A poem by the dog
Posted by Abhishek Joshi in Ramblings on July 22, 2013
Syllables of silence ― Kaalicharan and Fernfly
Sometimes in between the paragraph
while you look for that lost word
or when you draw that doodle on the marginalia
a pencil dangling in your slender fingers
caressing that lock of untamed hair
and in the smile that can be a simile
or in the grace that shines through your unpolished nails
like a story untold
There, in that moment bereft of lipstick or mascara,
you always look beautiful.
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PS Image courtesy Fernfly
I miss my dog
Posted by Abhishek Joshi in Ramblings on July 7, 2013
One of my favorite Peanuts strip shows Charlie Brown and his friend Linus looking up at the night sky and contemplating how little they know of all that there’s left to be known.
Charlie Brown: “I miss my dog.”
What we don’t know is a quest, sometimes satiated whilst at others a journey with no defined timeline. Linus is, rational and reasoning, intrigued by the mysteries of the world while to revel in the love that there’s known to us is Charlie Brown’s school of thought. The genius of Charles M Schulz lies in bringing the two thoughts to a common ground.
I precisely remember the moment when the light of childhood faded out on me. It came with a death. All of it melted, like a snow mass at the touch of spring.
Rusty left me last summer but did she really?
Isn’t she in the white fur adorning the sleeves of my blazer like an emblem? Or in between the pages of those novellas of Yore which I occasionally flip open ─ like a bookmark, staring at me. In that reflection in the red water bowl and in the relatively cold corner by the study or in the thunder of clouds, she’s there with her topaz eyes asking me to hide her somewhere safe. Time heals, some say but am I really looking for an ointment?
And while I do shudder with excitement to dig more on the mysteries of Third Reich, the Dyatlov pass incident and all that remains unexplained, I will forever miss how it was running around banana trees with a dog to whom, I was the world. Submerging in the known and loving it. Sooner or later, the myths subside and we realize among other things that the best of friends can only be dogs.
When I close my eyelids deterring to the noise of the world ─ a cauldron about to bubble over, veering my thoughts to all that will remain placid and unchanged by time, oblivious to the humans passing me by, there by the orchard Rusty would forever be chasing my demons away. To her I will always be, the boy who never grew up.
A dog, few cats and Albert Einstein
Posted by Abhishek Joshi in hails & heralds...Doggie way! on June 30, 2013
Nobel laureate and TIME magazine’s Person of the century Albert Einstein changed our understanding of the world as we knew it unlike any other scientist. In 1905, hailed as the renaissance year for science, Einstein published four research papers and toppled over 200 years of scientific fundamentals with theory of relativity giving, perhaps, the world’s most famous equation, E=mc².
Theory of relativity, Dog lover’s axiom.
Known as the father of modern physics, a synonym for genius, Einstein was fond of animals and enjoyed the company of cats and dogs around him. As the principle pillar of this dog’s favorite science triad, Einstein along with Nikola Tesla and Sir Isaac Newton have allured many of my recent discoveries about cat colonies in galaxies beyond Milky Way. I would divulge more on them after sending a test subject (read: the human being) to far off space, a giant leap for canine kind. Any volunteers?
For perhaps the greatest genius who walked the face of this planet, Einstein did have those stellar moments of sheer brilliance and absent mindedness alike; that idiosyncratic trait that you associate with the gifted.
Photographer Arthur Sasse captured this iconic ‘tongue-stuck-out’ photograph of Dr. Albert Einstein on the latter’s 72nd b’day. Having smiled for photographers many times during the day, Einstein stuck out his tongue instead.
In the trailing lines I have compiled some heart-warming ‘cats and canine’ anecdotes from the life of Albert Einstein:
The Cat conundrum(s)
I. Fond of animals, Einstein kept a housecat which tended to get depressed whenever it rained. Ernst Straus recalls him saying to the melancholy cat: “I know what’s wrong, dear fellow, but I don’t know how to turn it off.”
II. In Faster Than The Speed Of Light, João Magueijo shows the childlike purity of Einstein’s earnest efforts for his kittens:
While Einstein lived in Berlin, working as a patent office clerk, he did his research work in a small study away from his home. In this study he kept a large number of cats, of which he was very fond. However, the cats at times could be rather burdensome, scratching persistently at closed doors, demanding to roam freely throughout the house. He could not leave all the doors open, so he decided to cut holes in the bottom of the doors, producing cute little cat doors.
