I am fine and things are swell. I am sitting in a small town in South India
and watching the rain as I write this.
Yes I am in India! It’s been
almost 2 years. So many things have happened and my mind has just been
exploding. That’s what India does. It’s an assault on your senses. Food, smells, noises, traffic, colours, people,
stray dogs. Yes stray dogs. I hardly saw any in Singapore - and never ever
in the sanitized part of the city. Here, in India, the roadies (that’s what I
like to call them) are everywhere. On the road, near shops, restaurants, temples,
inside apartment complexes. Everywhere.
And the laws for roadies are pretty good –better than those in Singapore. I had to lookup Indian Animal laws for an
issue that the community was facing in our apartment complex in Bangalore so I
am pretty well informed about my rights. I’ll tell you about it soon. Bangalore,
the cosmopolitan city, that’s where I landed.
I wonder what makes it cosmo – the North Indians?
I landed in Bangalore in a dark, dingy box as part of the airplane
cargo! NOT FUN. I was furious when I got out. I knew something was up at the
airport checkin counter itself when She
was acting cool. Way too cool. And He
kept asking has the crew being informed that there is a dog on board. He was a bit anxious. I knew something was up right then. Actually I
should have guessed it earlier. The week before I suddenly started putting on a
bit of weight and She kept weighing
me every single day and looking at the machine in despair as the needle kept
moving. Oh such a cheapo! She was
thinking of the extra luggage weight that I was going to be! That trip was NOT FUN. And
worse was to come. We landed in our apartment and it was full of ticks. You
heard it right. The entire house! They were crawling on the walls. I kid you
not. It was a nightmare. I’ll write about it later. Oh! The poor thing that stayed there before
us! We somehow made through the night
and the very next day went to my cousin Sufi’s place for respite. We went in an
auto rickshaw with loud music and traffic sounds everywhere and my tail hanging
precariously outside, practically scraping the road! My mind was exploding.
Now cousin Sufi has to be a separate post. It took almost a year for us to be friends. Ok
that’s a stretch – It took us a year to just become cordial thanks to all the
efforts that I made. He is a spoilt insecure brat and would bark
at anyone who petted me! And so much restless energy. He jumps from one couch to another, from the
floor to the bed, from the bed to the chair and so on. No wonder they call him
‘The Flying Sufi’. Well we are kinda ok with each other now and meet often.
That’s the thing with family you just can’t escape them. Sigh.
I also met a lot of lovely people and dogs in my neighbourhood.
My neighbours just adored me and our doors were usually open so I could run from
one house to another. And there was so much food in that house. It all stopped when She realized that the next door mom was giving me chocolate despite
being made aware of the list of forbidden items! They were put on probation for a while and
then it was back to fun times sans chocolate. It was like a never ending party and I got so
many cards and toys from all the lovely folks around us that it was
overwhelming. I even had a separate birthday
party!
And when it got really cold in Bangalore and my nose turned
brown, we went on a beach vacation. Yes. My nose turned brown. Brrrown. Even I
was confused. I saw myself in the mirror and it was completely brown! I had to
look at my old photos to confirm that it was indeed black at one point. So off we went to the sea side. I’m not much
for the waters but it was fun and I could roam off leash everywhere in the
resort. And they serve you chai and
‘bhajjis’ on the beach!
We have a car here and so no more pleading with cab drivers.
Yay! We can travel easily but I had no idea what was in store. We went to
Kerala, Chennai, Pondicherry and then did a west coast trip from Kerala to Karnataka
to Goa to Maharashtra! I tell you my mind is still exploding with all that is
happening. I went paddle boating in
Chikmangalur, slept in a trailer park in drunken Goa, planted trees in a forest
for 10 days in Pondicherry, gazed at the blue waters of the Arabian Sea from
the steepest cliff I’ve ever seen and …….
I can’t think anymore. My mind just stopped.
Oh. A pig just passed by I’ve got to go bark
at it.
