31st dec on the front lawn

today tis 31st dec and soon 2007 would have receded into the annals of history. another year turns and soon we would all have a little more great hair and soon laugh lines too:)

some of my laugh lines will come from watching the antics of my girls as i also record for this moment to share it with you. have a look for yourself.

another video clip

well this video is shot in my kitchen. across the telephone the empty space you see is my empty living room, and what you see out of is a huge open window. the design is interesting actually. inside the kitchen you will see at least three women- my younger sister, my mother and grandmother. i appear in this clip as a voice only. ofcourse the three dogs are very much there and the whole thing is to capture them in another mode. take a look. this is a live film. please click on the arrow to animate it.

what are these folks upto?

though i took the picture myself...i am not certain upon looking at it a few days later, what could be happening. what do you reckon they are upto?

a friend and his pal

here is a picture of a friend of mine...and his 'senior'dog who is called elsa. out here she has taken off his glasses in the course of hugging him. just see what a beautiful shot it is.
btw these two live in goa:)

black dogs -above and below

black dogs -above and below
Originally uploaded by poet soulfree

a few months ago, we all lived together in one house. this is a view from those times when both the black dogs were around one another, and we around them as well. how they both look in the same direction from two different levels.

porridge for the first time

porridge for the first time
Originally uploaded by poet soulfree

usually this lot doesnt get porridge to eat. but this was one of those days...and they were not sure they wanted to have it in the begnning. took a long time to take to the idea. here ginger is having her portion.

how quickly they grow

walking
Originally uploaded by poet soulfree

just a few months ago, this was the size of raga viz.a viz nikki and now if you scroll down, just see the sizes!:)

irresponsible neighbours

outside the house of this woman in the picture there is a pack of dogs, who are supported/fed/nurtured by those inside. these dogs have become rather fearless. they all look alike and are at least three of them. but the worst part is that they attack unsuspecting passers-by without a reason. so when one passes by this house and is suddenly attacked by this horde it becomes quite a shock.
right in front of my eyes these dogs attacked the ironing-woman (dhoban)Though she managed to shoo them away with the bundle in her hands and her own presence of mind- she was too shocked. it could even have caused a bigger accident in a lesser person; including possibly a heart attack!
i too have been attacked by this lot because they see in me the leader of another pack. i have taken it in a stride as i pride myself in handling dogs of all sorts, but even i am on my guard when i pass their way lest they wake up and go after me all together. i usually carry a stick with me when i go that way, something i dont carry ordinarily even when i walk my own dogs. i think these dogs should be immediately neutered. let me see how to work that out now.

salamander

In the picture you see this salamander on the dog bed! ( not her idea as the story below will tell you)

the day this picture was taken...i was standing in the doorway, shutting the doors early for the evening. suddenly i saw something run past me on the floor. in this house there are a lot of lizards there. so i thought one had fallen from the ceiling. but nikki went running after it. nikki i notice is very sharp in running after moving things- more than all of them. may be her instincts of a retriever. since i had shut all the exit points the poor lizard could not get out. meanwhile all the other dogs had joined this hunt. i shooed them away from the door to allow the poor thing to escape. i did not realise then that it was unable to do so. then next thing was that i saw the dogs climb down the stairs towards the basement. they never do that ever.

then i understood that the animal was going down and they were after it-all three. they went down all the way, the door of the basement was open that day. i let them be, thinking that the lizard would figure her way out on her own. how can dogs catch a lizard, though in my heart of hearts i was apprehensive. as i was standing upstairs and either doing something or reading...ginger came upstairs after my persistent calling...and lo and behold! to my utter horror- dropped this poor little salamander on the dog bed lying there. that was too much of a shock for me. the salamander too was bloodied or seemed red (are they warm blooded?) too dazed to move and on closer examination i felt perhaps one of her legs too was broken.

i shooed all the dogs away finally. raga went and hid under the diwan in my music room, i tied up nikki as she was seeming very interested in the matter and ginger i put behind the baby gate outside the kitchen. with a bit of fear and uncertainty i managed to take the salamander out (while still on the dog mattress) and opened the mattress out dropping it near my pots in the driveway. what a relief to see it crawl away under my car! oh dear...i wonder what all i am going to see in this house...what with nikki pulling down the tassles of my curtains in the guest room. more about that later.

this is what happens when they are on the terrace...at least a synopsis of it:)

ok so now what you gotta do is to click your mouse button on the arrow of the movie clip and you see a video i made - a very lousy one with no script really, but the idea was that i could show the actions of my dogs like live. you hear my voice too...making a fool of myself, trying to say something impromptu.

