Puppy Endings

It takes an overwhelming moment to kick you out of a self-imposed reverie. Of late, things have been moving pretty fast and with the multitasking slowly affecting my health, it has been a crazy start to this year. Not that I am complaining, but there are some things that I miss so much. I miss staying up late and gobbling an entire book just because it is tough to keep it down; I miss watching back to back episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and How I Met Your Mother; I miss the smell of the musty watercolor paint box when I start painting; I miss the sane life. Unfortunately, there is not much I can do about it so the dull ache of memories is a constant companion.

Lately, I had something to look forward to - the friendly street dog had given birth to a puppy and was the cynosure of all eyes. Everyone would lean out of the window and watch with excitement as the puppy first opened his eyes, took the first steps and after a few days, bounced around happily.

The windows which had watched its progress each day now started dropping little pieces of biscuits, bread and  fish bones. The enterprising young kid in the building finally gave it a name - Guddu. It became a weekend ritual for me to go downstairs and sit besides him while he went around his daily activity of toppling over the water saucer, dig the lawn and look longingly at the windows for his treat.


Then one fine day, he disappeared. Guddu's mother's howls all night were a constant reminder of the pain and loss. It goes without saying that I was very upset by this turn of events; it felt as if every good thing in the world is meant to be temporary, ultimately meant to leave you with memories that would sustain happiness only for as long as your optimism lasts.


While I was contemplating putting up his picture on Facebook in case anyone spotted him, a familiar yelp had me rushing to the window. And there he was, looking upwards with a limp foot, a few scratches but the same bright eyes staring back at me. The milk-soaked bread came out, so did the biscuits and the water. So did our emotions of elation at seeing Guddu back with us. Good things being temporary is not always a bad thing, I suppose. They stay around us long enough to miss them when they are gone and realize what we will miss if we continue to make the same mistakes.

For now, it is all celebrations around me. The doctor has assured us it is not a fracture and Guddu is on the path to recovery. Here are the pics of the little tyke who made me write this post and update the blog after two long months :) It was a puppy ending after all.

Make a Bucket List - Check.

It is that time of the year when I draw up a bucket list. I usually choose this time because the hullabaloo surrounding the New Year would have died down( along with some resolutions) and you are in a better position to judge what actually is feasible and what not. There is a difference between a resolution and a dream- the former seems realizable in near future with some efforts whereas the latter requires you to go full steam such that it results in a 360 degree makeover of your life.

Enough ranting, with this I present to you my bucket list in no particular order:

*cheers, whistles and drum-rolls for effect*

1. Relearn driving

A gap of few months was enough to wipe out my driving skills off my semi-amnesic memory. Over the past few months, it has always been a choice between sleep and driving lessons and it is no surprise who scores here. I need to pull myself off the bed, grab the keys and burn the roads, baby!

2. Visit Goa

I am tired of liking friends' albums while I secretly envy them for being able to visit the place. I know it is over-hyped, overpriced and over-touristy, but the thought of sinking your feet in wet sand and soaking up the sun is too irresistible.

3. Learn a dance form

It has been years since I gave up competitive dancing and consequently the only healthy activity in my lifestyle. True, I let my hair down at parties, marriages and visarjans (basically any place offering an excuse to shake a leg) but I always have the regret that I never learnt any particular dance form. Salsa and contemporary has caught my fancy lately and I cannot get to wait started.

4. Learn a musical instrument

It is rather shameful that I am surrounded by talented musician friends who play piano, guitar, violin, flute, mouth organ and what not.Some of their craze for music has rubbed off on me and I hope to get started on one musical instrument, although I am still in a state of deliberation over the choice of instrument. Help me here, will you?

5. Watch a cricket match at the stadium

Yeah, I am yet to do that. I want to scream my lungs out and smear tricolor on my face and post crazy pictures on Facebook(Nowadays, the only reason we click is to share them on Facebook :D).

6. Wardrobe overhaul

It is true that my erm.. weight issues restrict the kind of clothes I wear but I am bored of my predictable,somewhat safe style of dressing. A dash of colour and a generous sprinkling of style is what I am looking for which means again I have to move out of my comfort zone.

7. Badminton

I have played the game for hours in my summer vacations when the building folks would gather to play under a mango tree and how racquets, sandals and what-not got entangled in the branches in a bid to rescue to shuttlecock.

8. Do something on the writing front!!!!!!!!!!

Till now, I was lamenting the absence of an idea or a story in my head to get started on the chapters. Should some idea muster enough courage to grab my attention, it would be trashed mercilessly by the critic in me and thrown away in the metaphorical wastepaper basket.

9. Gorge at Parsi cafes

I have this fascination for these quaint places which still give away an old-world feeling. Given by the rate at which the are shutting down, it makes sense to hurry up on this one item. And a long walk spent admiring the buildings of Fort would wrap up things beautifully.

10. Click-happy

I am drawn to peoples' faces- a crinkly smile, a contemplative pose... my photos revolve around people rather than landscapes. However, given the fact that I am too conscious/scared to click random strangers(I imagine someone running behind me,hurling abuses for clicking without their permission), the moments worth clicking are hard to come by. So again I need to push myself out of my comfort zone to overcome my shyness and capture the moment, consequences be damned.

So there, I made my list and now comes the most difficult part- ticking off items from it. I have this tendency to falter and leave things mid-way so that is when this blog comes in play to remind me why I made this list in the first place. Wish me luck!