Tale of colors

Brown dog and green frog were the newest friends in the locality. They met last monsoon. That day it was raining heavily. Frog was busy gulping some rain water and making tarr..taarr sound. Dog liked hearing him. Frog loved how the dog was all wet but still was relaxing in middle of road , like a king.

Rain connected them. Tar-tar and Bhow-bhow started being in harmony.

Few days later, dog walked up to the frog. Introducing himself with a warm smile, saying "Of this street, I am the King / Often thought of, giving you a ping".
Frog loved him even more for that. Frog introduced himself back, saying "Yes, we will glue / did u like my color blue?"

 Pic courtesy : Dreamstime.com and Colourbox.com

Dog said "Blue ? You are of lovely green color !"
Frog thought its his prank, so repeated saying .. "Nah.. I am blue, nice royal blue"
"You must be kidding, I know your are tiny and may not see your body, but color is something everyone knows." Shrugged Dog.

Frog was clueless by now, he was running out of his reasoning to convince Dog about his blue color.
Dog had to do something now, he called the passing cat, sleeping squirrel on the tree, hiding mouse in the sewage tank and fluttering butterfly from the nearby garden. To frog's utter dismay everyone replied unanimously, "color green".
Closing his eyes, meekly frog said "You being the King of the street, everyone is trying to confirm your thought. They are pleasing you"

Dog was fuming by then. "Lets see a mirror, you will know by yourself" he shrugged. Dog lived with humans for decades, he knew what mirror is. He managed to grab a mirror from the nearby dustbin and showed it to the frog. Looking at green frog on the other side of the mirror, frog got scared. He had no clue who that was or what a mirror is.
"Please ask that green Frog not to look at me like this" he said.
Dog understood there is no point making him understand the whole mirror concept. He had to device some other way, and that too quickly. "Okay, whom you trust the most ?" He asked. "My mom", replied Frog.
Dog got up, stretched himself.. and said "Lets go to your mom".

It was family of all green frogs. Mom frog was busy cooking the dinner. Dog approached her, introduced himself, he then awaited for Frog's mom to introduce herself before they get into the discussion of color coding.
Frog's mom returned the smile back while wiping her hands on the kitchen napkin. She sat beside the Dog, and said "Excuse my look, its all the cooking that might made me look red, I am otherwise a pink Mom Frog"

Dog started smiling, he knew by now that the color confusion runs in the frog family. He left their place, thinking how it feels to imagine a color for yourself which you are not. Something he never tried. Exiting and adventurous it was for him. He crossed the bridge, singing... "Of this street, I am the King / Pink color, now I am being".

Sia and Mop

On her fifth birthday, her uncle gifted her Jack London's White Fang. The story takes place in Yukon Territory, Canada, and details a wild wolfdog's journey to domestication. Since then Sia loved reading about dogs.

Much before this; her dad had once gifted her "My big book on Dog", it had life-size pictures of various breeds of dog. She couldn't understand the details, but appreciated the glossy pictures as a kid. She touched them, adored them and smiled, looking at them. Last week she started reading it all over again and was amazed to know about Pomeranian, German Shepherd, Labrador, Golden Retriever, Yorkshire and few more.

Mimi and Kim were Sia's friends. They all stayed in the same neighborhood. They all knew about Sia's fascination of dogs. They gifted her Dog shaped pencil holder and a dog cut out bookmark on new year.

The exams were about to begin and Sia had been asked to spend less time with Mimi and Kim and study more. During one such day, Sia was taking a stroll in her lawn when she saw a puppy trying to slid beneath the main gate; trying to enter their house. Sia couldn't control her laugh. The puppy seemed to have a perfect commando training to slid through the gate. She loved him immediately. She opened the gate slightly , helping the puppy to enter the house. The way it was swinging the tail from side-to-side, it was enough an indication for Sia to know how happy the puppy was. She waved her hand over its fur and it kept swinging his tail. Sia managed to get some milk from mamma’s kitchen and fed the puppy.