I like my party hat

Lalu can never have enough trouble. Here he is recovering from a dog bite he sustained while playing with a not so friendly dog. He was bitten in his butt so we needed a dress sort of thing for him so that he wouldn't lick the wound...which he was quite capable of doing with his extremely flexible and stretchable neck. He had a peaceful recovery and in this picture seems quite happy in his party dress.

slideshow of november 2007

please have a look at this to see the latest pictures of this lot

encounters of a different sort

one of those when canine meets bovine...one is curious, one is apprehensive! with nikki one knows the levels of curiosity or animosity will have their limits. but not so with the other two.

i call this picture is it okay to sniff you mam?!

devils revealed!!!

received through email

i got this image in my email. thought immediately to put it up here. have no clue of the source. but loved the expression on the face of the duo. have a closer look and notice how they are nearly having the same look!

new kid on the block...my new kids i meant

i shot this video accidentally. i hope to upload it more mindfully though. not sure i did a good job but at least its a first for me. others will follow soon. please click to see the picture. as you see, the dogs were in the lawn of the house. this is the front lawn that overlooks the street. all the girls are running around objecting to the presence of certain other street cousins of theirs. all their aggression is towards dogs, mind you. if anyone would believe any of these is a guard dog...err... no comments on that one. why should i say anything about my own pack? now for a few days the pack is not allowed on this lawn or the other one either - simply because they are quite a handful when they start digging the nascent grass and merrily stomp in with their muddy feet. as you can well imagine, for a single hand to manage those 12 little feet, by either washing them or dusting them is another chore added...i decided the best way is to let them run around in the driveway till the grass grew properly. i do ofcourse allow them on their own lawn (the back lawn) under 'supervision'!!!- obviously my own only. i love them running there. hopefully if all goes well with this video excercise, will make another video of that too and share with you. now over to the front lawn again where you see them now. for now they cannot even enter the lawn AT ALL for i have planted my own flowering plants there. i decided i want to keep this lawn for me and the other one for them. but on second thoughts, even within this lawn only certain areas need to be demarcated as those where dogs need not go and i think those are the two corners of the lawn where you see these people right now. what i am going to do is have a wooden/bamboo 'jafri' done over there and the rest of the lawn is open to them. i think that would be ok. why should i forbid them from any part of the house completely and what fun is it for me to sit alone on my lawn, without my family being there with me?!

just a few images from round the house

explorers

this pack is looking around in the backyard. in fact this is the garden which is being planned for them with a sandpit and grass on run on and play on. but for now they are not allowed in!

tantrums!

sob sob...she has taken my toy away...

Miss Lucy occupies the driver's seat when she has to wait in the car. She insists that humans and the family dog (our other dog) can arrange themselves in whatever suitable place they can find; the driver's seat she must occupy. When the human driver enters the car, she moves to the front passenger seat. In this picture, we are at a gas station and Lucy seems poised to drive the next 100 miles!!

Training Time By the Beach

We had gone with our mutts to South Padre Island National Seashore, some 30 miles east of Corpus Christi, TX, USA. It turned out to be a very windy day. Like most places, you cannot let the dogs run into the waves; they have to remain in their leashes. We let me run for a few minutes with their leashes, till a park ranger caught sight of us.

times they are a-changing

soon this empty house, this silent weeping lawn, this morose driveway will be abuzz with the sounds of dogs all over-running around, playing, fighting, jostling, chasing each other and what not.
raga was born in a house numbered 367. is it her strong fate-line that is getting us back to a house of the same number? is it the combined destiny of all the dogs? or is it my fate-line that i could choose to come away here, with my dogs and i did?

grass for the lawn

this man here dug out the grass, about 200 feet of it, at the sundar nursery when i went there for the grass. preparing a lawn for the dogs is not all that easy after all. it was october, nearly 12:30 or more in the afternoon, and if you can see the sun was very bright indeed. anyhow today the grass has been watered for the first time and the rest i can do is to pray!...

some dogs have all the fun

nikki is one of them. the day i went to faridabad last, i took her. for two reasons- first i wanted to make her have a run around the house there, a feel of the earth and the grass which they don't get otherwise. then i couldnt take raga because she gets travel sickness and starts throwing up and then ginger and om prakash(who was going there with me) are not good travel companions.so that leaves out nikki- who manages to go everywhere thanks to her temperament! the lucky brat.
and see what she is doing in these pictures- looking out of the boundary wall of the house in one to see the road outside- in fact the construction activity that is going on in the vicinity; and then sitting among the flowers of harsingar that have fallen in the morning from the tree. this tree was planted by me here, outside the bedroom nearly ten years ago or longer back. i am using two images of the same thing- one a closer shot and one from a distance. you cannot imagine my happiness to see her here among plants that are not growing out of pots, what to mention the fact that she can run around so much. had the other sisters been around, they would really have enjoyed themselves.

