An Incredible Year with Pluto!

‘Being a mother’ in our culture is broadly synonymous with delivering a baby or adopting one. It is also denoted by socializing the child into one’s culture, loving him/her unconditionally and providing him with the best of everything. What we often miss to understand is that ‘motherhood’ is associated with any act of compassion and love. It could be towards anyone. For me, it is towards my little bundle of joy, Pluto.

I discovered my strong maternal instincts when I got home Pluto. His entry into my life and heart is completely credited to my husband. When we decided to take our relationship to the next level, I expressed my desire to have a dog at home. It was like an untouched chord that stuck both of us. Interestingly, both of us were dog lovers and always wanted to have a dog. To our utter dismay, both our families never permitted us to have one. The childhood desire to have a dog now turned into a much thought over responsibility to become pet parents even before marriage. Eventually, we took the call of getting home Pluto (who was just 25 days old).

Pluto stayed with me at my home. My mother who was really scared of dogs allowed him to stay with us as she knew that I will be getting married in a few months and will be taking him along. At that time, she had no idea about the magic of dogs! She never imagined that after a few months she will be completely in awe of him and in fact would miss him more than me. My younger brother grew really fond of Pluto and he was the one who took care of him in my absence pertaining to work commitments. He lovingly calls Pluto “Bad Boy”.

My experience of raising Pluto has been the most rewarding one so far. I apprehended that a puppy just like an infant, demands too much of care during his growing days. You have to be on your toes 24*7. The little sacrifices you make for him, the time that you devote towards him, the way you feed him etc. makes you grow fond of him with each passing day. If that’s still not enough, just watch him and you will instantly fall in love with the overwhelming cuteness!

There will be days when he will be so mischievous that it will be nerve wrecking. You would want to scold him badly but let me tell you the moment you will do so, he will act out such an adorable puppy face that it will induce terrible guilt for reprimanding him. The cherry on cake would be that after a while he will come up with something even more notorious. Basically, after a while your emotions will get confused over him and exhaust!

For Pluto it was chewing on our new sofas. Oh gosh! Hell was broken loose in our home that day. My mother was almost throwing Pluto and me out of her home. It took me and my brother days to calm her down and get the sofas mended. I can’t stop laughing when I think about that phase! However, as a pet parent it wouldn’t matter to you how much he spoils your furniture, wires, footwear etc., what matters is the truck loads of irresistible cuteness that he will spread in your life. Our entire life started revolving around him.

My husband is the most incredible dog father one can ever be. He never missed any of Pluto’s appointments with his vet. He used to take Pluto to his residence on weekends to enjoy their boys’ time which mainly consisted of Pluto’s bathing and sleeping (pun intended)!

Over the next few months, my brother and I over pampered Pluto. When Pluto turned 6 months old, we realized the need to discipline his ‘rowdy’ behaviour. This brings me to another episode (worth a mention) which happened, when Pluto literally scared away his trainer. On the fifth day, his trainer labelled him a ‘terrorist’ and called it quits! This was 2 months before our wedding. My husband then stepped in and took the responsibility of discipling him. He is the only person Pluto is scared of! Thankfully, Pluto is now a well behaved dog (with pangs of uncontrollable urge to chew on socks and shoes).

We had a special photo shoot arranged with Pluto during our wedding. How could he miss to be a part of our wedding!!

Actually, it was only after marriage that our best phase with Pluto began. It is really heartening to watch my husband and Pluto play every morning and evening. Sometimes when I am silently watching them, I wonder what if I wouldn’t have asked him to get us a dog. We would have been so incomplete without him. His presence in our lives is phenomenal. He binds us together with love and adorability. I don’t think we will ever love our child more than we love Pluto. For us he is our first baby!

 Today he completes one year in this extraordinary world which is so full of love and joy!

Divine Song

I hear the divine song every night 

Sung by beautiful Higher Beings

Melody asserts His love and might

Describing the starry rings ..... 

I dream of floating in the infinite universe

Searching other souls of my tribe 

I would sing them my favourite verse

And would hear the anecdotes they describe ..... 

Touch of the white divine light on my body 

Would heal my pain and suffering 

Lift me up to a place so calm and steady 

I would let go off the earthly emotional string .... 

