Blogs by Kumar Biswas: March 2021

Lady in thinking mode

Past:

A few years back, I was posted at Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, East Africa on an international assignment. There were several constraints to move my family abroad along with me; for example - education of kids, medical requirements of certain family member, four legged members etc. So, my wife stayed back in India to hold the fort with two adolescent sons and others. I picked up my bag and baggage from India and left for a far-away continent. This type of re-locations, in a professional life, is considered more of a norm than necessity. Because of certain family commitments one has to move alone.

A beach of Indian Ocean in Tanzania

Though we stayed at distant countries, due to advancement of technology, it was easy to remain in touch with each other, from the other side of the globe. Phone calls through ISD were the last option. On real time basis we were in touch with each other through email, Whatsapp messages and calling. Skype sessions were held at night and for longer duration on weekends. So, distance was not an issue to maintain constant connectivity in any part of the day, even though there was a time zone difference of two and half hours. Since on the globe, India is positioned eastwards compared to Africa, Indian time zone was in advance setting. New Delhi was two and half hours ahead of Tanzania. But that was no hindrance in communicating during any part of the day and night.

One day while talking to my wife, she conveyed

- “A lady has come”.

- “Fine” was my simple answer over phone presuming that there might be some neighbor or some guest who might have dropped in for some chit-chat.

- “She is beautiful and nice”.

I preferred to remain quiet and refrain from making any remark about any beautiful lady.

Not getting my response over phone across Indian Ocean, she again told me

- “A beautiful lady has come to our house”.

This time I had to react. I, being cautious not to show any interest about that fine looking woman (whosoever she was) I replied over mobile phone

- “Well. Is she visiting from our locality”?

There was a little pause over phone, from her side. After a while, she responded

- “Yes, she is from our close by area”.

My sixth sense cautioned me not to exhibit any interest about any hitherto unknown lady, that too, to my wife. So I simply said “Ok”.

This time she dropped the bomb.

- “Lady is going to stay with us”.

Before I could react, she hung up the phone!

That was the end of the conversation at that point of time. I was puzzled.

My brain got occupied in connecting the dots.

“A lady has come to our house.

She is beautiful.

She is from vicinity.

She is going to live in our house”.

It was a puzzle without any clue to solve it.

During the course of the day, I remained busy with my official work. However, that mysterious lady kept on peeping into my thoughts from time to time. Though I tried to concentrate in my work and divert my mind from the subject, I could not. I wondered who that lady could be from our neighborhood. Why she has visited us? What prompted her to stay with us?

The curtain over my curiosity was raised at night when we sat for a Skype session. Unfortunately, on that particular night signal of internet was weak. So, in the Skype session we could only talk and video chat was not possible.

I asked - “Who is that lady”?

She chuckled over phone and put a counter question - “So you are interested to know about the lady”?

- “Of course I want to know as you have not told the full story”.

There was some restlessness in my own voice which I also realized.

She told the story in brief which was even more perplexing.

‘The other day, at night someone had called up us. He intimated that she was loitering on a busy road junction. It alerted us. Our sons drove away immediately at the given coordinates of the location. It was found that she was recklessly and aimlessly running on the road of heavy traffic. With zooming past high speed vehicles, she was risking her life. It was indeed a scary situation.

With great difficulty and lot of persuasion, our sons were able to get her boarded into our car. Subsequently, she came to our house.’

This much of story was fair enough to puzzle me. Though, since beginning, I was suspecting something fishy in the story, I was wondering who could be the lady.

Why she was running helter-skelter at night on a busy road?

Once she has come to our house, how long she would stay?

Where would the lady go from our house?

Won’t the members of her family come searching for her?

There was lot many questions and very little answers from my wife. She laughed and enjoyed my predicament.

She evaded my direct questions with mischievous giggles and relished my helplessness. At the end of the Skype session, which was interrupted several times due to poor internet connectivity, she assured me

- “Hakuna Matata. I am here to take care of her”.