canine welcome

if you dare to come into our home and profess your love for the pack and are not exactly afraid incase they did the same, well...er..r...r.r..
this could be you!

ofcourse milder variants are possible too...the young man and the dogs are all at their extreme and extremely flexible behaviour. it needn't get that ...much/bad/expressive!:)

friend from next door

this is the gate of our house
Originally uploaded by poet soulfree

this little friend, whose name is not yet clear to me, a black labrador, comes visiting once everyday. in fact the boy who handles him tells me that he pulls the boy towards our house-naturally he has so many siblings and friends here. so when he comes, he stands his ground and refuses to budge, while the dogs indoors go berserk and its all a woofy affair for the humans, unless i stand with them and make them shut their mouth.

the first picture is the little fella from the lane behind the second is my girls, who react in this manner usually. they assume this posture to either bark at him, greet him or greet me when i come home from outside anywhere.

dog for adoption ?!

beware of those who have dogs to put up for adoption. so my experience goes, unless it is a shelter...even then be careful. my experience of dealing with some of these people is bad. let me tell you what happened yesterday. i got an sms- about a dalmation up for adotion. the manner in which the sms was written i couldnt discern the age of the animal. so i called the number forwarded. first the phone rang and nobody picked up. then someone called me back from the same number within 45 seconds.

i said i had called for the dog. "oh it is a dalmation which is about a year and a little older". knowing how many girls i have on my hands, when i heard his age i backed out. but the lady at the other end was very patronising. when i uttered,rather unthinking of me too, that i was not sure how old the dog was and had called for a smaller one...she told me(very uppity now) that i should go and buy one if i want it, because when you go out to adopt dogs they dont come that young. i think our whole family is having by now a tradition of adopting dogs. me having done the dog up there on the blog title and her companion and my sister getting her's.(i am waiting for her to tell her own story, in her own time- while she finds her feet in the new city she just moved into from Austin)

In that case i was obliged to tell the woman, that i had a pack of three girls of my own. Upon which in a continuation of her patronising tone and as though educating me she said, "oh well! the three would simply kill one male" Now it was my turn to be amused and I told her, "usually that is determined by who the alpha is in the group- whether it is a human or a canine" Then i think she understood i knew a little about dogs too, climbed down a bit from her mighty position and enquired whether i wanted to know anything else. i was not even interested in hearing her voice by then.

But what i am driving at is this: usually when someone has an interest in putting up a dog for adoption and another one has an interest in calling or finding out...i think dogs should go to the people who have a genuine interest. i remember this other dog outside friendicoes- a yellow labrador who is now tied up over there-and getting more and more emaciated by the day, losing his spirit being tethered and losing his general joie de vivre. he was found stray somewhere and apparently went out biting too!( just imagine what he must have gone through to undergo such a change from his breed temperament) Now there is this very uncouth woman out there, who watches over the dogs, the pet store there and does some other myriad activities. it is not my nature to call anyone names, but when i see people who are loud on more than one occasion and whose only method of handling their stress or pressure at work or decision-making is shouting...i really am very upset inwardly, and turned off outwardly. I know these are the people I do not want to communicate with. Due to my taking things in a lighter way or talking politely if they mistake me to be a person with no mind or ideas- they are to be pitied. So this lady is one of those. I had also expressed a desire to take that cur home coz he was so pitiable there and deserved careful, compassionate, purposeful handling...and she again was one of those imbeciles who wanted to 'educate me'. Certainly i am open to education,but by now into the fourth decade of life- i know who i want my teachers to be. Dogs? Yes, Humans?- NO NO NO. Besides if you look at the catalogue here- they are my all in my personal collection, not a desiretta.

