The puppy at Gokul

We sat at the dining table for lunch on a cloudy afternoon of July, 2013. It was the 25th of the month and time surely seemed to be whizzing by.

Over the past few days, my inquisitive nature had nudged me to ask him the most random of questions and this being one of them: Did you ever have a pet?

A part of me was so sure that the answer would be a negation.

“Yes. We did. But that was long ago.” came the reply.

This was news to me.

“When your grandmother was a child, she had a dog in the Chegoor household.”

Chegoor was my grandmother’s maiden family. Before marriage, she lived in a huge house where her joint family resided. Apparently, my grandmother learnt cooking from her paternal grandmother.

Not to sound juvenile but honestly my grandmother is the best cook I have known till date. Her culinary skills are known far and wide. When my cousin, Shridhar, lived in Gulbarga and travelled frequently to Hyderabad to visit our grandparents, he teasingly used to call up my grandmother to tell her that he could smell her mouthwatering saaru all the way to Zaheerabad which was en route to Hyderabad from his place.

Sorry, I digress. Sulochana Bai’s saaru tends to have this effect on people.

Anyway, back to the story of their pet.

“Your grandmother adored dogs. After marriage, she was sad about the absence of a dog at home. When we lived in the Type-4 house of BHEL Township in Hyderabad, we came across a tiny puppy. It was brown and white in colour. We decided to raise it in our house. But there was only one problem. We travelled to the main city quite frequently and when we were away, there was no one to look after it. Initially, we requested our next-door neighbour B K Seetharam and his wife to take care of the puppy but over time we realised that we could no longer carry on with this plan. Radha felt very poignant every time we had to leave it at their house as she regarded the puppy as her own child.”

Radha Bai was my grandmother’s married name; Sulochana was her maiden name. My grandparents named their house (HIG - 188) as Gokul. Gokul, according to Hindu mythology, was a small town where Lord Krishna spent his childhood. This is where he met Radha and it is said that their love was beyond the terrestrial definition of love. It was divine and pious.

To me, what my grandparents shared is the epitome of love. I have seen them squabble over silly things but I knew that when push comes to shove, they would be there for each other. And they were.

Gokul was an abode of fun for all of us grandchildren. We took great liberties with our grandparents and I sometimes regret inflicting so much annoyance on them when I was a child. But they always welcome us with open arms.

Our grandmother was always mindful of our favourite dishes and ensured that our grandfather bought the necessary ingredients before our arrival.

With no doubt, I can surely say that she had a very clean heart and always put others before herself. This was one of the most endearing qualities about her.

My grandpa proceeded with the story.

“Eventually, B K Seetharam and his wife adopted the puppy. Sometimes, when Radha and I returned home from the city on our scooter, we could see it jumping with joy in their yard beyond the drumstick plant of our house. Her heart melted at the sight of the dog. She used to get off the scooter and pat its back to calm it down. It was quite heart-rending for her to let go of the dog.”

I tried to visualize the scene in my mind and somehow I could not picture a young Radha Bai. However, I could visualise the older version of her smiling and I yearned to see that smile again.