Tommy was an unexpected addition to the family. His original owner had to travel, at short notice, to the Gulf to explore job opportunities and he was keen to give away his German Shepherd puppy to someone who would take care of him well. My brother-in-law met him somewhere and he bought Tommy from him for 3,000 Rupees and gave him to us. So when I came back home after a two week office trip, there he was, tethered near our front door- a happy, beautiful puppy, full of life. That was in 2012
From then it was a blur of seven and a half years and he became a part of my daily routine – a part of me really. When I come back home from work, he will come and stand and place his paws on the petrol tank of my bike and I would hug his huge shaggy head. If it was the car, he will put his paws on the driver side window and put his head right in.. This was an unfailing routine, and I will speak to him and he will give a doggy smile and go….I ignored the mud and scratch marks on the car door. When I came back after a couple of days away from home…the moment the auto stopped at the gate, he will be there – whining and pawing at the gate and when I got in, he will squeal like a dolphin and jump on me. Another of his pastime was to stick his head through our front fence and silently watch the passers-by and suddenly bark at them, scaring the living daylights out of them. He never bit anyone, though he was feared by many.
His companion for many years was Julie, a silent (she barked only once, I think, in her whole life), Aslatian- Great Dane,–and God knows what else, cross breed. She used to give him a lot of attention and a typical early morning sight was to see both of them at our front net door, looking inside intently, waiting for me to appear and go out to them. Weekends were free days for them.. they will be roaming round the whole day with me while I pottered around the house.
When Julie died about 2 years back, we adopted an orphaned street dog – Shaalu – short for Shalini. Tina and the children say that Shaalu was a bad influence on Tommy and he became a bit more aggressive, killing 3 or 4 of our hens and 2 or 3 of our cats (As such he had a special liking for some of our cats, dutifully following them around like a puppy, whenever they went out). He even growled at me a couple of times when I confronted him on the killings.
Shalu was the one who gave him a litter – 6 puppies. Julie was barren, I guess. But immediately after the puppies’ arrival, he started to keep off food and when we took him to the vet, the blood test showed that his creatinine count was more than 10 times the normal count. Kidney failure, said the vet. We tried all possible medication, taking him to the vet morning and evening- and he showed some apparent improvement, though the vet said that chances were slim.
Then last Monday, 16 Sep 2019, when I got up in the morning, I saw him lying outside my younger son’s window. He looked at me when I called him and I want back in to freshen up and do my morning chores, before taking him to the vet. As I was at my reading chair, reading the Bible, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the jingle of his chain and see him coming to my window – an usual routine – When I was on my reading chair, he will come and put his nose against the mosquito netting and breathe heavily, signalling his presence – and I will open the window and pat his head and speak to him and he will then lie down by the window and sometimes sleep. So this time also I opened the window and patted him and spoke to him. He slowly lay down and while I was still looking at him, he had a seizure and within a minute he was dead. As if he came to me just to say good bye……..
My sons and I dug a pit, wrapped his head in a red towel, dampened that and the ground around the pit with our tears and buried him. Yesterday evening I had a vivid memory of hugging his shaggy head and felt a stab of sorrow again.
Do animals have after life? The Bible doesn’t say anything about that I guess. But Jesus tells us that not one of them are forgotten by God. St Paul confirms that all creation will one day be restored.
C S Lewis, that articulate Oxford don, speaks to my condition. “There is no safe investment”, says Lewis in his book, The Four Loves. “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of heaven, where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is .. hell”
So there is sorrow – real, palpable sorrow. But also hope – real, valid, meaningful hope.
My two bits 