Sunday, October 19, 2008

Breakfast for LG's Best Friend


The time we live in Pune, Li'l General was deeply fond of Beethoven aka Caesar. If there's one regret I'll have in life, it is not taking a picture of LG with Caesar before we left Pune. During the last few days there, despite my best efforts it didn't happen as either Caesar's caretakers were busy with other commitments or I just didn't have the time to drop by amidst all the rain and packing. So after a lot of Googling, I found a St.Bernard - Beethu's breed- that looks almost like Caesar. Beethoven is the name we had give to the dog before we got acquainted and knew his real name - Caesar. Because of Caesar's semblance with Beethoven from the movie, he got his name. Caesar was all of 17 days when he moved to Pune, we learned later. The first time we saw him, he was barely a 25-day-old and LG was all of 10 months. With time, they grew fond of each other so much so that every morning uncle would stop by in front of our house if we didn't meet them on our morning walk and LG would smile at them from the balcony. Caesar out of excitement would gallop high and insist on standing in front of the gate. They grew together seeing each other a few times every day.

To the best of my memory, I think the first location LG started identifying which pointed to his sense of direction was Caesar's house. It was a corner house and no matter which way we went he would promptly prop himself up in the pram and say "bow bow" and would get doubly excited if Beethu were standing at the gate. With time, LG grew like a human child would and Caesar the breed he represents which meant he was above our waist when we left Pune and beyond a normal adult's control. Sadly, uncle would wave us off from a distance on spotting us for fear of not being to control Caesar. He would get so excited on seeing LG that once he almost tripped his pram. On yet another occasion when he was barely a two-month-old he pulled the sock of LG's feet for fun.

So, it's not surprising to see LG's affection for dogs, in general. The no. of pets here in Bangalore in the neighborhood we live in is almost zilch. There's a stray dog that lives within the apartment complex. LG has grown fond of it but I don't allow him to touch it though I take him every morning and evening to see him. This morning he took him bread for breakfast. The dog refused to eat and he came back upset. Continental breakfast for a dog used to eating idlis and dosas will revolt, won't it? How do I make LG understand! Anyways, I'm glad he has found a new friend.

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