You Know That Your Home Needs a Pet

When-
Ojas starts cribbing at the chicken shop- Mamma, I want to take the chicken home- we must have a pet.
Me- But you have Duggi in Pondicherry- he is your pet
Ojas- no - I don't want a scary pet. I want a chicken.
Anticlimax- the chicken breaks free and flaps around near the kids and Ojas and Tejas jump about squealing.
But let me tell you- chicken can be scary too. We used to have hens and chickens when we were younger. The mothe rhen was err- a mother hen- very calm and collected and would not protest when every morning I would lift her backside and pull out an egg from under her. She would quietly get into the larder, push some spare bowls and even a bulb under her and sit calmly.
The chickens that were hatched- well, the 2 male ones- very aptly 1 in brown and 1 in white were not so easy going. Especially the white one was well- a murderous lot. He had to be kept separte from the rest of the brood. HE wouldnot hesitate to "strangle" the mother also.
Now we had a huge field in the back yard where we had patches of veggies- potatoes, okra, beans etc with dividers in between. Sis and I would walk up every morning on these dividers to inspect the produce.
And like 2 mini villains- these male chickens would follow us. We would finish inspecting and take an about turn and ... dhan te naan.. the 2 villains would be facing us- proverbial arms akimbo.
We couldn't run across because the veggie patches were there and we had to necessarily walk back the same path. We would edge past the chicks shaking in fear and the 2 nasty pieces of work would eagerly and viciously peck at our ankles- bruising them very badly.
So much for gentle pets.

Anyway, back to present- one evening Ojas, Tejas walk back to the house and Ojas exclaims-
Tejas- look- we have a pet now- pointing upwards
Lo and Behold- a dirty dull grey moth has decorated itself on the ceiling and the kids "lovingly" swat at it with their hand fan/ bat/ racket/ wicket and squeal to b picked up so that they can touch the "pet" with their afore mentioned weapons!

Pet Day

The kids are doing animals this month. Keeping with the theme, they were invited to bring their pets to school.

Since the dogs live in Pondy, and I could not imagine the kids not participating in this day, I spent the first part fo the week asking them questions on Duggi and Huggy

- what is their colour

- what do they eat- bone & duddu

- where do they live- Pondy, on the terrace etc etc

The day before the d-day, I made 2 collages of Duggi & Huggy each and discussed the questions again. I think I should not have done that.

By the end of it all, they were saying

- what does Duggi eat

-Answer- SHOES!!

Animal & Plant Kingdom

2 crows guarding the fish below Cat-fish

Duggi takes a swim to retrieve the stick Huggy is p1ssed off at being tied up

Zimba observes the next door neighbour dog duo taking a walk in their garden

This birdie hikes on the hedge, pecking at delicacies on its way

Duggi & Huggy

Duggi The King on the Throne who gets extremely annoyed if he is de-throned

Annoyed at being tied upPleased to Meet Us!Excellent Swimmer
The Black Diamond Retriever

Wet n Wild

Another Vantage Point

And I did not know dogs were such great inspirations. The entire day the kids act as if they are duggy or huggy and then ask me for food. So I "throw" imaginary food at them and they jump and snap it between their teeth together with the sound effects of teeth hitting together.

Huggy was discovered gnawing at a shoe one day.

So when the kids were having their meal they were pretending to be Duggi or Huggy and thereby eating as a Duggi or a Huggy.

Ojas was Duggy. After sometime he said now I am Huggy.

When I gave him his food , he says, no Huggy is eating shoes.