I appreciate the Divine for giving us death

As it is a journey to the land of love and bliss

Healing the soul from earthly ego and wrath 

Like thirsty land receives rain's first sweet kiss .....

7 lessons I learned from a stuck elevator!

I had always wondered what it feels like to get stuck in an elevator in pitch dark. Strangely enough, like most of my dreams, thoughts, visions have sooner or later came true, perhaps this one could not wait any longer to transmute into reality. While stepping in the elevator at the third floor of a shopping store (name withheld) I could never think what the next 15 minutes of my life would be like. Surely! Life is unpredictable (Learning 1: Never underestimate the unpredictability factor in your life. It holds immense power to surprise, scare or shock you in ways you had never imagined). 

As soon as the elevator closed I started zipping the chain of my handbag (Yes, I have a careless habit of forgetting to zip my handbag. I welcome theft!) and with a sudden jerk the elevator stopped and the lights turned off. After a happy shopping experience, I was definitely not prepared for such an unusual episode. It took me a few seconds to realize that I am stuck in an elevator. My first reaction was to reach out for the emergency buttons but I could not see a thing. I searched for my phone in my handbag and flashed its light on the buttons. To my extreme horror, there was no emergency button in that lift! I immediately started banging the door for help but all I could hear in reply was weird silence. This silence was nothing less than creepy and horrifying. With each passing minute, I was losing control over my senses as my breath was getting shorter. For the first time in my life I felt claustrophobic. I could realize that the strength of the bangs on the door were getting weaker. I thought to call my loved ones before any mishap happens and at least narrate them the true incident. After all, nobody wants to die a death that conjures speculations. (Learning 2: We are obsessed with closures. We want a closure even after our death.)  

I dialed my landline number but immediately cut the call fearing that it would create a lot of panic among my family members. I consoled myself that it is just a situation and I am going to get out of it, alive! I reminded myself of the worst of phases that I have lived through and reassured that this is just a minor and refined version of all that (Learning 3: Once a psychologist, always a psychologist). Although now I feel that it was a scary yet not a dangerous situation; but in that very moment I was full of apprehensions which made me imagine the worst (Learning 4: We have the hardest laugh on situations which were the scariest. Believe me while writing this I am laughing it off). While imagining all this, I quickly typed a few texts which were supposed to convey my feelings to the people whom I love. I planned that in case there is no help for a long time and my breath became even weaker, then I am going to press the send button. I wanted to make sure that the most important people in my life know how much I love them (Learning 5: We never miss the last chance of saying ‘I LOVE YOU’ to the most assorted people of our life. Then why not say it in time?).

Surprisingly, as I leaned on the mirror of the elevator and closed my eyes to relax, this overwhelming claustrophobic experience did not shut my reflective mind. In fact, suddenly I found myself overly empathetic towards people who have died because of suffocation. Instead of figuring a way out of that elevator, my mind took me on an eerie journey to imagine the helplessness and vulnerability of those who met their fate through drowning or getting suffocated in a car, container, small room, or even worst, an elevator. (Learning 6: We often live our entire life in an illusion that we control everything. But the truth is that sometimes we can’t even control our little intangible mind!).

Empathy gave me a lot of courage, so much so that once again I gathered my strength, took a long breath and started banging and shouting out loud for help. This time I could hear the voice of a man rushing towards the door of the elevator. He told me that there was a power cut in the building and unfortunately the generator did not start. He said that the electrician is fixing it and the elevator would start any moment. I just took a sigh of relief and chanted my prayer to thank my lord. The moment the door opened, I could see a small crowd of workers gathered outside the elevator to see me. I assume that some were standing out of genuine sense of apology and regret whereas others joined in out of curiosity to see who that girl was who got stuck in the elevator. But nothing mattered to me at that moment, neither the apologies nor the crowd. The only thing that counted was fresh air and daylight. I have been living since so long but in that one moment I realized that I am alive. Somewhere that moment taught me the essence of existence. (Learning 7: We often live a life full of apprehensions, insecurities and fears that have no rational basis. Let go off all the negativity that is pulling you down and learn to acknowledge the sense of being alive. In case you are too lazy, then wait and watch as your life takes charge and place you in a situation where you learn these lessons the 'interesting' way).