I have news!

There are very few ways to announce this, rather biggish deal, but I guess two words should suffice: I’m married!
I’ve mean meaning to mention it for a few months now but I’m embarrassed to say that not having time to do a decent announcement was one of my reasons for a delay and the second one is plain old shyness. A few months ago, I legally got married to the loveliest, kindest, sweetest man I’ve ever met and he fills my life with more happiness than I ever could imagine! George Seemon is my fellow and I thought I should just let the world know.
George, I refused to wear a white gown and walk down an aisle but it would be a pleasure to make up for it in every way possible for the rest of our lives by being a corny wife.

For more corniness, please visit: www.dearestgeorge.com

The mini story of Henry-oats

I’ve been meaning to write about Henry-oats’ adoption story but I’ve had so many things pop up and replace my (kind of non-existent) writing time. Sunday is the only day I don’t really work (well, depends what one calls work!) , but it’s the only day I sneak in computer time to reply to Facebook mails and Instagram mails, which I truly can’t call work because they are all so kind and sweet! So I’m sneaking in a little more time to write his story too!

Here goes…

Growing up in Abu Dhabi, I lived with my gorgeous family in a flat. Our flat wasn’t the biggest but my love for animals made my requests for pets more than good parents could bear. I hence landed myself the little pet of a guinea pig. I had many over time and in that google-less era, figured out quite a decent bit of the guinea pig psyche with a whole lot of quality time spent with them. 

It’s been, I think 6 years now, since I moved to Bangalore. Charlie has kept my fur-proximity  requirements under control but I’ve been yearning for another baby for a while. The increasing number of adorable videos online don’t help one bit. Charlie, of course, begs to differ on more fur-requirements in the household. 

Henry-oats came to me in a box, and I couldn’t believe it. I said ‘no….noooo….’ on repeat for a good fifteen minutes on seeing him in my house, in my living room, in my arms. He was adopted by my fur-unrequired-in-his-life boy, which is another reason I couldn’t believe it. Him? Nah…I’d expect a more non-living sort of gift. 

Henry-oats was the first guinea pig picked out of the ‘guinea pig pen’ at C.A.R.E., a shelter that I’ve heard great things about for a while, yet never been to. My fellow said yes to the first one picked out, I’ve been told he said that he said yes to the first one because if he said no, that meant rejection to one little soul. That part melted my heart. I didn’t, and neither did the rest of them who helped get Henry-oats home, realise that his fur matched Charlie’s so darn perfectly. They truly look like they were made from the same cloth of fur. Sigh!

C.A.R.E is wonderful, I’ve been told by many. There are many many guinea pigs, and other animals, up for adoption there. Guinea pigs are relatively easy (in comparison to dogs, or larger pets perhaps) to take care of, clean and find a sitter for. They are delicate-ish sweet little animals that have personalities that bigger than their appetite. Henry-oats is probably the naughtiest guinea pig I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a mummy to, and it’s just been a few weeks. In that time, he’s learnt who is mum (me!) and his lungs have strengthened three-fold! Besides that, I have a feeling he has an invisible refrigerator as one little fur ball cannot eat that much without exploding. 

I encourage adoption of any kind, but I definitely do advice thinking of your future when adopting. Is there a move planned in your future? What does your schedule look like in a day? How often do you go out of town? Do you have someone who is responsible who can take care of your baby when you’re not at home? 

Oh yes, lastly, and I’ll probably do a better longer write up about care of guinea pigs later, but a little note that guinea pigs are great in pairs as they get lonely by themselves. I work from home and have Henry-oats with me a lot of the day, and he gets a TON of play time. So incase you adopt only one, spend a lot of time with the little fellow, talk to him and be on the look-out for them getting bored or depressed (they do! And it’s so sad!). 

Saying that, thank you all so much for your kind words about him. He’s truly my second baby and now I have another paw print that’s stamped on my heart.  

Thank you C.A.R.E. for taking care of my Henry-oats till he came into my arms. 

CARE website: http://charlies-care.com/index.html

Care Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CharliesAnimalRescuecentrE/

PS: It’s truly another coincidence that CARE stands for ‘Charlie’s Animal Rescue Centre’.

