I like surprises and Che likes giving them. It’s an excellent arrangement and I’m not complaining. 😀

In continuing the surprise series, this morning three guys turned up in a van and brought me this…

My first wave of emotion was excitement and joy. I’ve been wanting a cupboard for my craft for a while now but have been putting it off for just so many reasons.

The second wave was a mix of emotions, upset, joy, anger, excitement. Mixed cause I was happy with the surprise but also sad that I hadn’t got to chose and design my own cupboard.

Then there was a third wave as I spent some time touching, feeling and gazing at my new cupboard. This one was a emotional roller coaster of warm happiness, tender love, and innate joy.

Looking back at my reaction series I’m a bit ashamed of myself for being upset. That was rather selfish of me, and even a little bit mean. I should have been happy, for there was so much to be joyful about.

The cupboard itself may not be a big thing but it was made up of a lot of big small things. It’s an awesome gift as I so needed it. I hadn’t realised how much Che had understood my want of a craft cupboard. How much I missed not having my craft stuff at hand.

And this isn’t just any cupboard, this is a piece of perfection. The KYNKYNY team doesn’t make furniture, they make art. There are hidden handles for the drawers, absolute smooth surfaces and each drawer opens at the slightest touch on rollers that feel like butter. 😀

So while I sit and mull over myself, my Bow Wow Gurus chide gently… Don’t be petty, find the small joys in life, size does not matter, be happy, rejoice everything, even the little things.

I’ll try harder Masters…

The house we lived in previously had a tree on either side of the main gate that spread over the porch. The trees not only provided shade but also covered the floor with berries. It looked like a someone had spilt red and orange beads all over!

One tree was the Singapore Cherry and the other was Duranta erecta. The cherries of the Singapore Cherry tree are edible, they are yummy, super sweet and juicy. The fruits of the duranta though are poisonous.

When we got the dogs home for the first time, and I saw Max, my lab dive towards the cherries, I panicked. What if my doggie vacuum cleaner ate the duranta berries? I lunged after him.

But Max moves way faster than me when there is food involved. By the time I reached him, he had finished vacuuming one section and I was amazed to see no traces of red. All that lay on the floor now were orange berries.

He did this everyday, the red berries got eaten and the orange were left untouched. He instinctively knew that the duranta cherries were unsafe.

This isn’t the only instance, over time I’ve seen the doggie instinct kick in many a time and they are unerringly always right. They know when to not eat, what not to eat, when we are travelling, is it just Che travelling, or both of us, when are going to return,…

Their instincts are super sharp and honed to perfection. It keeps them on their toes and alive! It also helps I guess that they never double guess their instinct.

Yesterday’s post about an impulsive holiday was me following my instincts and it seems I was bang on, for today morning I woke up mind-fucked. Don’t know what’s on my mind, or whats troubling me but I do know I’m lost.

Looks like yesterday was just the start, today’s going to be the real bummer. 😀 So, I’m going to do what I do best when my head feels like a snow globe all shook up and I can’t think straight. I’m going to take time off to read, watch a movie and stare into space.

The dust will settle, it just needs some time. 😛

Everyday life to me seems all about planning, to-do lists, patterns, schedules,… and all those boring things. I wake up and start out on a schedule. Absolutions, walks, feed yourself, feed dogs, clean up,… You know, my usual routine.

Everyday feels like a race, with milestones and obstacles. You can take short cuts, even some tangents and detours but you still have to pass certain check-points in the set time limit.

On most days it’s all a breeze and I don’t notice the routine but on some days it gets to me. It’s a feeling of claustrophobia that demands a break from the pattern.

The dogs on the other hand seem to take time outs when they want to. When they get tired of doing something, playing a game, or whatever, they drop it and head off to doing something else or curling up for a nap. They take time off. It’s not planned or scheduled, it’s just required.

They seem to understand the idea of rest, relaxation, unwinding, and such stuff better than I do. They take time off so impulsively.That might be the secret to their happiness, – not following a schedule.

