Friday, September 26, 2008

Pets and Door banging!

Animals are one of the those creatures in this world, who can make me happy only when they pose in a wallpaper or be inside the cage. Definitely not when encountered in person. I like watching Animals on TV - I can watch the life history of even a hippopotomus in National Geographic for 4 hours. But when it comes to humans moving closely with animals, it sort of subtly freaks me out. I have this strange habit of being a totally different person while watching animals/pets on TV against seeing them in reality.

And yaa pets...when I see a dog on a leash being walked by somebody and when they come under proximity, a mild tension creeps in uninvitingly. I make all efforts to conceal my fear, or for lack of a better word, restlessness. Yet I resort for a detour. The other day, I saw Chandler saying in 'Friends' sitcom that one can never say what a dog thinks. How true!

Whenever I visit people who own dogs and consider them as more than family members, I make sure that the dog keeps a safe distance from me. Howmuchever they find it difficult to understand, I keep emphasizing 'dogs have to be kept where they should be'. I have a strange feeling that most dogs in this world hate me and somehow or the other, plan on attacking me one day.

One of my friends (while being caressed all over her face by the tongue-lick of whatever-dog-she-has) offers me an explanation. For her, the dog is more than a sibling. The only companion who can identify her. The only comrade who never changes color. The only friend who is loyal, honest and trustworthy. I laugh her out. Considering me, other than the reality that a dog can never talk back, I find nothing spellbinding.

During many of my regular visits to Central park in New york, I have wondered how small a grown-up dog can get and how much of love and affection can it withstand, no matter how small it is. No exaggerations - I have seen dogs smaller than the size of my sneaker. And it is funny when they bark. I laugh at my own joke of imagining telling one of such dog-owners to take the dog out of my way or I might mistakenly stamp on it! As per many of my friends, 'Stamp on it' is considered a blasphemy. Should be 'stamp on him or stamp on her'. It is amazing how much of affinity, love and affections humans show for pets.

And yesterday, the salesman at the guitar shop while talking to me and walking, tripped and fell on the floor. One of the on-lookers mockingly offered a comment that the salesman has the eyes of a cat. He gets up and asks her not to compare him to a cat. Per him, the cats are partially blind. He extends an unsolicited explanation - how his pet (a cat) runs across his living room and the kitchen at lightning speed when there is no need for such a real hurry. And most of the times, he says the cat at such a blinding speed would go bang herself straight on to the door. Not a glass door, not a transparent door - but a plain hard wooden one. BANG! He says he can never explain such a behaviour. One more person joins in saying how his lazy dog would be sleeping in the couch - And all of a sudden, out of the blues, she would toss herself up from the couch and sprint like a lightning.

Such maddeningly-crazy-running-episodes in the house are okay. And so are the annoyingly jarring barks. But there is much more pets can do. As much as they invite incredible love and affection of some people (like these babies do), they lead to the opposite too for others.

Without even their knowledge, pets can easily give one a phobia, one is not born with. Funny. Indeed.

[P.S : Pet lovers, please take this post in the lighter sense, as this is my 150th post!]

22 comments:

Arun B said...

super post thambi .. now read a true story related to this ..

it was 6'o clock in the evening.. a 15 year old boy was playing cricket in the neighborhood ground .. a local(local to Ayanavaram) Dhoni plays a hook shot .. and this young boy chases the ball to prevent it from reaching the boundary .. and you know what, all of a sudden the boy was chased by 7 - 8 dogs .. perhaps,the dogs were thinking that the boy was chasing a bone .. the boy cries in fear, loses his control and runs out of the ground calling local people for help .. he slips and fells into a bush .. finally some local guys chased the dogs away and saved the boy .. the boy had 10 stitches near his left eye ..

the boy is now no more a boy :-) he is a 26 years old man and is still afraid of dogs .. by the way he currently resides in Seattle .. you know whom I am talking about:-)

Anonymous said...

kalakarel pongo! :)

-=A.R.N.=- said...

I never really liked dogs much.
They bark, they bite; and leave a nasty experience.
I guess I can never really understand how people love them though.

Guess that's the way all phobias develop.

busy-writer said...

Ditto!
This one time, my mum was telling this neighbour aunty bout how she has to hide all the puja food so that we don't eat em before the puja's done and the neighbour aunty began saying,(in kannada), "oh my boy is very good. he knows when he has to eat and when not.. bla blha blha" and mum goes like, "Oh, he came from america already aa?"..
Lol! she thought the aunty was talkin bout her SON.
It was their DOG she was talking bout!
atrocities, i tell you!