That also brings me to the story of how we got Caesar home. I think Tony had called up a European lady who had a dog up for adoption, and this was barely a couple of days after Rocky had passed away. But that lady had appeared to be so fussy about who she wanted to give her dog to...they must have a garden in the house, servants and whatnot. I wonder who the dog went to...but i am really amused, and rather pity those owners who have dogs up for adoption. i know from the stories of the four dogs i saw very closely- Goli, Junior, Lalu and Lucy- we were one of the best people to give the dogs to. Our dogs will tell you that story - not our tongues. (Though Caesar is another story- something that makes my heart ache all the time)

Last of all...a few months ago a friend was wanting a german shepherd- grown up. Saw an ad for adoption and called. The man who put up the ad, was going overseas, wanted to actually sell his dogs for Rs.15000/ each mind you. He simply didnt seem interested in who took the dogs (had two) but who could pay!...the adoption word was a hoax!

learning hands on

this vet's surgery is a interesting place and occasionally i see a somewhat independent individual moving around the place. i mean of course of the canine species. so here is one who is captured by me...a young, playful doberman who in this shot is grappling with ball of gauze, and serious about it. the vet, being the affable chap that he is doesn't mind having an additional apprentice of another species:). Another shot of the same is there on my photo-blog. have a look incase...

i dare you untie my mouth

this can also happen to a retriever! especially if she happens to behave unpredictable, untrustworthy and hyper-sensitive to any touch. yesterday after being spayed this girl needs her antibiotic-shots today. this is the only way the doc feels safe with her!

Did you take an appointment?

look i am a busy individual. you cannot just walk upto me and expect me to give you my time. you better call up my secretary and fix an appointment. meanwhile, i am okay if you take a quick shot- in a passing sort of a way.

this is one of those lanes where the animal meets the human in a civilized manner

on two sides of this empty space are areas where dogs come and go in/out; where they meet with their human friends, wellwishers and lovers. some also live in a shelter here. a lot of interesting sights meet the eye if you visit this place.

this retriever being retrieved by saline

as the image is taken behind the glass, from outside, it maybe a bit blurred. i am still learning photography, please bear with me.

You- dog lover?............... Me... dog :)

As I wait outside the surgery and invest my time in shooting...here comes this one and looks at me- somewhat persistently as though saying "Can I be a part of your operations too?"
If i could tell him, i would, "But ofcourse my dear. Where were you all this time.If only I could hear your story."

god, do i have to drive all the way myself?

my chew stick, not rawhide- so what!

just a picture, nothing else. these two were there outside the surgery where my girl was in for her spaying. while waiting for her all this passed by in front of my eyes.

view from above

view from above
Originally uploaded by poet soulfree

Tis not only me but my dogs too that live on the first floor of the house. so one should not be surprised if they want to view life more vertically than the horizontal way:)

the next day after the chappal/footwear story

since i am writing a few days later than i wanted to, i have lost the exact sense of dates in my head. but i know for sure this was the next to the chappal episode day. nikki looked up at the boundary wall of the house and leaped and guess what? well...no need to guess, the result is for you to see for yourself. sometimes i wonder, why does it always have to be nikki only?!

Tyranny of the Majority

This happened in april...even the date comes to mind-19th april 2007, because the next day was my birthday! Some people came to my mother in this park who foto you see up here. This park is right outside my house. Ahe was exercising there and they complained to her about me- about the fact that my dogs came and ran around in the park and the dogs pooped there(made the park dirty)

Thanks to the fact that I had dogs that i wanted to run in the park...I had started waking up at 4:30 in the morning- to give them their due of running and exercise. Not a single light in the neighbourhood would be on then- we would run and play fetch, chase one another and so forth. That was the sole moment of their joy in the day I thought and their joy was mine. Our timetable was that i would wake up anytime after four, depending upon the alarm or my wakefulness before or after the alarm went off. I would first walk them around so that they would ease themselves- not a single day did I take them inside with either of them having a full bladdar or bowels.

Ginger is the primary dog that ran. Being a retriever she loves to fetch or even run. Raga was too small and Nikki just injured her leg, so i did not want her to hurt herself further. We had not even made Raga step out of the house till then (as she was not yet three months) So all this ire was probably directed towards Ginger or towards me for my aloofness. But why deprive me of my few moments of happiness...with my dogs...I really wanted to ask these people.

After a 'delegation' of responsible people met my mother- and mom never really told me who all came to her- my parents told me to not take the dogs to the park. They also said that they had lived in that neighbourhood all their lives (from 1950 onwards) with great dignity and regard and now i should not 'imperil' it (my words) In the light of the defenceless-ness of my parents and for the continuity of their 'dignity' I withdrew...once again into the garden of the soul where i dwell, as opposed to the garden of men- where cacaphony abounds.