And a special thank you to Michele & Sandeep for making this happen. And to you Mr.person, who is probably reading this just to read his name. *wink, blush, kiss*

Bewakoof and my yoga mat.

It's been seven months since I've used my yoga mat. Since my yoga house membership expired and I was due to shift, I realised that the amount of stretchy movements in my day would suffer. But it suffered badly.
I started yoga about a year ago and fell in love. It was one of those things that you think you would really dislike and judging by my personality, I was told that I would as well, but I loved it. I think it changed my perspective on a lot of things when it comes to assumptions. There is a high chance if you don't like an activity, that you just were doing the wrong genre or maybe just have the wrong teacher. I like the fast-moving yoga (though I know it's almost blasphemous to some yogis but hey! It works for me!) and not much of meditation because I get that when I draw.

I'm highly inflexible which made me look like an ironing board amongst wires. But I took joy in strength training and balance. sigh! Now I'm missing giggling to myself in the corner of the class when I fall down and also when I forget to close my eyes and catch my teachers eye.

Bewakoof sent me this outfit and I took it as an opportunity to pull out the old mat. And did my moves!
Thanks Bewakoof! Perfect timing too since it was World Yoga day just the day before! Now to find a class in my new hood...

Bewakoof sexy joggers here. (I got the Phantom black one)

Bewakoof terrific tanks here. (I got the Deep water Blue)

Just Leh'ing around.

Today my housemate left town for Ladhak. Two years back, a bunch of us did the whole Ladhak-Leh trip. To be honest, my memories only include talking about bowel movements, eating copious amounts of chocolate (as an excuse for extra energy), and losing the awkwardness of peeing in public (there are literally NO loos and you're advised to do so. self-respect: zero). Ofcourse I don't need to talk about how pretty the place was but I CAN talk about how all the animals are all extra fuzzy because of the cold. SO DARN CUTE, I could barely handle it. The cows were fuzzy, the dogs were fuzzy and I believe that in a winter, even the stones may sprout a few hairs.

I wrote about the trip in my old blog that is lost, and since I've forgotten everything, I'm just going to throw in some Ladhak & Leh photos from then, which even I've forgotten about.

Cutest thing that happened all week!

My housemate's mom is in town from the US. She's an absolute delight to have around and the stories about how she taught Anu (my housemate) when she was young is just fascinating. She's a teacher and an amazing one too!
Anyway, she's always stayed away from dogs, not out of fear though and I was all prepped to tempt Charlie away from her if and when he decided to get overtly excited with the new member of our household. And lo and behold, in a day, she went to the store and got herself some gloves because she just HAD to pet this little spoilt brat. Charlie was the first dog that she had ever petted in her entire life! Of course, Charlie sprawled across the floor, expectantly, with his usual air of knowledge that no one passes him without a scratch on his belly or pet on the forehead.

Anu was delighted and stunned to see her mom, not only stroking this little very spoilt boy but also her referring to him as 'kanna' (an affectionate , if I'm not mistaken, Tamilian word for 'dear') and her younger brother's pet name. He officially knows how to sit in Tamil now.

Charlie is now trying to convert her into a snuggling partner. That may take a while though.

Potato, the guinea pig

Yesterday morning I got up to a mail telling me of Potato's demise.

Potato was the guinea pig I decided to keep when I was living in Melbourne. She was the quite one in a cage full of other hyper guinea pigs. And she was indeed, Potato-like. She was the love of my life and was with me for two years before I decided to move to Bangalore. I tried everything, calling the airlines (who just could not comprehend the creature itself-'you mean a pig/rat?' they asked) to pet-moving services (sadly only catered to a list of usual house pets). Bill Wood is one of my closest friends and mentor, if you may. He took over as parent and was the best daddy she could have asked for. Though Potato was more quite than most guinea pigs, she was more affectionate. I know this because I had guinea pigs growing up too. Bill, till her final days, sent me photo updates and a few video updates of her very obviously, happy life. Potato passed away yesterday and Bill, thank you for being the most wonderful friend and pet-parent. You're the best. Potato, my darling girl, you will be missed.

I just found this obviously obsessed-with-her blog I made for her then. Oh, Potato.

Talking about my girl.

