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Thursday, February 17, 2011

ONE CHANCE IN A LIFETIME


I love dogs but my son Ron goes one step ahead – he loves animals. He has been after me since we moved in with my mom, to get a dog. I even searched the net and found adorable pups to adopt but… I had many reasons not to…. We live with my mom who is not fond of dogs, I am at work, and Ron is in school all day so who will look after the pup? I have always had dogs because my father, who is no more, loved them. My dad, my brother and I being dog lovers always outvoted mom when it came to having one in the house.
Just as I was adamant about not having one now, Ron was equally dogged about having one. So one day in the dead of the night while I was sleeping, he heard this lost pup crying across the street. His soft heart couldn’t take it so he brought this poor little baby home. I woke with a start when I heard my son stealthily go to the kitchen to fetch milk for the pup. I didn’t have the heart to tell him to abandon the pup where he found it so we both got a shoe box with some old rags for it to spend the night downstairs, all the time dreading my mom’s reaction next morning. One thing I made it clear to my son that the dog cannot live in the house. Next morning with trepidation I told my mom the story and she very grudgingly accepted the fact that there was a dog to stay. So Scruffy that is his name given by Ron has become a part of our family, sometimes a joy, sometimes a menace…
I must have been about 17, almost Ron’s age now when I had the good fortune to experience something extraordinary with my dog Lassie. I had written about it a couple of years back and the article was also published in a magazine. I want to share it with you. My friend Sulekha and I go back a long way and she has read this article before. I hope you like reading it as much as it has given me pleasure to share it…

Once Chance In A Lifetime
My brother and I always aspired to be doctors. While he stuck to his goal to become one, I somewhere along the way gave up on it. It was mainly because of the frequent visitor that I was to hospitals, being accident prone. Every second month I would be dragged to the hospital for some stitch or the other! So my dream to become a doctor someday died as I grew up. But someone up there had heard my wish and I did get my one chance to don the mantle of a quack!

We had an Irish setter called Lassie, a ferocious bitch who guarded us with snarls and barks. Though a pure breed, she decided to fall in love with a handsome black Labrador (her neighbor) and start a family of her own. In her canine parlance he must been the ideal tall, dark and handsome guy she could have as her soul mate! It was the peak of summer and I remember all of us preparing her to bring her babies to this world. We did up her kennel which was in our garage (Mom had put her foot down about Lassie having her babies inside the house). Lassie may have appreciated all our earnest efforts but she was one stubborn bitch. She had already set her eyes on delivering her young ones inside the house and so it happened!

The big day came and she sneaked under our parent’s bed. The room was air-conditioned and she settled in there. Anybody, including my dad who tried to bring her out came face to face with bared teeth. Having no choice I crawled under the bed and kept vigil. She didn’t mind as she was comfortable with me. I will never forget that magical moment. Life of any kind is a miracle and to assist in bringing forth a life is a humbling experience. Lassie’s bag burst! And as she pushed, I watched with awe and pulled out one tiny wonder after another. There were six of them, blind as bats but struggling to move. Animals don’t have a doctor, a nurse or an attendant to clean up the mess after babies are born so God has taught them to clean up on their own. They eat their own placentas and lick their babies clean.

Lassie did just that while I watched dumbstruck. Once a mother, any species protect their little ones with an unmatched ferocity but I think for Lassie I became the trusted one.  She allowed me to carry her pups to the intended delivery room, closely following behind and it was here for the next one month I took on the role of a pediatrician, where no one dared venture near her or her pups, except for me.
Today Lassie is no more and all her little ones, I am sure are also grandparents, but I will always remember that special moment which she and I shared. My brother is the gynecologist in the family today and I am just an ordinary woman. While my brother experiences these magical moments everyday when he delivers human babies, I too can say that I got a chance once in this lifetime to experience one such magical moment because my Lassie had placed her trust in me.

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful Rims....brings out the 'dog-lover' in you so poignantly !!!!

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  2. Dr Rimly, I am so proud to be your friend...loved it again. Start writing your book now, my Outlier.

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  3. Thank you Chuku. @Sulekha, hey Outlier, do you remember this article? Brings back memories of those days in Kochi

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  4. Rimly,I am so happy to read this...it shows the other side of you...and "you do write".Nice picture of Ron.

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  5. Rimly what a beautiful story....me and my family love dogs too, and it's such a gift to have witnessed life into this world like that! Enjoyed your post...

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  6. And that was wonderful, i mean the inner one..would love to see her that way...

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  7. Well done.. We who love animals can appreciate your post..Thank You
    I am following
    http://jpweddingphotograpy.blogspot.com

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  8. Thankyou thankyou...so so much for sharing ur story..we are a family of dog lovers....loved this story so much Rimly...we lost our dear sweety....after she delivered her babies...I was in year X..I still remember how we cried when we got to know... as we were in boarding school in Pilani...felt like we had lost our own...now I have a black lab Pepper who is 6 yrs old but she does not stay with me, I had to leave her in Darjeeling with my parents as I was moving to Sydney...and she mightly happy there I must say.....:) Love Seema

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  9. Thank you everybody for your comments. really appreciate them.

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  10. Rimly - that is so beautiful... Your chance of being a gynie was a really special one. if you had been day to day in the profession I doubt you would have enjoyed it as much - this is priceless...

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  11. Thank you goddess. It was some experience. I will always cherish that moment.

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