Someday if i have the heart i will write down how we (my family) had 'built'(if one can build a park) this park who foto you see up here. If you were to touch my hands just now, it still bears testimony. My hands are so hard, tis difficult to believe that i am not a woman who works with her hands to earn a livelihood, purely because i am a gardener.

At that point in April, only my family in the entire neighbourhood had dogs. Four of them. Now seeing us or due to the coaxing of their children or for reasons of superstition some neighbours too have got dogs for themselves. And I see them violating the very park they took away from me and my dogs. I do not have a voice, neither my dogs. I wept a lot. Believe me. Not because of my inability but because i knew the time had come for me to leave this neighbourhood. And soon someday I might be making another blog entry from another city, another neighbourhood. Till I do I will keep noting down all that i have to, here.

The picture you see here is that of two of my girls running on a stray day (in july 2007) when I took them to the park around ten in the morning...to shoot pictures! Just see their happiness, their sense of freedom and fun. The picture you see at the head of this entry is dated 24th september 2007. An evening when all the men in the locality got together to sit in the park to watch the cricket match (2020 final between India-Pak) Imagine the tyranny of the majority when so many weighty people can sit into chairs that sink into the grass and keep sitting there for hours and create loud cheering sounds, in unison with the loud sounds blaring out of massive electronic speakers...in a supposedly decent neighbourhood. So just because a majority of them are together, they can do anything-including descrating public resources, abusing them and causing a sonic hazard to those in the neighbourhood. What if we had elderly people who couldnt tolerate the noise? We just might be having them. I know I have my elderly granny at home. Who knows their neighbours any longer?

We are a neighbourhood, dare I say nation of worthless people. Please see the foto. This is Monday evening- not the weekend. The ones who are playing the game are getting paid...But look at this lot of idlers and worthless men, still in their primitive tribal games- they have been this way for centuries now- cheering gladiators to cock fights and then modern cricket, baseball or football- not only live in stadia but also the televisions and giant screens. And then the ones who tend to lose are the voiceless people like me...with our sense of quiet and peace that is constantly plundered by living in urban, uncivilized (the polite may call them 'civilizing' ) neighbourhoods. onwards ho!

In the last picture here you can see both the retrievers on a heap of freshly mowed grass. Don't they love it? And why would they want to desecrate it like the humans...they belong to the earth more than the humans do; who are constantly surrounding themselves with electromagnetic chaos. It is the same day as the one above in which you see them running free. When we curb the freedom of a species what are we doing to ourselves and them? I think it is worth a few minutes of your time...

dog passes by-

cast a cold eye upon gate,
upon main-hole
street dog passes by-

this is how the dogs go berserk at the sight of their 'country cousin'



whenever a dog such this...passes by my door

can u imagine the (shor) hell my dogs would be raising

for all of us?
look the two of them retrievers keeping a vigil at the gate..."hark who goes there?"

so now they have to come to that point of education in their lives

that they see that they dont own everything they lay their eyes on

and peace to me...

cast a cold eye upon the gate

upon the dog that barks

street dog pass by...

i am not sure that golden retrievers could be such guard dogs. but this one here is quite a one- in fact she instigates everyone else too. have a look in the other posts too.

waking up angry

i am not sure anger is a good emotion to begin the day with. but i am begining it that way today. i am angry at nikki. last night i stood outside the house talking with a childhood friend who was visiting her natal home in the neighbourhood, after long years.

as i had just returned from walking the dogs i was in a pair of walking shoes and i had left this chappal at the base of the staircase (that takes me upstairs to my floor of the house) in the course of that approx. one hour that i stood there...nikki cleaned her dentures on my footwear. i was so angry that i hit her! i hate it but could not contain myself. it was less than a month ago that i had bought the pair. this was the 11th pair she 'retired' from my use.

i think one would understand when i feel like tying up this brat of a dog now and then. and just see what kind of a thing she has to be tethered with. everything else she chews off in no time.but just look at her face...how long do you suppose i can leave her this way? (usually it doenst last more than 15 minutes!)

why only chappals and footwear, everyday this gardener of a dog is upto pruning my plants and digging up the soil to either roll in it (which dogs do to change their smells, a sort of natural mechanism for deo-sprays. btw all the man-made deo sprays i got for the dogs have been unanimously vetoed by all of them. waste of my money) what do i do with this dog?

the flower bed that i had readied here a few days ago is the chosen one nowadays. everyday when she can, she goes to it and digs. once upon a tiem i wanted to give them a sand pit to play in. but then, for some reasons could not move to the hosue where i wanted to. i could not arrange for that here. so nikki is doing her own thing i suppose.