In that year he had roughly equal numbers of large and small cats. Therefore, quite logically, he cut out two holes in each door: a large one for the large cats, and a small one for the small cats. It made perfect sense.
Einstein on his pet dog Chico
“The dog is very smart. He feels sorry for me because I receive so much mail; that’s why he tries to bite the mailman.” ― Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein with friends and dog in Princeton, New Jersey, 1953. Image copyrights with LIFE photographer Esther Bubley.
Einstein on the notion of genius
Einstein was of the opinion that everyone was bestowed with unique gifts and was critical of examinations, which he felt were unnecessary as anything that could be looked up in a book wasn’t worth remembering.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” ― Albert Einstein
Hope you liked the witty side to Albert Einstein. And now my friends, drawing an inspiration from the genius I too must return to my quest SETCI (Search for Extraterrestrial Canine Intelligence) project.
Roopkund trek, over the hills and far away.
Posted by Abhishek Joshi in Ramblings on June 25, 2013
“I am the escaped one,
After I was born
They locked me up inside me
But I left.
My soul seeks me,
Through hills and valley,
I hope my soul
Never finds me.”
― Fernando Pessoa
The moments that define us, the unadulterated time frames where in we just sink in beauty without a passing thought at the futility of capturing it; remain enshrined in the memories forever. In an empirical way it grows on us, like a lump in the throat. A clever riposte to reclaim among other highs, life itself. One, indeed, travels in order to come home.
Drowning all along and subtly realizing it.
I have lived my life in parenthesis. By the green door on a still greener hill, I would read Tom Sawyer and pretend to be him. Anything that I could become to escape from myself. The mystery of Roopkund lake isn’t shrouded in thin air and misty mountains but in the hearts of those who listen with bated breath, the legends of the fall. A living adventure in all that’s adrenaline, Roopkund trek is for those who find solace in escaping the grim reality of urban life. A retreat at every bend. And sometimes if you look closely along the trail marks, you may discover your self, somewhere in the meadows or over the hills and far away.
Jaggu Jr, the ‘wolf’ pup ran with that carefree mirth that only dogs know about. Those deep piercing blue eyes, wagging tail and paws mapped the mountains with unrestrained spirit, an ethereal sight!
And when marred by urban humility, the stasis clogs, you realize what you lost and what was lost in you. Forgetting all the troubles of the world outside the periphery of the mountains – letting go of dates and days, forgiving bosses and escaping the burden of thoughts only the realize the weight of water in the backpack. The canopy of night sky at Roopkund base camp, the chimes of bells on cattle and canine alike…the carelessness with which we would throw ourselves to the green beds of Bugyals. With a bated breath we marvel at all that is unscathed by men and his motives ─ the mountains and the mist. They are the only stamps of eternity that our hearts will carry. Leaving an indelible impression, a memento like that helps remember that we were all wild once.
Two and a half dogs
Ridiculing both, rhyme and reason I realized what came to me and what I had come to.
The highlight reel for me wasn’t the lake shrouded in mystery but the journey in it’s wake. From sleeping beside mountain dogs on meadows to playing pranks on unsuspecting trekkers, perhaps that moment is still waiting for me somewhere holding on to that corduroy jacket, longing for a sense of belonging somewhere while I wait here in the humdrum of the city. One of these days I will earmark the ode to tranquility again but for now, let’s brace ourselves to the mad world again.
Our solemn prayers for the home turf Uttarakhand which is braving the havoc caused by heavy rains.
A thought to ponder on what we own and what owns us
Posted by Abhishek Joshi in Dogged reviews! on June 17, 2013
You don’t really own a dog, you live with one. You live with the wet noses, happy wags and unrestrained love. This brevity of our being is revisited courtesy celebrated poet Mary Oliver in the trailing lines.
“A dog comes to you and lives with you in your own house, but you do not therefore own her, as you do not own the rain, or the trees, or the laws which pertain to them …
A dog can never tell you what she knows from the smells of the world, but you know, watching her, that you know almost nothing. . .”