Rayees Ahamed said...

good one

"kalla kanda naaya kanom, naya kanda kalla kanom" , once i got bitten by neighbor's dog.
since then i always keep a distance. even two days back one big boy scared me.

I do love to feed animals, but not let them close, or inside home. There is a huge list of diseases which get transferred from them, especially infants and kids are more vulnerable to them.

The sad part is that when a human does not give preference to another human as many people would not prefer to spend a penny in charity or help a poor ill child, but can spend thousands ( for pedigree, meat, pet accessories, vacation drive etc.,)

Nandini Vishwanath said...

I loooooooooove dogs. I've had two of them and one of bit me 4 times. I fought for him each time. Now, that is a story I should write!

Thanks for the inspiration ;)

Anonymous said...

naay na ennaku bayam..

Arun Sundar said...

Arun,
Lol...7 - 8 dogs? Had I been you, I would have seen a glimpse of 'Yamaraj' already!

Gayatri,
Andha mariyaadha irukkattum! :)

Rahman,
True. They bark, bite, eat and poop. And give phobia for some. :)

Busy-writer,
Lol..."America already'a?" made me laugh more than the incident itself!! :) Looks like these days you are more 'busy' than a 'writer'!

Rayees,
I have never been bitten. Yet I keep distance from them, for their safety indeed. Just to make sure that I dont bite them one day ;)

Nandini,
Anytime mam. And may your love for dogs live forever!!

Grad,
Enakkum dhaan. Smart people are scared of dogs'nu oru statement vidalaama? :)

m said...

Ingae ellaruma sendhu (except Nandhini) Dogs' ingalukku ethira sathi panreengala? Down with u all conspirers! Ok except those who hate bull dogs (including the much more ugly guys accompanying them) and those tiny little over-confident-high-pitched barking hairy beauties.

Idling in Top Gear said...

Dogs have run towards me barking many a time and I just freeze and put my hands up. Luckily, I've never been bit. Never wanted to have a pet (except I wanted an eagle when I was like 10!) and never will. :)

busy-writer said...

@ arun
No, no, am hardly busy. Lack that good-frame-of-mind to write.

maxdavinci said...

I guess the ones scared of dogs are the ones who have been bit or chased as kids.

I've had one and that monster used to overpower me at times! But then they are nice and fun.

PS: I hate the sneaker variety though that ppl carry in cycle carriages...

N.V.Prashanth said...

I should write abt dogs.. or my hate for the dogs rather. I HATE them. They can be cruel and wicked. I can't stand them at all.

I can definitely relate to tht fear/restlesness when I confront one!

Arun Sundar said...

Ela,
Conspirers??!! Havent you heard of this proverb "Be what may, still Kuttha kuttha hai!" (kutha, as in indhi)

IITG,
Put your hands up?! Lol...You must have had a cookie in your hands or the dog must have had a pistol in its hands! :)

Busy-writer,
"good-frame-of-mind" - you still believe in that concept after reading my posts! Such a chinna ponnu you are!

Max,
Sneaker variety of any kind - be it cycle carriages or train coaches or 'walking tall' types - hateworthy only.

Prashanth,
Vittaaaa, you'll start a club of dog-haters I guess!

Absconding said...

Does this have something to do with some traumatic childhood experience with an animal?!

busy-writer said...

chinna ponnu? :O whats that?

and umm, eep, you ARENT in a good frame of mind? ething okay? wassup?

Kavitha Jay said...

come on look at them...how innocent and friendly they are..hehe...how can you ignore such a pitiful expressive face?..

kanagu said...

a very nice post!!!!

Arun Sundar said...

Absconding,
No no. Have never been bitten by a dog nor be chased. But I have seen enough to develop the phobia :)

Busy-writer,
Chinna ponnu means 'young girl'. Or immature, since you beleive you need 'good frame of mind' to write posts. And you beleive so even after reading my blog :)

Kavitha,
Pitiful Expressive face????!!! Where? (I wonder what people see in dogs that I dont!)

Kanagu,
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Ennavena sollatum, but when I shout still say "poda naaye" wonly. :D

Anonymous said...

Being someone who is scared of dogs, I could relate to this post. :) Good one!

Unknown said...

Thats an interesting post. I knew some of them but mostly it was new to me. I enjoyed it very much.Keep them coming, because you have a fan.


fauna