The small things in life

Like someone one said “Everyone will have atleast one story to write, and it will be their own story.” This is my story. A part of my life I spent and am still spending by observing and interacting with animals around me.Sharing here are a series of notes about a few animals which came into our life and sometimes filled us with deep emotions of joy, sorrow, regret and like.This series is dedicated to all those who love animals.. Please pardon my poor English as Iam new to writing in prose. 

1.JIMMY

I don’t know when in my life the association with animals began. As far as I remember, the first animal that I can recall is a squirrel on the mango tree of my ancestral home and me in my Father’s arms eating food. My father musically singing “Annarkanna, Annarkanna kaliyaadidaan varumo nee” – or something to that effect. I spent my childhood – till I was 7 or 8 – in my mother’s ancestral home. We had a neighbour’s dog there. His name was Jimmy. He would often come to our house and spend time there. Everyday when my father and me went to the school in the morning in his bicycle, Jimmy would run behind following us till a junction. Then I would say good bye and he would return back to his home. When I think of Jimmy, I still remember a day when he came to our house with a big Aluminium vessel stuck in his head. He had put his head in, for water or some food and got stuck. He had come all the way from there, blindly following, I don’t what senses, to reach our home. My mother still wonders how he even made it. My father immediately sprang into action and with a cutting player, cut off the metal form his neck, freeing him up. He was so relieved and happy. That is all that I remember of Jimmy. But later once my mother told me that Jimmy has passed away. It was not a natural death. It seems he was in a habit of chasing one of the neighbour’s chicken, and the irritated neighbour fed him some food mixed with poison. Thats how he died. 

2.BLACK BEAUTY/ BLACKY

I think I was in Fifth standard or so, when my dad brought home our first pet. She was a dark black cow, whom I immediately named as Black beauty (as I just loved that story,I read somewhere). I don’t remember any antics of Blacky. She was a good calf. One day, she was tied in a field near to our house for grazing. Somehow her rope got loosened and unknotted, and she began to roam among crops. The owner of the field was furious and whipped her. She hastily ran back home. But there runs a road that separates the grazing ground and home. While crossing it, a bus hit her and ran over her. My parents and many others went to the accident site (I was at school).They pulled her out from underneath the bus and brought her home. Her spinal cord was affected and she couldn’t move her back legs and her tail. Then began a long treatment period in the cowshed at the back of our house, which was aimed at bringing her mobility back. My father brought ayurvedic physicians and the place always smelt of kozhambu and thailams. My parents and physicians would treat her with ayurvedic ‘kizhis’ and all. And finally one day the the miracle happened. She walked, came to our front yard and cried an “mbaa” as thanks for my dad. Soon she was walking and grazing in our front yard. But the happiness didn’t last long. Her tail had lost its movement and when she grazed the crows began to peck on her tail. Soon it developed a wound and my mom used medicines and clothes to dress it. But the crows continued to attack her and finally the wound was too deep that her tail was in a danger of falling off any day. Finally with tears in his eyes, my father had to sell her (Rather give her away).                      

3.KAALI AND SHANKU

My father was so aghast at the fate of Blacky, that soon after he brought home another calf. She was also black but with a brownish tinge. She was, but a naughty calf and wouldn’t allow people to pet her. She would shake her horns threateningly and so we named her ‘ Kaali’ – the angry one. Kaali was always a bit restless, trying to break free of the ropes she was tied to, which she succeeded many a times and wrecked havoc in the neighbourhood. On many days, after coming back from school, I would be told to run on some direction looking for her, while my parents will be running in other directions. Once while my father was trying to untie her ropes from the pole, she restlessly shook her head near his face, scooping one of his eyeballs out. He had to be rushed to hospital and had stitches to keep it in. Thankfully, there was no damage to his vision. But his love for the cow persisted. In due time, she gave birth to a bull calf. We named him Shanku. That’s was when my mother’s misery began. There was no one available in the village to milk the cow. My mother was a full time working woman, and mind you, a college professor. Since there was no other option, the job of milking the cow fell upon her shoulders. Kaali was a very caring mother too who wished that her entire milk goes to her child. So every milking session was a tug – of – war between my mother and the cow mother. Finally  Shanku became a very fat and lazy bull, whose strength surpassed ours so much that we were not able to control him with ropes anymore. So we had to bid adieu to the duo, when my father found a seller who agreed to take both the son and mother together.

