This story is about a MALE black labrador, a gentle soul with habits
of high society man: eating & sleeping. And his name…. (pause)CASHEW.
(SPEAK IN A QUESTIONING TONE)"That is a rather unsual name for a dog:
Cashew?”. When we got him, we thought of various popular movie
characters like pluto, milo and even Earnest. We contemplated naming
him google looking at his search ability. But nothing fit his charming
personality.
One day I heard some noise from the kitchen and rushed in, only to
find him feasting greedily on scattered food. I learned two things:
1. Never trust a dog with your food
2. Cashew was NUTS about cashewnuts, as he only ate those and left
the rest for me (to clean)
We decided to call him CASHEW and got ourselves free from the moral obligation.
Cashew is fond of food and footwear (may not always be in this order).
When he was a pup, he would always run away, with my mother's
slippers, Somehow he always loved female shoes more than men´s.
Another particular Cashew-esque thing was his philosophy ... when in
doubt …. (pause) Lick. He has drenched so many people(family,
friends, pizza delivery boy) with his slobbering. Even the postman
wore a raincoat when he had to deliver a letter to us in warm summer
day.
Everytime I came back from office, he would know before anyone else
and would be waiting at the door. Our walks were the times when we
boys had some fun together. We would walk, talk, run, chase squirrels
and play FETCH. No matter where he will be, when I said FETCH, he
would come dashing and try to find anything which was moving and bring
it to me. There is a study on internet which says if a man is with a
dog, he has 3 times more chance of getting a girl's phone number. Do
Not trust this study. It is a LIE. But I did had my moments of glory
when some girl would come and talk to me mostly about cashew.He had
some cuteness powers which attracted girls better than I could. I used
to call him George Clooney and I was hi wingman. There was onething
Cashew did not like…. He was scared of THE VET. Whenever we went to
vet's clinic, he would freeze. He will be the most un-cooperative dog
ever. HE will use his 4 paws and the thick black tail like breaks
..kHEEEHHHHH and you can actually see the skid marks that he left
behind when I had to push him into the clinic.
I moved to Amsterdam in the meantime. Dec'2010. I was in India for a
family wedding. And like Indian weddings, there was music, food &
dance. On the 12th Dec2010, I stepped out to run some errands when I
got a call "Cashew is not well. Come back soon". I hurried back home
immediately. I saw Cashew lying on the floor. He lifted his head to
see me and moved his tail when he recognised me. I ran towards him,
sat on the floor and placed his head on my lap and slowly caressed him
with my hand. His eyes were RED. His breathing was slow and irregular.
His nose was dry. Once in a while he moved his tail. Our eyes met.
(TALKING TO CASHEW)"We are going to VET. You will be fine." But I felt
something was wrong. There was no breathing anymore. The sparkle in
eyes got replaced with a hollow. I shouted CASHEW CASHEW. No response.
I felt as if he was waiting for me to arrive before he bid adieu.
Cashew was NO MORE. (LONG PAUSE)
I lost him to the blood infection that he contracted some time back
but I have him in the blood that flows in my brain and heart.
In the days that followed, I could not think of anyone but cashew and
the time we spent together.
It is always sad to see someone die let alone your loved one. But from
the grief dawns the gratitude towards them. For me it was the
gratitude towards Cashew for being part of my life, for loving me and
his departure reminding me that my time on earth is also not
unlimited.My Friends, His death taught me a lesson about life. I
learned that 3Ls :
LOVE : Unconditional and selfless. Cashew always met with love and
enthusiasm even though he knew it might not be reciprocated.
LEARN : Always be prepared to learn something new even if it is from
your mistake. Like cashew learned to differentiate between strawberry
flavoured shampoo and strawberries jam after being admitted to
hospital for 2 days.
LEISURE : Make most out of the what you have as that will be the
memories you will leave behind when you go. I can still see him trying
to catch a bouncing ball after I called FETCH.
3Ls; Love, learn and leisure
The gap cashew left was unfanthamable. But the simplest way to fill a
hole is to sow a new seed(as long as it is not from Monsanto). Enters
Junior.. a black brown rottweiler pup. He is no saint, he is not
gentle and he is not george clooney. Infact he is more like Jim Carey
from the movie THE MASK. But now we love learn and leisure together.
of high society man: eating & sleeping. And his name…. (pause)CASHEW.
