But never forget the first line! :)

Sincerely,
BeeJay.

BJ you are right... and I would not defy a word you wrote… but would still like to say …

“I couldn’t hold it…”

apologies to the ...concerned.... once again.

#10 Jahil

Dear Jahil,

As someone who occasionally dabbles in “humor” myself, I must tip my hat to you and say the following:

You have worked at it!
You have worked hard at it!
You have worked very, very hard at it!
You have earned it!
You have really earned it!
You deserve it!
You really, really deserve it!

I am referring to your name, of course.

Sincerely,
BeeJay.

I usually don’t comment like this but for now can’t hold myself in spite of every effort I could make… so no offense Sunil sahib…

I just want to ask you that in which language did the conversation take place… Maliali? Urdu? Maliali? Hindi? Maliali? English? Or in any other language? Maliali?

And by the way how did you manage to complete the essay? Without the words…NO, ITSELF and ONLY?

Well I apologize for my bad humor but couldn’t really resist it..

#8 Tempo bhai

I hope I did not inadvertently fire the first salvo in what could quickly degenerate into a full-fledged “dog eat dog” cyber war! In fairness, and to avoid taking any sides, I also must emphasize that Subroto’s dog appears quite a bit smarter than Sunil’s desi and female version!

My personal preference is for the felines – of the lion variety!

bj-bhai:

contest?

no brainer there;)

we talk to dogs, walls, furniture all the time...witness some of the exchanges here...does it not give you an eerie feelings of pieces of furniture talking? ... and that too at cross purposes?

(digression: enjoyed your cc dialogues the other day on another board...and chuckled;)...nice attempt to draw me in there...i had already said all i wanted to in the ilog earlier...your dogged persuasion of hypodetection is admirable in some cases...some cases? yes...you went overboard with my friend harish when you quoted my `crafty old devil` to beat him with ...it was totally out of context and you knew it!....harish is a friend and sometimes with friends you kid around...and... you are not less `crafty` bhai:))

rgds

t

Sunil:

Most of us have owned pets, at some point in life, and can relate to your sense of loss!

The article itself could have used some more massaging, streamlining, and perhaps a little shortening.

Notes:
[And, yes, I love only Indian strays, not the foreign stuff: …]
If you love dogs, you ought to just love dogs. Period.

[(…. Julie, the only thing I loved in my life) ]
I hope that’s sentimental talk, and not literal truth!!!

#5 “burpinder”
Shame on you! What an insensitive and asinine comment from you! Or is it a fake comment, consistent with the nature of its source!

#4 temporal
Tempo bhai, are you trying to turn this into a “who talked to a dog first” contest? Besides, dogs do individually have personalities; which is a lot more than what I can say about the many terrible (some would even say Machiavellian) characters lurking around here! For example, Subroto’s dog just has wisecracks, Sunil’s dog is sober and reflective! (It has been said that many pets reflect their owner’s personality, but I’m unsure of how accurate it is.)

All I have to say is, ``May Julie`s soul rest in peace``.
Amen

I suspect this would be hilarious after a joint or two- for now, it`s just boring. Better stuff has been written by 7-years olds during English composition periods ``Autobiography of a Dog``.
And shobig is right, it should read biatch. Why be coy?

sunil:

:)

nothing wrong with talking to pets...just so you know it has been done here first by an aussie desi subroto in The Hand of Dog

and he frequently chats with nawab in Subroto`s i-logs

and when chalaak nawab gets msn access he paw-paws with me here my i-log

though lately nawab seems to be on a tighter leash...but cc more than makes up for his absence

rgds

t

Should`ve been `Conversation with a bitch`. Would have attracted more readers I bet. A technically and politically wrong choice of a title. Alrite, lemme read on the rest.

dear cayenne, hey i am a guy, not a gay, so i do not have a boyfriends, but i have friends who are boys. well, i live in bombay, india, and am as curious as you: what do you do? sunil

You like dogs too much, my friend.What`s your boyfriend`s name?.Just curious.I admit i`ve become nosy and interfering like all indians, after living here for a while.No offense, i hope!.