Meryl enters our life

Before anything else, let me thank Neelkantan for inspiring me to start my own blog...had been looking for a writing outlet for a long time now. My first set of blogs is a tribute to my late she-dog, Meryl. This is nothing fancy...just a memoir, a way of remembering a very special dog with fondness. But then, some things that Meryl did would have been a smash hit, had a movie been made on them. So, as and when I remember something funny about her, I'll just write and post it. Hope some dog lovers will enjoy reading about these anecdotes, as much as i enjoyed experiencing them. Readers, please let me know how I can change my style of writing to make the anecdotes more interesting.

Meryl was a pedigreed labrador, gifted to my father by his friend. Now, if Kennel Club of India had a certification for Dog Lovers, I am sure my family would make the A-List; but for Meryl, we were entirely unprepared. We already had another bitch called Chubby- a cross breed spaniel that I had picked from an unwanted litter in a friend's house. Chubby was much loved by all of us and was now in the prime of her life; we were in no mood to divide our love and attention between two dogs. We had always been a one-dog family till then, and saw no reason to change the trend. Besides, though Meryl was brought in by my father, the responsibility for her care would eventually fall on my mother; and managing two dogs, besides a household with three kids (fourth away from home) was too big an ask for her. Anyway, my father always has had a penchant for 'royalty' and 'pedigree', and his stubbornness prevailed in the end.

Meryl's first day in our house was nothing short of a disaster. Her very sight was a disappointment to start with. She was nothing like the cute and cuddly puppy we had all thought she would be; we had imagined an added burden, but a sweet one all the same. She was 4 months old, well past the little pup stage, with a questioning face, long and gangly legs, ears bigger than her face, an ever drooling mouth, and a vigorously wagging tail. As we looked on with resigned disappointment, she happily trotted around the living room, sniffing at each of us, trying to establish some familiarity with the people and the place. As she passed the center table, there was a swish of her tail and a sickening sound of breaking glass; her tail, which seemed to have a personality of it's own, had thrown a glass of water from the table. Meryl was in, with a smash.

Her entry into the house had it's political manifestations as well. There were now two factions in the house- one was my father, whe sidelined Chubby entirely and showered all his attention on Meryl. The second had me and my sisters protesting against this blatant display of racism (Meryl was golden and pedigreed, while Chubby was black and cross-breed). We reciprocated by showering all our attention on Chubby, and started a Meryl-abuse campaign. Chubby was hoisted permanently on our bed, her 'neglected' head on our laps, and Meryl was chased away if she so much as entered the room. My mother was the neutral party, endeavouring to give equal attention to mascots of both the groups. Ironic, considering that she had the most work because of the dogs. But then, that is why mothers are mothers, and the rest of us are just ordinary people.

All said and done, Meryl was only a dog. She was not interested in politics- all she wanted to do was play with us. Now, how long could one resist that? And she was charming- typical labrador wrinkles on the face, a frowning forehead which gave her an ever thinking look, limpid eyes, and a perenially wet nose. She was very gentle and warm, and it was heaven to snuggle with her.

To top it all, she was, without knowing it, incredibly funny. Her life revolved around slices of bread, and she would go to the extent of plotting and scheming to get them. Eveytime I saw her sitting idle instead of chasing lizards on the wall or crows outside, I would imagine her cooking up something new in her mind. She tried many ways of enhancing her bread income. She learnt to perform some dog-tricks first. Then she started to get in the morning paper in exchange for a slice, and then the evening paper as well. On days when the newspaper would not come, she would sit at the gate for hours, waiting for the newspaperman. She probably waited more for him than his own family at home. At times, when she felt hungry in between, she would just pick an old paper from the rack and bring it to one of us. One of her more ingenious ways was picking the day's paper from the table, walking out to the gate with it, and bringing it in again, pretending it had just come in, good as new.

Overtime, my sisters and I grew to accept and love Meryl...but my father continued to be partial against Chubby. Thankfully, this phase only lasted for a few months. My father had a habit of going out for evening walks, and at times he'd take the dogs along. On one such evening, papa was walking with the two dogs, down a lane in our officer's colony. There was some construction going on outside one of the houses, and on a pile of sand were lying four street mongrels, lazing about. At the smell of two approaching dogs and a man, all of them were instantly alerted, and with a war-howl, attacked the trio. At this attack, what was a threesome walking in harmony in the same direction, suddenly became a tug of war. Chubby pulled at her leash, trying to break away and attack the pack, and Meryl also pulled at her leash with equal aggression, trying to break away and run in the opposite direction, abandoning my father and Chubby to their own fate.

This tug of war helped to balance my father's affection for both the dogs, and he held Chubby in high regard for her courage. He often chided Meryl for running away that day, a criticism which she little understood, offering her paw to him for shaking, or rolling on the grass, ever hopeful for the next slice of bread to come her way.