This post was due a good year and a bit back. This post was supposed to be my epitaph for Cookie-Brown. But I could never get myself to write it. What's more to say. She left way before her time and stranded all who lived with her, in this terrible state of disarray and an emotional mess. We took our own individual times to crawl through what we thought would be a never-ending struggle to even think of her and not burst into tears and a box full of memories that would take hours to close. I saw photos of this girl as a puppy and thought she was a little white mouse, with the cutest ears. She then lived for a few years with not much company. And then for the last year of her life, she lived with a bit too much company, i.e., us. We were a circus to her and the first time she came home, I didn't know what to do really. She sat near the door with eyes pleading to run away while Lola-bear sniffed her like a piece of steak. It took her about a month to get attached to me and when I mean attached, she was puppy-attached. Lola-bear used to be like that as a puppy. Follow me around like a tail though Lola-b used to do it with hopes of food. Cookie-b used to follow me with this unwritten self-rule that she had to be my shadow. She and Lola-bear became the best of friends, and at a good time too, because Charlie started behaving like a lone wolf. He wanted nothing to do with the rest and looked at them like they were 'animals' amongst us humans. Mind you, Cookie-brown looked at the other two like they were 'animals' too and when stern instructions to either 'leave the room' or 'no begging' were given, she'd turn to them like she was part of the commanding team. She never understood it meant her too and we finally gave up with that conversion.

Last mother's day photo

I got a call telling me that Cookie-brown was ill that day. I thought it was a big over reaction. I came home and saw the vet's assistant already besides her saying it wasn't looking good. I looked at her and she looked frail but not the worst I could imagine. I sat with her for about 7 hours. I made her listen to my favourite country songs, read her books and even wrote her a letter. Like I would to someone who was just ill. I hate reading that letter now. Though I sounded really convinced that she was getting better, it ended with my optimism fading with every sentence.

All it took was just a minute from her coughing, then coughing blood, and getting minor fits while she lay right beside me and died.
I never had anything die in front of me before. I've had birds and guinea pigs and turtles but their bodies were neatly tucked away while I was told the bad news. Infact I didn't realise how little roadkill I've seen until I did notice once and the whole car tried to convince me it wasn't even an animal. I've been shielded away from death since forever and I always imagined me being pretty much listless on hearing about it judging by my emotionlessness with every sad movie or song.
How wrong I was.
It was as if the whole world had collapsed and every organ in my body fused into a thick slurry of liquid coal, that stayed in my chest. I held her body so tight like she would come back to life if I just held her long enough and tight enough. I was a fucking mess.
(here is why I know why I put off writing this post for so long. It's currently the only thing in the world that get me to tears every single time I talk about it in detail)
*pause*

The vet said Charlie just IS a sole-mate. Lola-bear was growing up and he was reinforcing his bossiness. She didn't have a mate and needed one. So after many a month, P adopted the naughtiest dog ANYONE's seen till date, Lana-brown who is currently eating Lola-bear's brains daily. Charlie lives with me, happily being the sole furry, while occasionally getting forced to interact with his furry types. I visit Lola-bear and Lana-brown when I can too. My girl's grown so big!

Cookie-brown died in May last year. This was her first death-anniversary and I can honestly say it feels like it's been 5 years. I always think about how when I first got her, I pretty much didn't have a life at all because handling three dogs alone was more than anyone's day can handle while also working as much as I could. But when I look back now, I can't have been happier to have let that beautiful perfect dog snuggle into my life, even though I got to spend only one beautiful year with her that will leave me memories for the rest of my life.

The last photo of Cookie-brown and me together.

(*Cookie-brown died due to a rare genetic condition)

Baptism blues

It's been almost a week now since my folks and sister have left. Family was down for my nephew's Baptism and besides the fact that we all fell dreadfully ill (from different sources with the same horrid intensity!) it was such a delightful time. I miss these get-togethers SO much! I think the only sadness I can foresee is that my sister and me, almost certainly, will never live in the same country. It makes me sad because we're the closest that sisters can be, even with the distance. Anyway, I'm certainly grateful for air travel.

Look how big my little monkey has grown! I'm the proudest aunt ever!

Also Vishu happened. (Thanks to my friend, Saina, who yearly reminds me about the Keralite festivals that take place)

From nurse to patient.

So I ended up getting the darn flu after all. Losing a weekend being a sickly peach isn't too grande either.