Thursday, December 1, 2011

Chotu THE GIANT - Introduction

He came into my life, when I was carefree.
When I did not worry about what path my future is going to take.
What I would do in my life.
Where I would be 10 years from then.

I met him for the first time on that Winter Night in a small village called Simga, He was so happy on seeing me as if we are long lost friends, even though that was the first time we ever met.

I would like to say I knew it then that this was going to be the beginning of a wonderful life long friendship. But that would be a lie.

"Hansie" - as he was known back then (after the cricketer) was supposed to stay with my dad in Simga, while me and mom lived in Raipur (owing to my education).

So I was only going to meet Hansie once a month. Over a weekend. And that's how it began.



He would never leave my side whenever I was in Simga, always there:
Sitting under the bed I was lying on, 


Let me see what's under the bed
Or sprawled under the chair I was sitting on: 

Yup, I am still here

Or following me from one room to another and whenever I turned around, he would always be there. Standing with the intrigued look on his face, waiting to see what I would do next and how he can help.



Hey there !!
Soon after seeing how much I was attached to Hansie and he to me, Me and mom decided to take him with us to Raipur

Since he was smaller then most of the other dogs, I started calling him Chotu, and then that became his name for life.

He was the most friendliest dog that anyone had ever seen. Guard Dog.. Pftt.. No way.. not my Chotu.


He loved people. He adored being around as many people as possible. 
If you were a stranger and would come to my house. He would welcome you in.
He would sit in the middle of the room, surrounded by all guests as long as they were around.


But once you started to leave. MAN O MAN, all hell would break lose.
Chotu would not want you to leave. He would shout/scream/bark at you to urge you to stay more. According to him: "Why can't everyone stay with him. The more the merrier."


Otherwise he would never bark, forget about biting at anyone or any other dog at all.
When he would go out for his walks with me. The rest of the dogs on the street would bark at non-stop. But Chotu.. Nooo.. he would never respond. He would go about his walk merrily without a single care in the world.


His only enemy in the world were Lizards. Yes the common Wall Lizard which we have all over India, in almost every house.
If Chotu ever got to see a Lizard on the wall in any room. Boy O Boy would he get pissed. He would start jumping and barking at the lizard non-stop , Until someone (mostly me) would come and shoo the lizard away.

Most of the times, the lizard would hide behind a Wall Clock or a Tubelight. But Chotu when he couldn't see the lizard any more, he thought the lizard went to the other side of the wall. He would run to the adjacent room, to check the wall on the other side and make sure that the lizard didn't come out there.



Rats/Mice, He chased them around all day. Trying to catch them. He would duck under furnitures, get inside Cup-boards to catch hold of them.


And it's only once that I remember that he actually one. I remember he came to my room sheepishly after I heard him running around.

When I looked at him, all I could see was that he had a small tail dangling out of his mouth. I thought, that he would have killed the tiny mouse.

But Noo. He sat down at his usual place under my bed, Gently  pushed out the small mouse from him mouth, mildly held the mouse under his small paw and started licking him lovingly. In the same cute/loving manner that only a dog can lick somone he likes.


After a lot of love and affection towards, he finally let it go and the mouse scampered away under some chair, once again to be chased by Chotu









He was my little friend, and he considered himself to be my Big Brother. He was extremely protective of me.


He would sit at the door in my room and not allow anyone to get in.
If anyone spoke to me in a loud noise, they would need to go through Chotu first, he would start barking, snarling and jumping up and down at them.


And if worst comes to worst, he would grab hold of the bottom of your pants and start pulling you away. 
(One of the reasons he didn't like my brother, Coz he wore Shorts and chotu was not tall enough to grab hold of his pants)


His behaviour with each member of the family was different. 
With me: I was his little brother, a child. And he was my guardian, protector.
With my mom: He was the little one.
With my Dad: He was a brat. He would shout at my dad to get what he wanted and get his way.


Example: For his morning walks, If I was in the house, He would come and sit near my bed from 4-5 AM. And he would wait.

He would wait patiently until the time I woke up, never once disturbing me in my sleep. And once I finally wake up (whenever that would be). He would follow me around. From me brushing my teeth, to me going to the bathroom. He would sit outside the bathroom waiting for me to come out.



He had this peculiar habit. If he didn't see me going into the bathroom. First he would run around the whole house trying to find me, and then when he found my scent, he would try and push his little nose under the bathroom door to sniff and see if I am there.
And he would continue pushing his nose under the door. Until I called out to him and satisfied his query that I was indeed inside.



Once I was lazily ready to go for his walk, he would then jump around and we would go out together.


But if I was not at home, with my dad he had a completely different Morning Walk routine. He would start jumping up and down and tugging at my dad at 5 AM. Asking him to get up and take him for a walk. He would be relentless until he got his way.



I guess he particularly liked Cats, Once a Cat gave birth to a litter of kittens in our garage.


The kittens were really tiny and we were all afraid to let Chotu out in the house as we thought he might go and hard the kittens.


But one day he escaped out and after some time we found him patiently sitting near the kittens keeping guard. :)


We took him inside, but once he knew where the kittens were he would always find the opportunity to run back to them and sit quietly.


If we locked him inside the house, he would jump on sofas, climb on beds to poke his head out of the window until he could find a place from where he could keep an eye on the kittens.


So yes, He was a Guard Dog.... A Dog who guarded Kittens :)





P.S. - I started writing this post on 22 September 2011, Never thought I would publish this.
It is incomplete, and I guess it always will be..



To be Continued....


THIS IS COSMIC BLASTING OFF !!!!!!!!

6 comments:

Deepak Karthik said...

Chottu has a dog's best friend :)
hope you understood :) :)
http://deepakkarthikspeaks.blogspot.com/

Pooja Abhay said...

Awwww..you must be really missing him now :'( He looks so charming :)

I can so relate to whatever you have said except for the 'cat' part. Puchhu doesn't chase cats anymore but she used to during her younger days.
But, yeah she loves being around people all the time.

A small incident I remembered now that I thought would share with you, my mum put Puchhu and Pattu(Puchhu's son) in the garage so that they could catch some rats because we were unable to find them. My mum closed the garage door so that the 2 don't get distracted and what does Puchhu do the moment she saw the rat? She ran towards the garage door scratching at the door to run out! I don't know what happened to her suddenly that day since she used to dig in the garden searching for rats. Never ate them but to play around :)

Shrijeet, you refreshed so many happy memories dude. Thankssss :)

Rightly put, It is incomplete, and I guess it always will be..

Richa Sharma said...

Aww..such a heart warming post..I can relate to your story..I have a dog too..Oreo and love him more than anything in this world..
Although they live with us only for few years..their memories are for forever..

Unknown said...

I was never fond of Dogs or pets in general that was before i met chottu !! Best pet i have ever met, and is a better "HUMAN BEING" than half the people I know. Really miss you my little friend !! :)

Unknown said...

:) Dude i might have my interview in a day or two and i am stuck on your blog....

cosmic_wanderer said...

@lalita parth sarthi - Err... Woops... I should play the part of a responsible adult and say things like: GO PREPARE FOR YOUR INTERVIEW AND STUFF .. but mehh...Yenjoy Maadi

Ohh and Best of Luck and all that. I am sure you would crack your interview like an egg. Bad Example :-/

- Cheers,
Shrijeet

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