Beautiful gentle eyes to drown in, soft and shiny fur to cuddle all day, velvety nose and satiny ears—that is our resident reclusive Diva, Biskit, for you.
Diva characteristics abound…..Totally in sync with her beauty, reluctant to have the local paparazzi clicking her gorgeous looks and thoroughly updated on cameras and their possible location. The actual clicking cameras, laptop cameras at Skype sessions, mobile clicks by passing admirers, she knows them all….and she also knows that the more she hides, the more she is clicked, and that is part of being a Diva.
There was no “Diva-ness” in that tiny, mouse-like, squealing 6 week pup I had brought home 7 years ago. We had just moved into Delhi with our adorable spaniel, Coffee and with all of us leaving home for long hours, a companion for Coffee was deemed necessary. After bringing her home, I vanished from the scene for ten days (work at Kolkata) and returned to find two bleary eyed girls, a whining pup and a happy Coffee. Biskit was being bottle-fed, burped and cuddled from one girl to another. 12 hour duties with a quivering, hungry bundle of dog was not easy, but it was done and we soon had this bright, inquisitive and mad puppy tearing around the house.
At that time, she had only two interests in her life …the toilet brush, and the desire to check for roots under every plant. She uprooted every plant in the balcony, and would trot in with the hapless twig, (roots on one side, branches on the other) and place it at my feet with this proud look in her eyes. Those were tough times, with my house-keeper threatening to kill Biskit or leave home, neighbors giving me dirty looks over the mounds of mud and plant pieces which this pup left in her trail, and the constant worry about the toilet brush, especially when she would lick every bit of my face.
Tougher times were yet to come. We lost Coffee to pneumonia and another adopted pup died within days of coming home. Along with the devastated human family members, our chirpy pup became a quiet and dignified Diva. This happened after she crept all over the house for weary weeks, staring at corners and slinking past beds, as if she could see those two departed doggy souls. When our little black bit of thunder and lightning, Pepper, joined the family in a few months, Biskit continued to embrace her regal, reclusive Diva act and she has not looked back since then.
But we humans don’t give up that easily—butt scratches and neck rubs make her forget the Diva role, as do creepy-finger-spider games. My daughter does this elaborate act with long expressive fingers—they curl up into a preying crab, scuttle sideways below a pillow, peep quickly at Biskit and then emerge to whack her on the nose. All through this act Biskit yells her head off, pounces at those tantalizing fingers, jumps up in the air and takes on the role of a mad myopic scientist who has misplaced his glasses.
Our Diva has not mastered any doggy tricks.. no shaking hands, rolling on her back or any such undignified behavior. But yes, when I come home, she jumps onto the nearest sofa and hangs around with a goofy grin, happy eyes, whooshing ears and furiously vibrating tail stump.. waiting for me to throw aside the bags and keys… waiting for some loving and petting and cuddling. No one, absolutely no one, shows me her love like this darling Diva.. and I can walk out and walk in every ten minutes—that amazing welcome show is always there for me.
She loves me, stays beside me, curls up at my side and adores me…for all that, I just have to take her for a couple of long walks, tie up her ears and feed her a couple of times and I have to be me.. all the time.