(SPEAK IN A QUESTIONING TONE)"That is a rather unsual name for a dog:
Cashew?”. When we got him, we thought of various popular movie
characters like pluto, milo and even Earnest. We contemplated naming
him google looking at his search ability. But nothing fit his charming
personality.
One day I heard some noise from the kitchen and rushed in, only to
find him feasting greedily on scattered food. I learned two things:
1. Never trust a dog with your food
2. Cashew was NUTS about cashewnuts, as he only ate those and left
the rest for me (to clean)
We decided to call him CASHEW and got ourselves free from the moral obligation.
Cashew is fond of food and footwear (may not always be in this order).
When he was a pup, he would always run away, with my mother's
slippers, Somehow he always loved female shoes more than men´s.
Another particular Cashew-esque thing was his philosophy ... when in
doubt …. (pause) Lick. He has drenched so many people(family,
friends, pizza delivery boy) with his slobbering. Even the postman
wore a raincoat when he had to deliver a letter to us in warm summer
day.
Everytime I came back from office, he would know before anyone else
and would be waiting at the door. Our walks were the times when we
boys had some fun together. We would walk, talk, run, chase squirrels
and play FETCH. No matter where he will be, when I said FETCH, he
would come dashing and try to find anything which was moving and bring
it to me. There is a study on internet which says if a man is with a
dog, he has 3 times more chance of getting a girl's phone number. Do
Not trust this study. It is a LIE. But I did had my moments of glory
when some girl would come and talk to me mostly about cashew.He had
some cuteness powers which attracted girls better than I could. I used
to call him George Clooney and I was hi wingman. There was onething
Cashew did not like…. He was scared of THE VET. Whenever we went to
vet's clinic, he would freeze. He will be the most un-cooperative dog
ever. HE will use his 4 paws and the thick black tail like breaks
..kHEEEHHHHH and you can actually see the skid marks that he left
behind when I had to push him into the clinic.
I moved to Amsterdam in the meantime. Dec'2010. I was in India for a
family wedding. And like Indian weddings, there was music, food &
dance. On the 12th Dec2010, I stepped out to run some errands when I
got a call "Cashew is not well. Come back soon". I hurried back home
immediately. I saw Cashew lying on the floor. He lifted his head to
see me and moved his tail when he recognised me. I ran towards him,
sat on the floor and placed his head on my lap and slowly caressed him
with my hand. His eyes were RED. His breathing was slow and irregular.
His nose was dry. Once in a while he moved his tail. Our eyes met.
(TALKING TO CASHEW)"We are going to VET. You will be fine." But I felt
something was wrong. There was no breathing anymore. The sparkle in
eyes got replaced with a hollow. I shouted CASHEW CASHEW. No response.
I felt as if he was waiting for me to arrive before he bid adieu.
Cashew was NO MORE. (LONG PAUSE)
I lost him to the blood infection that he contracted some time back
but I have him in the blood that flows in my brain and heart.
In the days that followed, I could not think of anyone but cashew and
the time we spent together.
It is always sad to see someone die let alone your loved one. But from
the grief dawns the gratitude towards them. For me it was the
gratitude towards Cashew for being part of my life, for loving me and
his departure reminding me that my time on earth is also not
unlimited.My Friends, His death taught me a lesson about life. I
learned that 3Ls :
LOVE : Unconditional and selfless. Cashew always met with love and
enthusiasm even though he knew it might not be reciprocated.
LEARN : Always be prepared to learn something new even if it is from
your mistake. Like cashew learned to differentiate between strawberry
flavoured shampoo and strawberries jam after being admitted to
hospital for 2 days.
LEISURE : Make most out of the what you have as that will be the
memories you will leave behind when you go. I can still see him trying
to catch a bouncing ball after I called FETCH.
3Ls; Love, learn and leisure
The gap cashew left was unfanthamable. But the simplest way to fill a
hole is to sow a new seed(as long as it is not from Monsanto). Enters
Junior.. a black brown rottweiler pup. He is no saint, he is not
gentle and he is not george clooney. Infact he is more like Jim Carey
from the movie THE MASK. But now we love learn and leisure together.
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