— Mary Oliver
The poet Mary Oliver with her pet Ricky. ©Angel Valentin
In ‘School’, Mary recites of the impermanence and love and loss in the simplest way possible:
You’re like a little wild thing
That was never sent to school.
Sit, I say, and you jump up.
Come, I say, and you go galloping down the sand
To the nearest dead fish
With which you perfume your sweet neck.
It is summer.
How many summers does a little dog have?
Run, run Percy.
This is our school.
PS Image sourced from search engine, rights belong to photographer.
Rescuing laboratory Beagles
Posted by Abhishek Joshi in Guest posts! on June 12, 2013
Obedience and selfless dedication has often proved fatal for my kindred friends, the Beagles. As a subject of lab tests for pharmaceutical or cosmetic products, they often end up having spent an entire lifetime in confinements. Imagine, the plight of a dog having never seen the open skies or the green pastures to roll on. Not even an iota of sunlight but syringes and chemicals.
The footage below from Animal Rescue Media Education (ARME) shows beagles that were rescued from a California university animal testing lab seeing sunlight and stepping on grass for the first time.
Closer home, we have Antorleena who adopted Muffin, the rescued beagle. In the trailing lines we have her account of being parent to a rescued beagle.
To get to the story let me talk a little about us. Me and my husband Avishek have always been dog lovers…while I have had dogs at home in my childhood and had an opportunity to grow up with them Avishek had always longed for a pet since his childhood…he would see any animal on road and think of adopting it…he would go for horse rides and think of adopting a horse…while none of his plans ever materialized, we finally got a lab puppy in 2012 February whom we named Rocco and then the journey of becoming a pet parent began. Rocco taught us lessons in patience and love. Thanks to him we were compassionate than before and began to think about adopting animals in need and distress which earlier we never thought about or knew about. It was then that we came across a post in Facebook from CUPA (an NGO which helps animals in need), it read that 102 Beagles have been released from a Pharma lab in Bangalore and were now up for adoption. Considering their history and trauma, they needed to be handled in a totally different manner…lots of love, patience and care would be needed to help them teach how to live in a home… though they would not be puppies but they would be like puppies, they would not be toilet trained, and would have absolutely no clue how to live in a house…plus there’s always a danger of possible health side-effects and illness which they would have owing to their body being subjected to tons of chemicals day in and day out…Muffin was no different… when Avishek picked her up the first day she was shivering in fear, she was fragile, weak and had a rough coat, she was stinking as she had never been given a bath before, and the worst part was that she was probably born in the cage and raised up there… it was an example of human cruelty where these wonderful dogs were treated as lab rats… and all sorts of testings and experimentation carried out on them from life saving drugs to cosmetics to lifestyle products etc.
Muffin finds a companion in Rocco.
Then she came home. Rocco greeted her cheerfully. He was actually happy to get a companion…how typical of labs! Rocco taught her everything about living in a home, helped her to walk on leash, getting toilet trained, eating home food and mostly he has made her one hyper active lady…earlier Muffin was shy and scared to jump,get up on the sofa or getting cuddled. These dogs were not even confident to bark, some of them had their vocal chords snipped off in the laboratory when they screamed in pain…but thankfully Muffin had a voice…our joy knew no bounds when we heard Muffin barking…she now barks whenever she is excited(mostly bullying Rocco) and Rocco like a chivalrous male lets her be. Its been almost 4 months that we brought Muffin home. She has indeed come a long way…now she looks like a beagle…she is happy,stress free and gaining weight though those memories of the lab definitely come to haunt her now and then but she is a brave girl. She has taught us the meaning of love, patience and hanging on at the face of distress.
Recently we had a get together with all lab rescued beagles and their humans and other furry friends…they had a blast! Its heartening to see that after all the torture that these beagles go through, finally some of them are fortunate to have a loving home who would accept them as they are.
The Times They Are a-Changin’ for Muffin. Rescued Beagle with her parents.
After having Muffin we are glad that she rescued us. Rescuing dogs actually make us humans better. They can’t speak of their trauma or bitter experiences but their eyes speak a lot…we can only guess what they might have gone through…let’s not ask them any questions…let’s help them forget the past with all our love and affection.
Dog with the blog! 
