of annoch, kutu and munu

it's been a long time since the doggies were featured in this blog... so here goes...
we first start out with annoch, our octogenarian. cataract is clouding up his vision.. but the eyes sparkle, when he drops in to say 'i'm hungry! give me something, won't you?".. he sleeps a lot these days, for his ears are also failing him, and he does not hear most of the sounds that would have kept him alert and awake.. well, old age is meant to be mellow, and with an easier pace of life, so i guess it's okay! he does hear my car horn, though : )
here he is in his gundulkeko position snout and tail together (his tail, by the way, is just like a risalla cavalry men's headgear)

a furry ball he has become.. when he was young all the white hairs that you can now see were black.. so his snout and ears were dark!!!

there's something about his nails and paws, that makes him slip in smooth surfaces. like our living room floor, or the cemented staircase. so takes measured steps to climb up and down.. otherwise he slips and slides like michael jackson on the stage!

his sense of smell is the most intact. he can smell any masu ko parikar, makai poleko and sukkha roti even when he's in a coma-like sleep!

his bark's even mellowed down.. but can go on an irritating monotone. when he wants to make a point.. namely.., "welcome to our home , treasured guests and friends of my loving adopted family", or "come on.. a little bit more of the yummy biscuits you got hiding under the cushion.. puhleeze!", or a "i'm hungry.. and so what if it's nearly midnight", and "i don't care if you just let me out.. now i want to come into the room, did you hear me?"

he knows he's ageing, and he's given himself the license to wander to all prohibited places in the house.. including the sanctum sanctorum of mami's bedroom, if he finds the door ajar, and smells a "friend" inside! our bedroom is paani pandhero for him.. he coolly saunters in, his claws making the clickety clack noise on the wooden flooring. he explores all the way into the little computer kotha.. inside baba's changing room... the dining and living areas.. nirdhakka sanga.. for he can't hear us shooing him!

here is annochh in one of his umpteenth exploration trips into our quarters

annoch has also lost his front teeth. this means his tongue usually slips out in the most cute manner between his canine teeth!

this is when he perks up to an aroma coming from the kitchen.. kutu at the kitchen door means there's some goody being cooked!

...otherwise he curls up and is oblivious to the rest of the world...

this is his expectant look ... yes, are you going to reach up to the daraaj and take out that bottle of khatrak khatrak (doggie snacks)





next of course, is kutu. he's the disabled pup from chhunu's litter, whom we kept behind, due to his disability. he's got a cataract in one eye, and a horrible squint in the other!!! but he's the most affectionate dog, and tries to show it cuddling and dhesoing into whoever's petting him, and making grunting and, snorting noises.


there's not much to hide there, but kutu covers himself up well, especially when he's not quite comfortable with the situation.. like in this pic where he's not entirely sure who's coming up the staircase! that tail goes up like an antenna when kutu is sure of himself, like when he comes down to the driveway to meet my car, and 'leads me home" as it were to my parking spot, trotting slowly in front of the car, where all i can see is the tip of his thaado tail!.
here he is at the kitchen door, hoping for some handouts

kutu, the nearly handsome dog

curling up and resting his chin on his leg.. a famous kutu pose

and then there is munu.. the youngest of them all, and a bitch. she's a german shepherd, meek, obedient to a fault. she was nearly called ghumri, because she had a curly tail, most unlike such pups, when we got her from the kennel. in a month, of course, her tail straightened out.. so thank god we chose to call her munu!!!!

munu loves to be downstairs most of the time.. prowling for prey.... she's not a cuddly and expressive dog (in terms of expression).. but her obedience is one to taarif garo... man nalaagi nalaagi bhaneko maanchhey!!!

munu with her 'reflective' eyes.. too bad the photo editing software does not have provision for white or green eye correction!

munu being obedient.. and trying to give me a smile, even thought she'd rather go lie down...

the green eyed beauty!!!

this is munu when priya did upachaar after she had a very nasty cut in her toes.. looks like michael jackson, huh?

this is when priya had kept the bandage together by putting her old socks on munu's bandaged paw. without it she would often end up with a long muddy string dangling from her paw!!


the next set of pictures is of "maachhu maachhu" (maasu maasu, meat meat) time for the doggies. the first set is when kripa was here early in the year.. and the next set, of baba, who's palkoing seeing the gratitude of the dogs given a meaty or bony treat!!!

nature's spotlight

the view from kot during the rainy season can be really stunning. the lukamari of the badal and the ghaam means an ever changing landscape. best is when the sun peeks in from between the clouds and sends a shaft of golden light down to the ground.. highlighting whatever falls in its way down from the heavens... a patch of field sometimes, an entire township sometimes.. as if it is a drama and the spotlight shifts from one character to the next on stage....

harisiddhi takes centre stage

then it's sunakothi housing complex' turn

soon half the valley gets its share

then it's the turn of the jhaukhel area (south of changu narayan)

nature's spotlight on many areas in lalitpur

then it is back to kantipuri nagari
and the interplay between the two districts
the single spotlight near chapagaun area

once the sun dipped over the clouded kathmandu valley rim, the high cumulous clouds over phulchowki reflected the setting sun's golden glow over bistachhap valley

and then, of course, from kot once can also see the disturbing sights of the natural slopes and forests in the outskirts of kathmandu levelled by the excavator's hungry claws into little housing plots... where are our zoning laws?

near lubhu area

beyond godavari village resort

on murali mountain

and below kot ... and this phenomenon of khaarney, taachhney , tukraauney, bikri garney, is happening all over the valley... soon, just as i wrote in my article.. it will come down to "kahan khelchhan ti nani haru?" http://www.himalkhabar.com/hkp/news.php?id=2485

another disturbing sight this monsoon has been the lack of rain atually. already at the end of july, large tracts of khet still not have not had enough water for flooding for ropain
below kot danda.. you can see the fallow khet and the bright green patches where the paddy seedlings are waiting for transplantation

it is the same case in the fields nearby.. only those whose khet were close to godabari khola have been able to have ropain

it is the same case in the fields in bistachhap, on the otherside of kot danda... the dhaan ko biu are being scorched by the sun

and then of course, a little bit of rain bring the jugaa into action.

this leech was waiting in attention on our porch, probably carried on my slippers from the garden. when robin wagged his finger near it.. it lunged towards the course of heat or scent or whatever it is that makes jugaa do the wild swinging from side to side jig