It was of no fancy breed she read on "My big book on Dog", but it had spark in his eyes, which made Sia love him even more.

She knew her parent's reservation against having any pet, hence didn't try convincing them to keep the puppy.

Anyway, with exams knocking at the door, she could not afford to have a puppy around.

Half-heartedly she opened the door and let puppy go, surprisingly it was reluctant enough even to get up. Against all her wish, she lifted him and left him in the ground next to their cottage. She came back and closed the door.

She tried hard concentrating on her studies that day.

"Mop" that’s what she started calling him, for no particular reasons but that’s what crossed her mind while thinking of him.

Next day, same time, while taking her evening stroll she saw him again. Trying to slid beneath the main gate, like the same perfect commando; crawling smoothly yet cautiously.

"Mop" !! Sia screamed on top of her voice. She knew dogs have great smelling power and can identify the same place in reference with object or people.

Since that day , it was quite a ritual. Mop used to visit Sia in the evening and she used to feed him with Milk or Chicken stew. Sia always wondered how Mop managed to be so punctual. How dogs keep track of time.. was something she didn’t have an answer to.

Pic Courtesy : vetstreet.com

Exams were over. Summer vacations had started.

In the same month, Sia's dad got a promotion and was allotted a new house meant for managers. It was 5 streets down from where they were presently staying. When Sia got the news, she was heartbroken. It was impossible for her to imagine a day without Mimi, Kim… and now Mop.

Two weeks had passed since they had shifted to the new house. Sia’s parents were busy getting the house in order. With no school and no friends Sia tried confiding in her books. When she read about dogs. She missed Mop even more.

She looked at the gate of the new house, and started imagining Mop sliding beneath it. She felt she is actually seeing Mop. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. It was Mop! Her commando !

It took two weeks , but Mop had found her out. Sia was elated. She hugged him, pinching herself to be sure it was no dream.

All the books that Sia read, said "A dog is always a man's best friend".

Only now she knew , why.

Hula and the Kite

It was Makar sankranti on a chilling day in January. Hula always waited for this day every year to get a colorful kite. Hula's father knew his fascination for kites and always made sure that every business trip he made, he remembered to bring a memento that reflected a kite.

On that day Hula was dressed up in a bright tee and jeans that he got on his last birthday when he turned 3.
Hula and dad were walking holding hands, grinning ear to ear. They just crossed the main gate of their housing complex. A long series of temporary establishments were encroaching the way further. These quarters were made by the construction workers, employed by the builder , building a 12 floor apartment nearby.

Hula , high on enthusiasm was running and jumping in between. He searched few shells from the sand heap lying in the construction site. He hopped few small heaps and in a moment of carelessness, he bent his right foot and fall flat on his face. He had bruises on his face.
His right foot felt heavy and he almost found it impossible to stand on his feet.
His father took him on his lap, half scolding, half consoling.

Sufi, the elder son of a construction worker saw it all from a distance. He came quickly with a piece of cloth and a glass of water. He handed them to Hula's dad, who then cleaned the face with the cloth. Hula sipped some water from the glass and felt better. He looked at Sufi and smiled faintly.

Father took him back home, and the kite purchase plan been scrapped.

Few days later, while visiting the market Hula asked his dad to buy him a Kite, he then stopped for a while and asked him to buy 2 kites.

Dad : "Why 2, you want another as a compensation for not getting the Kite on Makar Sankranti ?"
Hula : "Dad, 1 for me, one for the Sufi, who helped me when I had a great fall"
Dad : "Why you want to give him a kite?"
Hula : "Dad, when I drank that water I felt so relaxed, never any glass of water made me feel so good. Whenever I will drink water, I think I'll remember him. So I want to gift him a kite, so that whenever he will see a kite flying in the sky, he may remember me. "

Dad bought two kites that day, a red one with blue stripes and a green one with orange dots. He never felt so happy buying kites for Hula.