It's a dog's day everyday

I have a severe aversion to wasting food. That's because I know the effort it takes to cook an entire wholesome meal now. When I was younger, I pretty much didn't think twice before saying I didn't enjoy something on the dinner table.

But now, the tables like the always do at least once in life, have turned.

Not only do I hate the idea of wasting food, I revel in the idea of feeding uneaten food to my guard dogs.

Let me elaborate, this year when we moved to Kanpur we were allotted a nice big army bungalow to live in. But, along with the house came a family of dogs (who lived outside, not inside the house).
It didn't seem right to chase them away, they had been here since before us anyway.
So, I decided to make them my personal guard dogs.

This family of dogs who stick close to the main door of the house consists of a white and brown mother, a brown father, 2 white and brown little boys and one brown little girl. One of the white - brown boys has become my favourite because he is mild by nature and responds to everything I say quite happily. The others have a typical territorial sense and fight for food and space constantly.

So anyway, my day here usually includes collecting every morsel of uneaten food irrespective of what it is and how much it is through the day. The dogs outside are given a healthy breakfast which is usually a meal of bread, some milk, water of course and lots of leftover rice, rotis, vegetables etc. A thorough wholesome diet indeed.

And then in the evening, they are pampered with the remains of a our midday lunch. Every day. Every single day. Outside this house, it is indeed a dog's life every day.

Furthermore, since we live in a Bungalow here, I have placed chairs on the lawn outside. Which of course are now used by all the dogs daily. Then, the lawn itself acts like their spa while they dust, roll and clean themselves in it. The soothing miles of green grass and soft soil makes their day.

Then of course there is the occasional peacock, pea hen, snake and scorpion that are a part of my life and therefore theirs. The fact that they can chase these other intruders and keep the house "safe" and "wild animal free" gives them a purpose.

Even if this city has it's many ups and many downs, I'm glad that I can at least make it a dog's day everyday.

Electricity is my new best friend

Sunday is always good. Its great in fact. Every time. Why? Because of its sheer ability to make everyone happy and to allow me endless hours of rest and T.V. Although I work from home as a writer (and have been since June 2012), I take a break on Sundays. I refuse to switch my laptop on and use my brain.

This last Sunday though, ended with a grim frown. As I slowly drifted into a deep sleep I was suddenly and rudely awakened by the horrible warmth of the humid night. Electricity had gone. Since I am married to an army officer, we move to new houses and cities and sometimes villages. Our present home lies in a quaint cantonment in one of Uttar Pradesh's biggest cities - Kanpur. But, Kanpur like the rest of UP lags behind in its commitment to empower people with electricity - ALL THE TIME.

I am not used to a life without electricity. In fact, when my army husband and I moved to Kanpur in June of this year, the intense humidity made us crave an air conditioner. We almost came close to buying one. And then realized that the water here is so impure that we ended up buying a water purifier first. Although the search for a good air conditioner continues, without electricity what good is that?

So that night, amid the intense heat we managed to get some rest. My little 2 year old dog was immensely uncomfortable. But she managed to sleep it out too. Come morning, we all hoped that the electricity would come back. But I think the electricity was content in playing a game of hide and seek with us.

Monday morning blues turned to greys when the lights, fans, fridge and everything that needed power slept. Since I couldn't switch the laptop nor connect to the net without electricity, (I have a BSNL modem line that's why) I slept like the rest of my electronic gadgets too. In the heat. The hot hot heat. With a napkin to wipe it off every minute.

Alas at around 4 pm on Monday evening the lights finally blinked and came alive. Oh, how that made my heart leap with joy! I quickly turned on my computer and got to work. Electricity.

Just as Monday soon ended, the electricity showed signs of staying. So when it was time to sleep, I filled the cooler with lots of cold water and got ready for a night of cool air and rest.

Come Tuesday morning, the story repeated itself. Everything was off. And it stayed off. Till tonight. Till this moment. I sweated in the heat with no computer, no TV, no way to finish my online writing work for the day, no fan, no nothing. Amid the candle light and thoughts of ghosts I realized how important electricity was to me.

It was such a relief to see the lights blink, to feel the fan move, to go online, to chat, to charge my phone that I now realize - electricity is my new best friend.