Animal Crusaders • Commemorative Issue • October 2010My first loveTom, my first loveEveryone has a childhood first love, orobsession. It can be anyone, a tree, afriend, a peer, or even an inanimateobject like an abandoned vintageautomobile or bicycle in a junkyard.I had some such objects of desire andliking. But of what I can recall, my firstconnection with human emotions wasmy obsessive love for Tom, our ferociouspet dog.It sounds weird but it indeed was likethat. The living creature I was most fondof was not my parents or a doting uncleor any friend or cousin. I can only findnow my reference point for mychildhood memories from my friendshipwith Tom, a cross of Alsatian and someother breed even my father cannot recallnow.He was a bit of a mad dog, almost alwaysterrorising visitors and the entireneighbourhood with his barks andgnawing of the teeth at the sight of anyhuman- be it an alien or a known face.Like all dogs he had a hate list of knowndevils. Only that for Tom, the list waslonger than usual.My mother told me that cross breeddogs are more ferocious, I have no ideaif she were true. Only an expert can say.I will google now to find out.Well, Tom was fond of me, and estrangedfrom my elder brother. Somehow myelder brother and Tom could never seeeye to eye, neither they were in an eyefor an eye face-off. Humiliated, Tom oncechased my brother as he almost ran forhis life, till my mother reined him in. Elsethere were not many flashpoints. It wasa cold war and both had drawn a line ofcontrol.Now, after so many years, my brotherremembers Tom fondly, analyses hispsychology. I feel pity that he missed his(Tom’s) puppy love when it was mostimportant for a child. But that he toosecretly loved our dog brought me relief.As a child I thought I would live withTom forever. He will protect me, I willprotect him and I will travel the wholeworld with my dog, straight out of thechildhood books. We had somethingcalled The Radiant Way series, and therewere pictorial stories about dogs andtheir masters.I would often ride on him, pull his tailand put my hands in his mouth. Hewould not take any umbrage and I knewsoon that my cruelty makes his day. I wasthe only one welcomed to inflict somepain on him.I can still smell Tom, even in momentsof loneliness I think of him.We had more dogs after Tom, but Ialways kept looking for Tom in them.The bonding never grew as deep as theone I had shared with Tom.Tom was witness to my childhoodpranks, my mischiefs, my deepest secretsand bad habits. We were taught fromchildhood to hide our seamier side fromthe rest of the human world, not a dog.So Tom was witness to everything. Therewas no veil between us.We lived in an unfinished house on theoutskirts of Kolkata which is now abustling extension of this megapolis, ahunting ground for realtors and thewell-heeled. Those days there werejungles full of snakes and some animalslike fox and around. My mother wouldoften live in fear and curse my father forbuilding a house there. The fear was,however, more of humans.But it was Tom who had created the fearin the neighbourhoods that our houseis unapproachable to miscreants justbecause of him. He could tear anystranger into pieces, that was the wordthat had got around. So we would livein our ghostly unfinished three-storeyhouse with the assuring presence of Tomand a poor Muslim family ofextraordinary human beings along theboundary wall of our house.Strangely, Tom never threatened thematriarch of the Muslim family. Shewould frequent our house and help mymother with everything. Tom was a maddog, but his madness had not blindedhim about real bonds between humans.The lady was very special to us.So years passed by playing with Tom,sharing my intimate thoughts with himand feeling secured till one day my fatherdecided to shift from the greater Kolkatahouse to the heart of the city in a rentedhouse.We were excited about the change, butone evening my father came back hometo say that he had handed over Tom tosomeone else since the new house isnot big enough to accommodate a dog.I still do not know how my father coulddo that and why he did that. Later whenwe underwent a bad financial crisis aftersome of my father’s business venturesfailed following his voluntary retirementfrom a cushy job, my mother said it wasthe curse of Tom.I always felt that Tom must have lost hisferocity to the new owner and perhapsspent the rest of his life missing us.I don’t remember crying with the loss ofTom. I remember the emptiness for days,the yearning to see him, hug him once,the wishes of a powerless six-year-old.In our new house at Lake Market, wewere surrounded by the usual bustle ofKolkata. I made friendship with streetdogs there, even got bitten by one. Lifemoved on. Later we had gone back tothe old house before it was sold off bymy father after several thefts and adaring dacoity that had hit the headlinesthen in the late 1970s.My mother always said Tom could haveprevented the thefts and dacoity. I amnot sure.Today, as I recollect my first associationwith a pet, I know it was not just a fad. Itwas my first brush with life, with love,with kindness, with acceptance of theplurality of the Mother Earth.~ Sujoy DharUntil one has loved ananimal, a part of one'ssoul remainsunawakened.33
Animal Crusaders • Commemorative Issue • October 2010Student CrusadersUntil I was thirteen,I thought my name wasSHUT UP.Joe NamathParents can only give good advice to children or put them on the right paths, butthe final forming of a person's character lies in her own hands. ~ Anne Frank34
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