Because I have picked up little bit of local Kiswahili (the national language of Tanzania)

Dialect, I would often use the term ‘Hakuna Matata’ which means ‘No worries’ during our telephonic talks. She returned my words to me.

In the subsequent night, we joined again on a Skype session. Internet was working fine and the signal was strong. We switched over to video session.

There I asked my wife, “What is today’s update on the mysterious lady?”

She asked, “Would you like to meet her? Or at least want to say hello to her?”

- “Certainly.”

I was not prepared for what was next beamed within a few minutes when she tilted the camera of her laptop.

Lo and behold.

I saw the image of a white German Spitz on my computer screen!

“She is Lady” the voice of my wife announced from the speaker of my laptop.

The whole story was repeated, this time without any gap or dot, by my wife.

-‘One late evening, while we were getting ready for dinner, someone called up. The caller informed that one white Spitz was found at the crossing of roads near our locality. It appeared to be a lost child. He also gave us the precise position of the traffic junction.

Our sons rushed immediately in our car to the spot. Though it was dark at night, through the street light, the white Spitz was located. It had a rope tied around its neck and was found almost at the middle of the busy road. It was tricky to catch the dog as it was running on the road oblivious of the high speed traffic. Somehow with great difficulty, they were able to catch hold of the rope and ultimately dragged her inside the car.

On her arrival, we checked her, wherein it appeared that she either might have been thrown on the street or might have run away from the house of a careless owner.

However, since she has landed at our home, she would stay with us for the time being. Our sons have christened her as Lady’.

One of the early shots at home

That was my virtual introduction with Lady through a Skype session.

My face to face meet with Lady occurred when I returned home on completion of my assignment in Africa.

Ah! That was an encounter of some sort.

She barked, howled and threatened me as if I was a trespasser in the house. She never liked my entry in my own house. She considered me as an intruder.

That was indeed a difficult time for me to live with Lady under the same roof. We decided that Lady and I would live in separate rooms. Our movements, inside the house were strategically chalked out so that we do not cross the path of each other, literally. When Lady sat and watched TV in the drawing room I remained confined in the bedroom. On the other hand, she would be kept locked in one of the rooms while I could relax in the sofa of living area.

Though her movement was free, without leash, inside the house, she would be put under leash whenever she and I happened to be face to face. On seeing me, she would turn ferocious and had to be leashed. She did not accept me as a member of this house. So, she would always try to ‘protect’ her home from an invader like me.

Months passed by and Lady settled herself well in our house. With lots of apprehension, I started taking her out for morning and evening walks. Though she didn’t like me, she began enjoying those strolls on the road and nearby park. Sometime we would go for a joy ride in the car which was enjoyed by her very much. A sort of understanding began to develop between us. Still it was far from any sort of bonding. However, it could be termed as ‘hate and love’ kind of situation. With passage of time her aggression against me began to mellow down.

Present:

Lady in winter

Today, at our home, she is neither in need of any collar nor any leash. She roams freely and has become friendly with our other four-legged furry children. Among all of them, she is most protective about her home. Visitors, ranging from vendor to delivery boy, from milkman to maid etc. are scared about her. She scares away anyone who dares to press the doorbell.

In the Hamam (Bath)

With passing of time, somehow a relationship developed between me and Lady. ‘Inseparable’ word does not apply to our relation but we miss each other when I go out of station for an official trip.

Upon return from a tour, as soon as I enter home, she will come running and wagging her tail vigorously. She will circle me, kiss me and what not. She will sniff me from head to toe, sniff my suitcase and my laptop bag etc. Once done with her inspections, with excitement she will sit by my side on the sofa as if asking for my travel details.

At home, when I work on my laptop at the table, she will be relaxing on the floor somewhere close by. When I sit for dinner, she will be there beneath the dining table. But the most interesting part is our sleep time.

Center of the bed postion

In spite of adequate space available on the bed, invariably she will be positioning herself on the bed in such a fashion that I won’t be able to stretch my legs. She will alter her sleep position as per her choice, but I shall have to be restricted within limited boundaries.