I wanted to experience that too, so I figured I’d take a holiday today and do some impulsive stuff. Well, what did I do? I watched 3 old Hindi movies back-to-back. (I’m taking a quick break between movies to post.) 😀

And I feel so good. Taking an impulsive holiday feels so good. 😀

Now, this is one lesson I can learn from only one dog in my pack. Well, it’s true, that when it’s food or something terribly exciting every one of the six will be on their feet in a jiffy but at all other times there is only one that can beat jack-in-the-box.

Cuckoo doesn’t need a reason to be on her feet. She actually needs a very good reason to be off them. Getting to find Cuckoo sleeping and passed out are rare occasions that must be absolutely treasured. She is literally all over the place all of the time, almost omnipresent. 😀

There’s nothing laid back in Cuckoo, she gives her all in all she does and she does a lot! She’s the sentinel of my pack, the all seeing eye. She seems to have a pulse of everything, and is at the heart of everything.

She is a little busybody, a high energy, extreme activity and warmly cuddly dog. Well, it’s all true except for the cuddly. Cuckoo doesn’t like cuddling so much, I think it’s because, she likes her toes always spaced out and free to jump on at short notice.

Cuckoo is always doing something. Sometimes it chasing the birds out of the garden, other times its watching time go by at the gate and sometimes it’s just sitting still and listening to the wind. And she does all of them with equal diligence.

It’s this spirit of hers that I have to find. This state of being that just doesn’t stay still. That is always on the move. Always doing something. Always hopeful. Always looking forward. Always positive.

Over the years I’ve told Cuckoo a lot of things but there’s one thing I’ve never had to tell her – ‘Cuckoo, Get Off Your Ass!’ 🙂

The scientific bent of my mind and the feminist in me, kind of doesn’t believe in destiny. It’s that thought of having full control over your life, that everything that follows is because of what came before. That it’s all cause and effect and nothing is preordained.

And yet somewhere in my mind is a niggling doubt too. There is that little idea that props up off and on saying not everything is in my control, some things are best left up to fate, that some things happen only if they are meant to be. That the thought of complete control is a fallacy, an illusion.

There is this idea that we are puppets in the hand of a puppet master. The master pulls strings and we dance to its music. We believe we are in control, that we are dancing of our own accord but this isn’t true, it’s a beautiful lie that makes going through life easier.

Now those are the two sides in my head. Which one is real, which one false? Neither one seems to win the battle ever. The cup just seems to keep switching sides.

Right now I’m wondering why the dogs came into our lives? We had so much back then going against having a dog, and here we are with six. We definitely didn’t think each dog through. Each one was just a gut thing, we just knew, and the next thing we knew the dog was family.

It feels like this thing they call destiny, it must have been meant to be. I must have been meant to be in their lives and they were meant to be in mine. But is that all their lives are about? Do they have a purpose to their life?

If’ve you’ve read W. Bruce Cameron’s A Dog’s Purpose then you know what I mean, if not you should check out the book. It’s a must read for all animal lovers.

Anyway, the book is about a dog who is born repeatedly so he can fulfil his purpose in life, one stage at a time. So, do my dogs have a purpose? What is their calling?

One thing I do see in the dogs though for all this questioning. They don’t care. If they have a destiny or purpose they don’t seem too bothered about it. They don’t seem to be living or planning for it. If there is any destiny or purpose they are interested in, it is now.

Like Elu’s current purpose is to see if she can put my jacket to more creative use then my wearing it and Max is constantly looking at me wondering if he is destined for food anytime soon. 😀

It seems to me like they don’t care much for the BIG questions and are happy just living in the moment. It’s as if they are constantly fulfilling their destiny, living it one moment at a time. 😉

When I first started to think of ‘E’ the word in my head was Energy and there is no doubt some of my boys here have unlimited amounts of it. But a weekend of thought and perspective changed.

I choose the word Entertain because this lesson is not just about being entertainment but also being entertained.

If you are a animal person who has spent time watching dogs or cats you know that these guys are extremely entertaining. With no warning the rascal will do something to make you smile or guffaw in laughter.

But they don’t just make me laugh, every time I burst out laughing it seems the dog is laughing along with me too. It’s almost like they know the joke is on them and they find that funny too.

