Table of Contents
PETS
P- Plenty of fun when around
E- Expressive, enlightening my life, enjoyment to the fullest
T- Tender, transforming me, togetherness always
This is how I would like to write my acrostic poem on Pet. I have always loved animals and have been lucky to have various pets though unlucky that their lifespan was short.
My first memories of wanting a pet started at a very early age during my first visit to the Mysore zoo. I was probably 5 then, I guess when I was lucky enough to pet a few weeks old tiger cubs. They were so cute, so adorable and no different from the kittens my neighbours had except that these were much plumper.
That is when my dreams of possessing pets actually started nurturing. Movies back then let my imagination fly wild where I would dream of having tigers as my pets.
Seeing how crazy I was, my dad got me 2 goldfish. The makeshift arrangement for them was a nice wide plastic tub. I really enjoyed watching my goldy and locks( that is what I named them then) swim happily in the water. I learnt to change the water, actually cleaned the tub for them and fed them food. Suddenly I had this brain wave, I overheard a conversation where there was talk of excess food = excess growth. Voila! I came up with a brilliant idea of helping ‘goldy’ and ‘locks’ grow quickly. So I fed them again and again and yet again hoping that they would grow up to be Big beautiful goldfish. But unfortunately, goldy and lock decided to travel to the abode of the almighty to visit him since they were being overfed.
That was a terrible time for me back then, but after a few months of agonizing over my departed pets’ absence, I was back to dreaming of having pets again.
This time my parents got me a pair of love birds. They were so cute and adorable and so colourful. A couple of hours progressed through the day seeing them in the cage started agonising me. I was really heartbroken that they had to live in such a small cage when we had our backyard which was protected by wired mesh and had lovely banana plants. The perfect habitat for happy birds. Without a thought, I opened the cage door and let them out into the backyard to fly happily. Little did I realise back then that birds had brains and used them pretty effectively unlike me. This little one perched on a wire mesh and squeezed itself out through it and flew away. Its friend wasn’t as smart and stayed back. Feeling sad for the lone bird I let it free. I had not even named them yet and in no time they were gone.
Like this, as I grew up I became a proud owner of BINGO and DINGO, two massive garden snails. They sparkled my excitement again until very soon we realised that our garden was infested with baby snails. We had to ‘treasure hunt’ them out and by the end of the week, we had more than 500. This shocking number put an end to my love for snails. Following this we had a baby cobra visit us which freaked us out totally. Birds, butterflies are a common sight at home.
Right now we have a stray cat who visits us a couple of times every day. We provided her with food and showered her with lots of love and affection. Though she cannot talk, the way it communicates with its eyes is so strong. We call her ‘meow’ because that is the way she responds to all that we say.
The presence of Meow has changed our thinking. We have become empathetic to animals. The moment she appears and mews in front of our door, the entire family just drops whatever we are doing and gather around her to play with her, brush her and pet her. It brings a smile to the mundane life filled with the daily routine tasks that last through the day.
“Meow” is carrying and we think that she will deliver anytime soon.
Hoping to enjoy a lovely time with the kittens as well.
