Infinity.

 

.Infinity was a rejected puppy in a bin.She was one of the many puppies born to a stray mongrel in the streets of Delhi.

When my sister picked her up to take her home all of us wondered how things would work out.My neice Annie chose to name her Infinity.A lone child in the family ,suddenly overnight  their life changed in infinite ways,hence the name Infinity.

Looking from afar we often thought she was a nuisance.Their movement as a family was severely restricted and their social life needed adjustments.Each time I visited her she was ferocious while greeting but gradually we settled down to an uncomfortable equilibrium

I was often the stick the family used to discipline her.She had had her shots so feared the vet so at the mention of a doctor she would cow down with her tail between her legs.I was the doctor.

0nce the pandemic started the family has had to spend much time indoors.

My father passed this summer.There has been a deep sadness in the family.My sister would call up my mother twice or thrice a day from Delhi and keep my mother entertained with Infinity’s antiques.

While travelling back to join work I had to stop at Delhi.I was glad to be able to spend some time with my sister and her family.Infinity could be tolerated..Her greeting was the usual ferocious one but after sometime she nuzzled upto me ,smelt my socks and then calmed down.Gone was the snappy,touchy Infinity.While I lay in my bed ,resting after a long day’s journey suddenly the door would creak open ,she would put her head in and check on me.

After repeating this three times at half an hours interval I just called out to her gently,she stopped short in her track and looked at me questioningly.So I just told her to carry on and she did just that.

After that I found myself doing something which I never do in the normal circumstances.I started talking to her with a lot of joy in my heart and she continued to give me her ears ,looking at me earnestly like as if she understood everything.I felt strangely restful.She did not bark at me a single time after that.While I was getting ready to leave for the airport as I was picking my bag up I accidently hit her with my bag.There was not even a protesting whine,just a confused look..

I have seen people fuss over dogs in my lifetime and have often wondered why?I have often heard the rhetoric, ‘these foreigners value a dog much more than a human being’,I will never say as much ever in my life because I think now I know why.Infinity,the she mongrel my sister picked up from the streets of Delhi  has changed me into a dog lover...

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