TOFFY

When we brought Toffy home she was barely bigger than my hand. My mother put up a big protest , my father was silent ,but my brother and I were ecstatic! She was tiny, being the last puppy of the litter. My friend Renuka insisted that I take the last of her dog’s pups home, as nobody wanted the poor mite . She was tiny, weak and needed a lot more care . Renuka was confident that she would find a warm and affectionate home with us. Knowing ma’s views I was reluctant. One look at the little 3week- old in the shoe box and I was tempted. But when she snuggled her tiny wet nose into my palm and looked up at me with bleary eyes I knew that instant that she belonged to us.

So she came… into our home and our lives. Ma said she will have nothing to do with it and made it very clear that on no account will the puppy enter the kitchen or sleep in our beds. She further added that we, that is ,my brother and I , were to do ALL the looking after . Being guilty of having gone against her wishes in the first place, we both readily agreed.

So began our lives with Toffy . Before going to the university ,I would take care of her food. Babu would take her out in the mornings before going to college. She was so small that we didn’t put her on leash. Babu would carry her in his hand and put her down from time to time so that she could sniff around and relieve herself. Ma would glare at me in silence as I stirred up the cerelac baby food in a bowl. Renuka had instructed me to give her extra nutrition. In the evenings the cerelac would be replaced by a bowl of Horlicks. This was an added expenditure in our tight family budget, especially, since my father had retired from work.

Slowly Toffy gained strength and soon grew into a bouncy little furry ball running around the house . But, she would come to a skidding halt just at the kitchen door! How she sensed ma's disapproval!! She would snuggle into my bed at night and would jump out the instant she heard ma’s footsteps. She would bark and chase the crows in the courtyard and create a ruckus , but would glare at them silently in the afternoons when she knew ma was taking her nap!

Babu and I would be away at college most part of the day and Toffy would follow ma around no matter how much she ignored her. Though ma kept up a façade of indifference but I could tell that her stern resolutions were melting. Toffy had such a sweet and affectionate disposition that no one could resist her. She was the darling of the kids who waited for their respective school buses at our gate every morning.

Gradually ma was totally won over by Toffy and she became ma’s constant companion. Within two years, I got married and left home. The following year Babu left for the US to pursue higher studies. The house was empty now. Ma missed us and found solace in Toffy. A relationship that began with so much disapproval on ma ‘s part ended up in such a close loving bond between them that lasted more than five years. Ma and Toffy were inseparable.

Whenever I would visit home , Toffy would welcome me with joy ,and when my little girl was born she would stand guard over her while she slept, not allowing even the flies to buzz around my baby. Later on ,my daughter would crawl behind her to pull her tail ,even stuff her finger into Toffy’s nose, yet she would never retaliate. Toffy accepted her as her own. But I could see that all her trust and love was for my mother. She probably felt in her canine heart that my brother and I had left her behind and moved on. Sadly ,we were again not there beside her, when she breathed her last in my mother’s lap. Baba said ma was inconsolable!

There was always a misty glint in her eyes whenever ma would talk about Toffy to my children. Now that ma too is gone, I want to believe that Toffy is once more sleeping peacefully at her feet somewhere up there ….and the thought gives me solace.