(10th March, 2012) Remembering Roxy

I admit it. I’m a dog lover. Not the squealy-squishy-mushy sort that can’t resist the temptation to cuddle every canine they encounter, but I like having them around me. Roxy’s presence was important for me, because he was in so many ways a reminder of all the four-legged-fur factories I had left back home. But there was something more interesting about Roxy. If anyone can ever claim to ‘own’ MICA, it is this German Shepherd. I don’t know much of his back story, but when I first saw him in PGP1, he had an air or wisdom and a calm understanding. Nothing bothered him, nothing disturbed him- except the cat of course!

His derision for the constantly multiplying feline population on campus often drove this ageing dog, into a sprint to drive them up a tree or corner them in the hostels. He never really hurt them, but I guess he enjoyed maintaining his status as the only important four-legged creature on campus.

Roxy walked around on campus unhindered by the goings on of campus life. On a hot day, he would quietly come and stand before SH1. He wouldn’t bark. He’d just stand there, fully confident that someone would open the door and let him sleep in the air-conditioned room. Professors would pause their lecture till Roxy had found a comfortable spot to rest in. Mathew- in the middle of a very intense discussion- would stop only to open the auditorium door for him. Roxy ruled all.

On a couple of cold winter nights he walked into my room and made himself comfortable on my bed. I felt honoured. J If you see pictures of MICA from the last few years, somewhere in some corner, behind a pillar maybe, or standing in the background, you’ll find that beautiful brown snout.

Roxy chose where to go and how to live and though he never really interrupted anyone’s life, we never realised how important his presence was till he moved away from here last summer.  In that year people like Ravneet, Saurabh, Amit and Swati made life a little more comfortable for him but it was time to move on. Roxy now lives in retirement faraway. But he will always be a part of everything MICA was for me.

The Dog Who Never Liked Me

There is a little white mark on the back of my right hand. You’ll never even see it till you know it’s there. Today I look at it and I remember that face. That face, who was always growling when he saw me. Always angry because I was responsible for putting him behind bars…or two sticks across the living room door in this case.

He mistrusted me with the most unadulterated, most pure mistrust that only a dog is capable of and yet there was something unmistakeably endearing about him. Every doorbell was greeted with sharp loud barks and every attempt at forging peace disregarded with a statutory growl.

When I write this obituary for Foxy aka Gabbu, I’m filled with a lot of memories but most of those aren’t mine to share. All I know is that here was a dog who loved his family so much; he could do anything to protect them. Here was a dog so beautiful that it broke my heart every time, knowing he would never like me.

But that little puppy who once tumbling into this world unannounced and unwanted has left in his wake so much for everyone to miss. He left behind a place that no one can ever fill and took with him a little piece of our hearts.

And now, every time, I see that little white mark on the back of my right hand, I’ll remember that growling face and those big brown eyes and hope that he has found his peace.

For the chaser-of-sparrows, fearer-of-firecrackers and the barker-at-urchins, I really did like you…