Crack of dawn.
The light interfered in Swara's dream world. Woke her up. Yawning and stretching, she looked sideways at the couch where she was accustomed for the past one month to seeing Sanskaar in deep sleep at this hour, his long legs sticking out, not fitting within the contours of the couch which was obviously not meant to accommodate the sleep of a nearly six foot tall guy.
However, he was not there today. That was strange. She awoke first as a rule. He usually awoke with a start, eyes heavy with sleep and hair tousled adorably when she prodded him awake.
Swara decided to investigate. She debated whether to change first, since nobody in this conservative house would look too kindly upon her nightsuit..but then decided that it was too early for the rest of the Maheshwaris to rise.
She tiptoed out of their room and went along the corridor and then she suddenly heard something curious. A woof. Things were getting fishier. Everybody was typically afraid of all animals, edible or otherwise and considered them off limits in this house. She knew they included her in that category of potentially dangerous animals because she was non vegetarian and a Bengali. And a cheat and liar too, she thought with a sigh.
Going out to the back garden where the gardener had his kitchen garden, she found Sanskaar on his knees while a yellow Labrador pranced around him with bright eyes and wet tongue hanging out, his floppy ears and tail both merrily keeping time with his attempts to have a nice game with Sanskaar and a middle aged man standing there.
Sensing Swara the dog immediately ran to her and started sniffing. Her smell seemed to get his approval and he immediately seemingly adopted her, pulling playfully on her pajamas.
The middle aged man laughed. Seeing Swara's enquiring eyes, Sanskaar explained,"thats my dog. I keep him with kaka, in my other house, because nobody exactly likes pets here. But, kaka wants to go home to his village for a few days and i guess i have to get him to a kennel service somewhere."
Kaka performed a respectful Namaste to her and giving the dog one last pat, went out of the garden.
Meanwhile the dog had pulled Swara down to the ground and was attempting to lick her like some giant ice cream he had chanced upon. Laughing delightedly, Swara asked" I didn't know you were fond of pets! What a cutie. Whats his name?"
"er...i haven't named him yet"
"Why? Did you just bring him recently?"
"not exactly..he has been here for about five years since he was a puppy...but as you know i have been away..." Sanskaar's voice had that sudden catch in it which she knew came in it whenever he talked of Kavita, his dead love.
"umm...did you get him when Kavita was...?" Swara was not sure whether she should even ask...obviously, although the wound had closed, it was by no means healed completely. Probably never is. If a loved one goes away you learn to move on, to be strong, to even divert the pain. But they never really leave you.
"yeah, i got him for her on her birthday. She loved pets. We were supposed to marry and move in together. We argued for a week about what to name him...but she.. died after that week. " sanskaar's voice tailed off...and he was gazing unseeingly at her.
"anyway...i went rather bonkers after that...so i never managed to give him a name, i suppose" he finished.
A few moments of silence punctured only by the dog's panting as he shifted his attention to his master once again.
"well, what did she want to name him?"
"Bholu." Sanskaar almost smiled remembering the silly fight he had had." And i wanted something manly, like say Rocky or Boxer. I mean who names their dog Bholu?" he rolled his eyes.
"i think Bholu is adorable. Rocky, Boxer...sounds like bombs. Bholu it is" and the dog gave her another lick seemingly approving of the name.
"but Bholu sounds too..too Bengali"
"well, he is Bengali. You may be Marwari...but he is a Kolkata dog born and brought up. And anyway, i bet he will eat fish and rice and obviously not vegetables right?" Swara countered.
"my word, you Bengalis stick together don't you? Kavita gave me nearly the exact same points. Of course when i countered that bholu literally means a simpleton...she just gave the ultimate comeback. And i knew i had lost the game"
"which was...?"
"that its cute." Sanskaar grimaced. "go figure"
"why don't we give him to dida to look after until kaka comes back. Then he won't need to go to a kennel and she adores dogs." Swara suggested.
"yeah thats great. I'll drive him there before work."
"okay now. Lets play catch!!!"
As all three of them played catch as the sun started rising...swara suddenly felt like there was peace...she felt happy...and so did sanskaar. Sometimes simple things were the best.
and maybe so did kavita...because she would have been worried about her sanskaar being alone.
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my first os on swasan and first post on the forum...hope u guys like it. let me know.😊😊
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
