Bannu / Thanno / Baby / Kali / Chhunu / November 2001 - 22 March 2007
Bannu breathed her last at 1100 hrs, after a very brief illness. She leaves behind a disabled son, an old friend, and grieving family of humans behind.
So this is Bannu's final resting place. Between the Parijat and the Rudrakshya trees in the garden. We've planted an orange hibiscus plant over the grave, added a guava stump as a memorial token, and also planted a yellow nasturtium to remember her by.
Two feet under .. that's where she is now. The dhoop spreads the fragrance around. We applied tika on her, sprinkled ganga jal and laid her to rest.
And this was Bannu last month. Basking in the sun in the kausi. Not a care in the world. Loved to bark furiously at the northern neighbours. Loved to give a scare to unsuspecting customers at the nearby bank, when she used to rush out of the gates being opened to allow our cars in!
Ever watchful she was.. of what was going on in the neighbourhood. Pretended she hated pigeons perching on the kausi ledge by lunging towards them. Seemed to be amused by the way they used to take flight in a flurry...
Bannu was a different breed of a dog.. an almost non-dog in terms of intelligence. But like all others of the canine species, she loved to curl up and sleep... in front of the door, under the bed.
A slim and young Bannu from a couple of years ago. So beautiful. Gajalu eyes. Curly sel like tail.. Machhapuchhre like ears. So alert. So intelligent. So stately. No wonder we started calling her "maharani" or "highness".
Yet, when Priya brought her home as a birthday present for herself from the streets of Patan, the puppy was quite something else. Wild from the streets. Greedy, unruly, sickly, scrawny, and gobbling down food like there was no tomorrow...
It was Kripa's patient tutelage that taught this dog to be better mannered. Of course it was a chance discovery that Bannu's greediness could be taken advantage of to teach her tricks. It did not even take five minutes and a handful of Kellog's chocolate flakes to teach Bannu her first trick of haat deu!
Bannu found a mate in one of the neighbourhood's dog and gave birth to a litter of puppies, of which the one that was lame (due to rickets) and squinted (congenital + mother's bite) was the one we kept in the family.
Bannu's street habits came to the fore as a mother.. and she did not do too much of nurturing. She looked upon her son as a competitor for food. Of course, he was her greatest playmate to play tag. Bhukkey or Kutu (name keeps changing per family's mood) grew up to be scared of his mother. She did not even need to growl to put him in his place.. a glance was enough.
With maturity Bannu became even more beautiful. Having learned manners, she possessed this regality that put the rest of the dogs to shame. Here she is on KukurTihar day trying not to look greedy as the other dogs are being offered food.
Finally getting to dig her teeth into the sausage and egg treat after the tihar puja
One of the tricks that Bannu learnt was to ooth. Baba's daily routine was to feed the dogs biscuits after the pigeons had been fed at 1530 hrs. The dogs waited impatiently for the biscuits. Bannu used to be the most nimble one. Getting up and gently prying the biscuit out of Baba's fingers.Bannu was so smart with her tricks..and her son, lazy as ever, needed umpteenth commands before he sat, shook paws or stood up. So while we 'd be trying to tell Kutu repeatedly to "bus", Bannu would have in the meantime, run through the gamut of tricks she knew.. giving her paws, sitting, sleeping...
Bannu's most uncanny habit was that she followed human conversation. So there was no need to shout out a one word command or order. Even when inserted into an ordinary sentence, she could understand the word, and cock her head or perk up her ears in interest. Like in this picture she was responding to the mention of the word "driving." Bannu maharani loved to be driven around in the car. She loved to jump into the front seat and sit like a royal! And then once the car got moving she had to take her head out and bark at any dogs she spotted enroute. She also loved to be taken for walks.. and could therefore also jump up with excitement at the mention of the word "walking walking' or the sound of the straps..
Here is Bannu after her hysterectomy, looking really like Her Majesty Elizabeth I! Poking her head through the living room door was something she loved to do.. and doing it with the Elizabethan collar was no mean feat! If she heard a strange noise, or if she wanted to let us know that she was around, she shoved the door with her nose and and poked her head in. Talking about doors, Kripa had taught her to open doors that had handles, much to Muwa's chagrin. To keep a room out of dog's reach, the locks had to be changed to ones that had knobs instead of handles. She used to lead the pack by opening doors and letting the rest of the dogs through!
Doggies' day on Kukur tihar. Bannu loved meat. Another thing she loved was the dog snack bits--"khatrok khatrok". The term which sounds like the noise made by the bits in the plastic jar, was enough to make her excited. The other two males caught on and they too started to expect khatrok khatrok as soon as anyone of us came near the vicinity of the shoe cupboard above which the jar used to be kept!
Bannu learnt to deal with Muwa's habits very quickly. She learnt to be patient. So patient, that she would squat and stand in front of her, and look steadily up at her, unflinchingly, watching Muwa's hand movements. Expecting them to reach under the cushion or pillow and then waiting to hear that crackling sound of the biscuit packet!
Bannu stayed mainly in Muwa's room, or in the kausi in front. her favourite refuge was to hide under the beds.. if anyone wanted to take her for a batch, to go to the doctor to have have her shots, or to be shooed out of the room when guests came, or food was being served. She would snarl showing her strong white teeth if anyone tried to pull her outside!!
Now that the smart one is gone. These are the two lonely males left behind.. Annochh and Kutu. Both semi-blind. Both simpletons in comparison to the great Bannu!.. and then of course, there is the rest of us, Bannu's human family.
