Jimpu

i had few friends when at school. i was looking for company. i was looking for a true friend. dont remember how and when i got the idea that the solution to my loneliness lied in getting myself a pet dog. except for dad no one was in favor of this idea.

but we did it. on 15th august 1986, dad read a newspaper ad about dashchund pups for sale. and we went. to seven bungalows in andheri. there he was! the most black and fattest pup in the whole litter. the only one who was independently snooping around the drawing room while the rest of the pups followed their mother in a bunch. he came to me sniffing my feet. i picked him up and placed him on the hand bag i had brought. and mr.investigator continued sniffing the hand bag. he was just about little bigger than a hand palm. i had made my choice. his mother came following us upto the elevator and was looking at me holding him. i can never forget the look in her eyes.

well her son was not really affected much by her absense. he was all over the taxi seat once again engrossed in his one and only activity - sniffing new smells. i was so excited when we reached home with him in my hands. i watched the neighbours' kids gaping at me. my mom was sarcastic as ever. she kept saying look 1100 rupees are walking on our floor. she had no idea then how this one little life was going to change everyone's perspective towards animals and life in general.

that night was a night that everyone would remember in my family. this little being made it very clear to us that he was not going to sleep alone. he had quietly managed to clamber out of his new cosy bed made of a tub and mom's old sari. he had taken a trip around the house and ensured that he had marked his route with little round puddles of susu, just in case he got lost. along with the puddles was the siren...uh..uh..uh..uh... This is a sound puppies make when they are searching for something or when they are upset about something. we were a bit apprehensive that the siren doesnt change into shrill puppy-cries. my sister, who was in mom's team of dog haters, picked jimpu up and kept him on her lap and started singing..zo..zo...gai... she was definitely in her sleep! but it worked! it did! the sound of someone being there, the rocking and the assuring pat of the head soon comforted the little devil and he cosily went off to sleep. that was for about two hours and then the cycle repeated. that night we knew we dont have a puppy at home but a little baby that needs constant comfort and assurance and full attention at all times of day and night.

life begun once again with a new entrant in our house. everybody took turns in cleaning and also in avoiding cleaning the young one's susu and shishi. he was too small to be taken out. so then came the time to toilet train this little devil. i remember the days when one of us would keep him in the bathroom and line the entrance with buckets so that he doesnt escape. and then waiting patiently for him to do his job. that was probably the only basic discipline we ever managed to teach our dog.

naming him didnt look very easy first, with me coming up with complex rather stupid names to pronounce like snoopy, snuffy, etc. finally we did decide on an extremely common name, jimmy. what began as jimmy soon ended up with too many variations to it, jimpi, jimpu, jimya, jimaN. my sis used to say this when jimpu used to come to greet her, 'hey jimmu, u lagaving maska to who who?' it rhymed so well. then there was another one she came up with, 'shlightly mad, but shimply clever'. it used to sound so hilarious when you would associate this phrase with the little black badmaash with a misfit tail that wagged at the speed of...you know...at the speed of a dog's tail!

jimpu started growing into an adult dog pretty soon. i remember how excited i had got when he raised his leg while marking his territory! as months went by, jimpu got bolder and naughtier. his favourite games