Laughing at yourself seems more difficult even than making someone laugh. But this doesn’t seem to be a pontiff issue for dogs at all.

Then there’s the being entertained aspect. Somehow the dogs keep themsleves occupied and happy. In Elu’s case it’s at the cost of many leaves and shoes but boy is she happy.

I need to learn the various aspects of this word from the dogs. Make my writing more entertaining, be more entertaining, be more entertained no matter what it’s about, and above all learn to laugh at myself.

After all, if I can tell a fine joke, I should be a fine joke too!

Of all my dogs when I think of the word dedication I think of Senti. Sentmeter is a daschund who came into our lives 6 years ago. Before he arrived if anyone had told me I’d have a daschund someday, I’d have laughed and said ‘a sausage dog, no way!’.

Life though tends have the last laugh and so Senti made his entry. When we brought him home I was sceptical but in no time I was bowled over. And all I can says these many years later is “I love sausages even more now.’ 😀

Back to the topic… Senti has this one quirky quirk. This one habit I’ve tried so much to correct but I’ve been unable to. He has this obsession to lick and once he starts licking, he just doesn’t stop.

He will lick the same spot again and again and again and… You get the drift. He’ll go on until it feels like your skin is getting thinner in that one spot. Like you don’t need to wash that part for a while, it’s been cleaned so well.

After years of training and testing I have found only two ways of stopping the Senti Lick OCD. Squeal, jump up and run away, or wait patiently until Senti feels satisfied with the job he has done and stops licking.

His licking and my droning about it may sound silly, but there is nothing silly about Senti’s dedicated licking.

Our morning routine comprises of getting up, finishing absolutions, waking up fully in the process, getting geared up and heading out for walks.

With 2 big, 2 medium and 2 small dogs, this means at least 3-4 rounds of walks. Over a little more than a year now the morning walks have almost become a ritual, it’s our morning puja. But today we broke pattern and suddenly decided after our absolutions that there would be no walk.

The dogs paced up and down as is their routine wondering why we weren’t getting with the programme. It was time to wear socks and shoes, hitch the pants up, gather collar and lease but we weren’t moving in that direction at all.

Slowly they started to settle back down and quiet reigned again in our home. But that was only until we got up again. We got up to start chores. We were headed up to the store room to pull some stuff out of storage, but that’s not what the dogs thought I think, for we had six bodies pushing us up the stairs saying ‘me too, me too, I want to come too.’

It’s amazing to watch sleeping dogs suddenly get all animated. It could be something as simple or silly as heading up to the terrace but to them it’s all an adventure. It’s something to get all excited about.

It’s like they seem to be celebrating everything!

Update – It rained here this evening. We got our first showers of the year and we celebrated with a little jig in the rain followed by hot chocolate and pakodas. I haven’t make pakodas in a long time but this time I impulsively did. 🙂

I’m not friendless and can proudly claim to have friends, quite a few of them actually, both across the country and the world. Yet I know I’m not someone who makes friends easily.

I am wary of people, an introvert by nature, I take time to warm up to people. Not that any of this is bad, but add the internet to this equation and it all multiplies.

Yesterday’s post brought comments and quite a few of them. My first reaction when I saw them was joy and happiness, shortly followed by a mild panic attack and fear of getting to know strangers.

My reaction took me by surprise and I sat back to reflect as I watched the dogs. Each of my dogs is different, where one is an extreme extrovert, another is the opposite and a total introvert.

But despite their natures they always seem to want to make friends. Bring a new person home and curiosity sets in as they try to get to know the person. Elu and Max tend to be the first to make friends, while the rest slowly follow.

Thinking about it, it seems making friends is the done thing. It doesn’t matter if it takes time. Taking time is fine, going slow at it is ok too, but befriending people is the end goal. And that must be achieved.

It is something I’ve seen the dogs do repeatedly, even with people who are scared of them, like my sister-in-law. They win them over, slowly and surely. 😀

The Art of Befriending, now that’s something I must learn and achieve. And the A to Z Challenge is going to help me with just that. 🙂

P.S. – My stomach seems to be doing much better now and fever’s gone down. 🙂 Which is great but looks like a looong weekly menu ahead filled with bland food. 🙁