Diary 8 - Luna and Mummyji - April 2019

Luna and Mummyji

Luna and Mummyji have a 'danda' relationship. Danda is a cane or a stick.

Our mummyji is not fond of dogs.  But she did not protest either when we got her home. In the initial healing days, Mummyji would regularly pour milk for her in the evenings, when we were out for work.(and later evenings too). But she wouldn't pet her, touch her or allow her to lick her feet or sniff around her. Distancing was the norm with Luna. Neither would she talk lovingly with her.

And one weapon that our Mummyji found to keep Luna at bay was the sleek, wooded stick - the 'danda'. Whenever, Mummyji wielded the danda, Luna obeyed. ANd so 'danda' entered into Luna's meager list of vocabulary.

Our Mummyji's main job profile is to keep the house tidy, spic and span. Hence, she would go bonkers at the wild, unclean habits of Luna and would keep training her to sit at one spot and eat like a gentle lady. Alas, dogs, ancestrally and genetically, do not understand royal human idiosyncrasies. More so, a desi street urchin lineage of  Luna.

And so the tussle continues...

(P.S. Mummyji has now accepted Luna in the house and is more tolerant of her habits, or you may say, has got used to her around! And Luna respects and obeys Mummyji more than us!)

Diary 7 - Luna and Sanju - March 2019

Luna and Sanju

Sandeep (Sanju) is the alpha. The master who can play wild, command, cuddle, feed and rebuke with firmness. And Luna listens to Sanju, though he does not speak much to her. She understands his honest body language that displays no duality; just purely present in the moment.

Sanju is the doer. He is climbing trees, fixing machines, wielding axes, drilling stuff, dancing around, watering plants - in short, doing stuff. 

The hand that cares

 (Here Sandeep is on the guava tree in our front yard and Luna trying to reach him through the peeping hole) 

And Luna enjoys activity. She is curious to know what's happening and runs behind and around him as she feels he is doing Some Very Important Work and she will get to contribute her part in it. 

Sanju is also the fearless warrior who can take her out in the street without a leash and protect her from the strays in our locality. And protect the dog haters from Luna!

He plays with her occasionally, but whenever he plays, Luna cherishes it for many days. He hardly spoils her with constant attention, but Luna cherishes his tiniest ear rubs or rare belly rubs or frequent throw games. 

Hmm... I wonder how this universal play of relationships work. I try to go out of my way to make Luna comfortable and happy and Sanju gets all the adulation and obedience from Luna! I guess, I need to learn something about relationships here. 

Diary 6 - Luna and Ishaan - March 2019

Luna and Ishaan

Luna has a few 'people' friends. Most of them are the children of our mohalla. When she was a pup, she attracted the attention of many children around. She was the only pup pet  in our mohalla who wouldn't walk as in walk during her walks. She had to constantly run! People commented that it was Luna who was taking me for a walk,(rather run) not the other way around!

Since children and pups love to run and play around, the children around were amused by this new kid in the block. Some would come to her just to entertain themselves, some would stay away from her unbridled energy, some wanted to play but were scared of her and some actually loved dogs.

One such dog-lover, free-spirited chap is Ishaan, a ten-year old boy. He is wild wild, as wild as the guy in Man vs Wild. He would growl with Luna, strangle her, tackle her, pretend to bite - all on his fours! Watching them is like two lion cubs engaged in play in the wild.

Here is the link to watch the man cub and Luna in action - 
https://photos.google.com/u/1/search/_tv_Videos/photo/AF1QipPRj1AgZZG2VnQ5LsmFDySX24oKd1LmvKDLeIa4


Ishaan remarked one day, "Luna is bold."

I pondered, "Not as bold as you, Ishaan."

Luna started looking forward to meeting Ishaan. She could hear his footsteps from a considerable distance. She would bark, swish her tail vigorously and peep out of the little, diamond - shaped peep holes in our narrow gallery when Ishaan came home.

Peeping  beauty...

She would generally do this whenever children would play in the street downstairs.

I could see the longing eyes. Luna longed to go out free and play with them. And how I longed  this could be possible. But Luna is a dog, I mean, a bitch.

Ishaan would come home many a times against the wish of his father. Sadly, nowadays, he is not seen outside. His father, who comes occasionally from his distant workplace, has imprisoned his wild instincts in his home jail. The father wants Ishaan to study, just study.

And Luna misses him!

Just like Luna's wild instincts are being curbed being a house pet, Eshaan too is being tamed.