Pondering

It's been a mini lifetime since the last post, but not for want of stories, just time. However, as diwali time approaches and I hear the fireworks outside, I can't help but think of Lyka.

Lyka, like a lot of dogs around this time of year, was miserable during diwali. One can hardly blame her. If you had the capacity to hear frequencies unknown to man and then have everything you hear multiplied times three, a sharp blast every so often would probably jar every nerve in your body as well, not to mention, give you a splitting headache. I know the rows of firecrackers that seem never ending send me looking for the nearest paracetamol strip. The entire time that firecrackers were being set off, Lyka wouldn't leave our side, lest the booming noise consume her. She was certain that as long as one of us was around to reassure her and keep a hand permanently placed on her, she couldn't be harmed. Or if she wasn't to be found, Lyka would be hiding in the bathroom - though I'm not quite sure the acoustics of any bathroom are suitable for reducing echoes.

Lyka hated any form of loud noise actually. Thunder, loud bangs at any point in time, anything that jarred her delicate sense of peace really. And woe betide the person/thing that shook her awake, she would bark till her objection was well and noted. We would, of course, have to wait it out until her indignation subsided.

They say though that animals are afraid of fire. Strangely enough, everytime my grandmother would take an 'aarti' of the family, Lyka would be front and center, watching the flame go round and round. And also be the recipient of the 'teeka' that's supposed to keep the evil spirits away.

With no Lyka insisting on continuous physical contact, covering our clothes in her golden fur or us stumbling on her in the middle of the night when you go to brush your teeth, this diwali will certainly seem empty.