4.MEGHA

One day I was strolling in the backyard of my home, when I noticed a crow pecking something in between the bushes. Curiosity took over and I began to observe what it was. Suddenly something green jumped from the bushes and moved to the other side, from where another crow started attacking it. It was a parrot. I went to my parents crying for help and they rescued it from the crows which were trying to murder it. I brought it home and called it Megha. But Megha had a problem, she couldn’t fly long distances .She could flutter her wings and fly small heights though. So we built a wooden cage for her and kept her in the house. We used to feed her different fruits, of which grapes was her favourite and it was an absolute delight to watch her eating them with her red beak. One day we kept the cage outside home, just so she can get some sunlight and fresh air. But later, when I checked the cage, she was gone. Either she opened the door with her beak or someone else did. A day later, I was standing at the threshold, when I saw a crow carrying something in its claw. When I went near to take a look, it dropped the thing and flew away. I saw the lifeless body of Megha with her throat cut and hanging from the body. I took her and gave a proper burial beneath a tree in the courtyard. Megha flew beyond the clouds.

5.KANNU & CHIKKU

I don’t exactly remember when and how Kannu came to our house. She was a stray and had come to stay with us somehow. She had beautiful eyes because of which we named her Kannaki ( Malayalam song – karineela kannazhagi,kannagi), and later nicknamed Kannu. Kannu had and kept most of her kids at our home. She would carry her children in her mouth from place to place and would find safe places to hide them. Mostly in our home it was on our sunshades, beneath our almirah, inside the cupboard etc. Sometimes she would come in the midnight with her kids to my Father’s bedroom to hide them, often disrupting our sleep. Once amidst one of her ventures, as she was shifting her newborn kittens from the ceiling to ground, carrying them one by one in her mouth and jumping from a height, one of them accidently fell on the ground. Me and my Mom immediately went to the scene hearing the newborn’s cry. We were at a loss as to what to do as the kitten was too small to be handled by us. The mother cat seemed unflinched by the whole incident and lay down nearby and watched the rescue attempt. My mom, not knowing what else to do, thrust a few spoonful of milk into its mouth, which it gulped down thankfully. Finally the kitten seemed alright and ready to go. After that incident, we did not see the kittens or their mother for a few days. Then one day, as I was visiting my aunt who lived in the neighbourhood, we saw the cat once again. With her was this cute kitten that was pure white with two black rings on her back and bewitching eyes .I tried to take him in my arms, upon which he hissed at me, scratched my hand and ran away. Later the duo themselves came and settled in our home and Chikku soon became a favourite of all .I still remember this time when my friend who once came to my home saw him wake up from his usual nap on the TV and wonder “Is that a real kitten? I thought it was a soft toy.” He was so handsome and so loving too. He would follow me everywhere I went, meowed till he got all the attention he wanted and made me put my textbooks down and played with him. It was the time of Pooja. I was going through a family crisis and no one was home.I would go to college, come back, clean the house, feed the cat, do the chores and go to my aunt’s house for the night. One such day, when I came back from college, I sensed a dirty smell. Going inside the bedroom, I found the remains of a rabbit or something, over the floor, on the blankets and all. Mother and son were having a feast when we were away, that too at the time of Pooja, when we are not supposed to bring non veg  food inside home.  I couldn’t come in terms with that. More than that, I didn’t have time to cleanup everyday if this continues. So I shut him out in the working area outside the kitchen. He meowed desperately, but I told him there was nothing that could be done about it. The next day when I came back from college, he was not there. But it was usual for him to go out on rendezvous with his mother. So I did not worry much. But few days later, he was not back yet. His mother came to our house and began searching her son. She would look at our face quizzically and meow at us, as if asking where he was, we had no reply for her. We never came to know what happened to him. His mother Kannu stayed with us though, till her last days.

6.NEENU

That was the day after my father’s death. The funeral was over by afternoon and most of the friends and relatives had left. We were not in a mood for dinner and there was a lot of left – over food. I just went outside home to find this white dog lying in the courtyard, seeming tired and hungry. So I brought the food and gave him. From the next day, he was stationed in front of my home greeting the visitors. My uncle, who had come for the mourning, found the funny side of the whole thing and cited a few anecdotes from his life. He said she reminded him of a senior employee of his by the name of Neenu ( Courtesy: Arvinda Mama, now no more). He began to make jokes of the dogs, which quite helped us to overcome our grief. Neenu  came to us as  a stray and remained so. We never tried to adopt any dog. Just gave him food and he would come and rest in our courtyard when he felt like. A turning point in his life, perhaps, was when Naga and Indu came. Naga and Indu, now doctors by profession, had come to stay in our house for a brief period, at the time of their rural practice. Naga liked Neenu very much and Neenu too had a special bond with Naga. She would visit our upstairs, which was rented out to the doctors, in meal times to get a few titbits.After the doctors left, she was a stray again. We came to know later that Neenu had been brought up by another family nearby from the time she was a puppy. Once her owner had become angry at her for something and whipped her .Her pride was so that she left home that day and never went back. Probably that was the day I saw her in my courtyard. Her end was when she got hit by a truck as she was trying to cross the road.But before we could reach the spot,her former owner had took and buried her.