The Night Watchman…

The weather outside was quite bizarre….bizarre for us in Jodhpur, since there was massive thunder and lightening since early evening and bizarre also since…there were chances of rains….which is like a luxury here. I was in 8th standard and was not being allowed to stay back, when my parents were going out for some urgent errand. I didn’t want to miss a movie on TV. After much persuasions..they agreed and I, for the first time ever…was home alone. I sat down for dinner and switched on the television. The gig of being home alone was making me happier since I could go to school the next day and declare that I was grown up….enough…to be left at home all by myself. But my bliss was short lived…the lights went out. I am to this day scared of pitch black darkness, and that day it was way darker than dark..I could not find a torch or a candle. Now my adventure was getting creepy….’cos I was thinking that I was alone...but I wasn’t.. gathering all my strength I moved towards the door that opened into the garden. I called out “Tipsy..?!”. I heard the tinkling of his neck lease….the sign of his getting up and alert in position. I came outside to find him scared too and sitting in one corner of the garden. I started crying out of fright. He looked at me curiously with his ears standing upright and his mouth closed. Everytime that I would sniff….he would bend his head a lil sideways…trying to understand d new emotion ‘cos he had never seen me cry before.. in a tearful voice I called out to him again… ”Tipsy ” and just then he came running towards me. He sat snuggly close to me with his head in my lap. He cuddled me with his hands and his forehead.i was scared and needed a hug…and he gave it to me with an assurance that he was there for me.

Tipsy was a spids breed pet of mine. He had brought tremendous joy into our lives when he had come to our house long time back. My childhood memories are filled with fun with him for as long as I can remember. He looked like a cotton ball with 3 black buttons on them to mark his eyes n face when he was small. Mum was his favorite since she fed him and also disciplined him. He had immense amount of respect for dad and used to get up whenever dad was around as if offering him, his seat. Bro was like his buddy, someone to hang out with and have guys’ kinda fun n tussles. I on the converse, was not in his frens list, since I always loved cuddling him, which he wasn’t quite fond of..!! but he knew whom to turn to when he use to be scared, or for a tender petting after a scolding from mum….me..i.e. he used to wait for me to go and speak to him..cuddle him..comfort him and feed him with my own hands.

We never trained him to “sit” or “stay” or to shake hands etc….but he understood the very basic words that we spoke…for instance “kyun..!!”,”yeh kya kia”, “khana khao” , “peeche waale door se aao”. He used to distinctly recognize mum’s shriek on spotting a lizard..and would come straight to her rescue. He used to enjoy bathing and splashing water all over me!!, also walking on the stoned railing of our two storied home, from where he ad dived almost 30 times, and had a reputation of a very well mannered animal friend. We used to have ice-cream together every night in summers after dinner and he used to jump up wit joy evertime I used to come back home after school. A number of times we found him injurd in the morning, with a man’s torn pieces of cloth and ravaged slippers in the garden. While we slept peacefully he dutifully kept watch and made intruders run for their lives.

Tipsy lived a long and healthy life of 13years with us. His passing away was a big blow for me. I had lost a family member. He was so ill and feeble in his last days that he wasn’t even able to get up or eat. If only he could talk and tell us about his sufferings, we could have helped him. I was the first one to discover that he had left. I touched his fur..to check on him…but he wasn’t breathing… he was still…yet warm…and soft.. I felt as if he was still around and I could catch hold of him and bring him back…. The only irony was that I couldn’t see him anymore.
You might think of me as a psychic animal lover or a freak obsessed with her pet, but whenever I am sad and miserable…he visits me in my dreams sometimes and there we play in the garden… and the next day …my sadness n miseries are gone….snap…just like that…!!

On that scary night…he knew what I needed the most.. tough we never spoke to each other....ever.. he taught me a very important lesson that day….that love and care are the bare necessities all beings’ lives. And they need to be conveyed amongst each one of them….to soothe and to ease the times of anxiety and despair and also to brighten the times of delight… the vibes need to be transmitted and received….but the medium may not necessarily be human..

How we fail to understand the small truths of life. He only knew how to live....and not to conspire and manupulate....the importance of our loved ones around us...he ony knw how to love...and that too endlessly.... How we fail to understand that if something makes me happy..it would make you happy too and if it hurts me..it would hurt you too.. if I am lonely…you could be lonely too. We never taught him to comfort and cuddle a scared person….then how did he know that I was lonely and scared. He wasn’t a human, yet he understood my emotions and gauged what I wanted. We were talking through our minds….and amidst all the thunder and the bolts….. we were safe and were watching out for each other. He taught me that how we never fail to seek...but always fail to reach out.

He made me a better person…just by being with me all the time….he never complained about anything…. He never spoke…he never cried….he never demanded….he never got annoyed……yet he existed….and I miss him….i am lucky… I had tipsy…..a friend for life…. and my night watchman….for heavens beyond..

My next animal friend shall be “Hero”…. That’s when tipsy will return to spread even more joy and make me an even better person.