Angels I grew up with

Growing up in a household with pets has always been a delightful experience.I think any true blue pet owner would agree just how much of joy having one can bring.My dad loved animals most of all dogs.He was like a pied piper for dogs.I don't know how but even the ferocious dogs used to become docile when he spoke or petted them.Everyone in the neighborhood used to call him the dog whisperer!I never understood how he did that, it was like some unspoken connection.He would tell us tales about how even as a child when his parents didn't allow him to own a dog he literally adopted all the street dogs in the neighborhood and would hide a share of his food and stealthily would go out and feed them.He would tell us tales of how once he nursed a wounded dog back to health keeping it in the room well hidden from his mom.It's perhaps not a surprise that when he had us he knew what a gift having a pet would be.We always had them around as we grew up.I guess me and my brother inherited that love for dogs from him.

My mom however didn't like having any pets around.But well she was hopelessly outnumbered in the family of us pet lovers so she had to silently accept their presence.At one point of time dad had adopted a pair of street dogs and after few days they conveniently relocated to living in our garage.This couple went ahead and had one generation of 4 puppies which also continued to reside in our garage.All of them were just shining black with not a spot of white and surprisingly never left our home anytime.And then this generation was joined by couple of other little dogs and then they produced another 6 puppies all black and almost looking like clones.There used to be hardly space in the garage to park our bikes and cars but they somehow managed to squeeze themselves somewhere and were content to stay in the limited space.The neighbors used to joke around saying we are raising a black brigade army in our garage.I used to tell them we are raising a cloned army like the star wars and someday plan to take over the planet:)All of them didn't really differ much.Come evening once the heat and the blazing sun would be out they would all assemble around the big huge coconut tree in the front garden and lazily lay around until we would come out and give them some food for dinner.I still recall that image.It was the talk of the neighborhood for years.And it used to great fun being greeted by a huge bunch of black dogs all whining and jumping around the moment we arrived from school!We called them our private entourage!There were 2 puppies in particular, they always greeted us with a dance which remotely resembled the arabian belly dance.We used to call them our circus troup.We had dancers,clowns and the performers.They perhaps stayed on with us for quite a few years and then slowly after 3 generations they left one by one.The oldest of them however never left.

Other than dogs I have had lot many more pets too.I have so far owned 2 squirrels,1 cat,2 parrots,2 love birds,lots of fish,1 Civet cat,2 rabbits and ofcourse 3-4 dogs not all at one time but sometime or the other growing up.The squirrels I came to own after my dad brought 2 baby squirrels which had fallen off from a tree and were caught in a rain.The parrots came from a neighbor who had to move and couldn't care for them.The love birds were brought by my brother.They were perhaps the only birds I ever had and somehow they were also the last because I realized I hated seeing them in a cage,I felt sad for them.Ofcourse there was a big aquarium at home and the fishes continued to come and go.Civet cat was a long story,dad found it near a road with a bleeding wound and he brought it home to nurse and we didn't keep it with us for long,dad took it back once it felt better and left it back in the woods.The rabbits were again from a local animal shelter.But whatever the reason brought them to us,they became a part of the family.And many of the dogs again were either from an animal shelter or from the street.They didn't take too much room,just enough to fill our hearts.I still feel incomplete without a pet.Someday soon I will get one so my daughter can grow up with the same love we felt as we were growing up towards the creatures who also happen to share our world with us.
Have a great weekend everyone.I will leave you with this poignant video and something to think about......

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." - St. Francis of Assisi, Roman Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans Order