Morning scene:

‘Do you remember what happened in October 1984?’ I queried closing the newspaper.

‘My dear, I have told you multiple times, I am bad in history. More so, if it is concerning our life history,’ hubby replied carefully choosing his words.

‘Don’t prevaricate! Come on!’ I goaded.

‘Indira Gandhi’s assassination?’ he prompted.

‘I am asking something about us. Okay, a hint. It has to do with me,’ I asked him, hoping, he would remember.

Heard him muttering under his breath,’ OMG! Now I am in deep trouble.’

Not getting a response, I continued.

‘Okay, one more hint. It happened again in December 1999.’

‘Sorry, dear can’t recollect. Some birth? Death? Marriage?’ he questioned.

‘The last hint. You did not do something after what happened on both these occasions,’ I hinted, hopefully.

‘Stumped, Dear. Please tell me,’ He implored.

‘Both these occasions I was hospitalised. I…….’

He cut me short, 'I remember. I visited you in the hospital I brought you home. We had a cook to handle the kitchen work. You took bed rest for a few weeks before joining the office,’ he enumerated in a breath.

‘That is what I am saying! You did all that you have listed out but you did not do something, which Maggi got!’ I told caustically.

‘Who is this Maggi? What did her husband do that I did not?’ he asked in exasperation.

‘Maggi is a dog. And it is not her husband but her owner, who treats her like a family member,’ I responded.

‘Seriously? Are you comparing yourself with a Dog?’ he was shocked.

‘No! I am comparing you with the dog owner. Maggi, his pet dog was diagnosed with a malignant tumor. Post her surgery, the owner took her on an All-India tour, to enjoy her life.’

‘You never took me on vacation, though you had two opportunities,’ I complained.

‘My dear! my dear! Let me remind you, ‘he began.

‘Now don’t give some ghisa-pita excuse. Please accept your mistake,’

‘First and foremost, you did not have any malignant tumor. You were down with malaria or some such thing,’ he reasoned.

‘And what about ‘99? It was like surgery.’ I parried.

‘I am sure there was a good reason why we did not go on a holiday. Let me check my diary notes,’ he said.

‘You started maintaining diary notes of all trivial matters only after our silver jubilee anniversary. So this incident is only in my memory,’ I reminded him.

He went for his morning walk.

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Evening scene:

 ‘I always thought, we led a shitty life,’ I began returning from my evening walk.

‘ But realised, dogs are any day better off than us,’ I remarked.’

‘Is it a Dog Day today?’ he asked.’ Why all dog topics are being discussed?’

‘No, just saying,’ I reacted.

‘I wonder what this is leading to,’ Hubby mumbled to himself.

But asked, ‘what happened Dear?’

‘We friends were having our regular walk in the garden. Manju was telling us about her sister-in-law when a dog came and frightened us out of our wits. We all ran in different directions.’ I told.

‘So, Manju could not complete her complaint about her sister-in-law!’ hubby asked.

‘That is not the problem. She will message us anyway,’ I added.

‘The dog was chasing us and then it ran behind a small boy who was playing in the sand,’ I continued. ‘The poor boy was frightened and screaming.’

‘Oh, the child was hurt?’ he asked.

‘No, but we adults were! I thought I will have an attack!’

‘After gathering her breath, Manju marched towards the trainer, who by then had caught his dog,’

‘Don’t you know? Dogs are not allowed in this garden,’ Manju angrily shouted.

‘I am sorry Madam. Betsie is very docile. She thought this boy is Shourya, her friend, so she ran towards him,’ the trainer said.

‘You knew he is not Shourya, Moreover, dogs are not allowed in the garden. So why did you bring him here,’ Manju continued.

 Stroking and hugging the dog, the trainer said, ‘she is very docile Madam. She will not bite anyone. She had a sterilization yesterday and is in pain, so I thought I will walk her in the garden to give her some exercise. The Vet told us, she needs to exercise for a week, at least.’

Hearing him, Mala immediately pulled us, aside saying, ‘Oh poor thing! Come let us walk at the other end of the garden.’

‘Let him and his dog walk there! Why us?’ Purnima said.

‘I know how painful this process is. Only God and I know how I managed at that time. My daughter was just a year old, and…..’ Mala began.

‘Why only we should adjust all the time? Family, relatives, In-laws and now our children’s in-laws, always it is we adjusting. Now we have to adjust to this dog, too!’ Purnima fumed.

‘You forgot Bai. I always adjust to whatever my Bai says,’ I added.

‘Finally, who adjusted,’ Hubby dear asked.

‘He went away. But we were so traumatised by the whole episode that we decided to return home,’ I said.

‘Something strikes me now. He said the dog was sterilized yesterday. Is that the priority of the Municipality?’ I spoke aloud my thoughts.

‘Their priority should be vaccinating all the people. As per the reports in the news, not even 50% of the 12-18 age category children have been vaccinated. And they have to cover the younger children too. Another wave is expected to hit us and instead of attending to this priority vaccination, they are busy with sterilization of the dogs!’ I added angrily.

‘The dog’s sterilization program and the Covid vaccination program are handled by different departments and I am sure both are being run simultaneously,’ hubby dear tried to calm me.

‘You remember the Alsatian dog that our nephew had? He looked so huge and ferocious but he was a lamb. We have often seen him when visiting my sister,’ hubby remarked.

‘Yes,’ I nodded.

‘Once, our nephew took his dog with him to Delhi to participate in a competition. The dogs were made to do various stunts and actions. However, the organizers were surprised to see that our nephew's dog behaved strangely when they gave bones to the dogs. While all the dogs were wagging their tails right to left, this Alsatian dog wagged his tail up and down! The organizers wanted to know why his dog was behaving so strangely. Do you know, why?’ hubby asked me.

‘The Alsatian was a Mumbai bred dog. In this space-constrained city, he had adjusted to wagging his tail up and down, instead of right to left,’ hubby laughed.

‘You men are so funny! You appreciate a dog that has adjusted to life in Mumbai city. Have you thought of us, poor women, who are leading a hard life in this city?’

‘Why do you take every sentence and link it to you?’’ he was exasperated.

‘What I am saying is that most dogs are trained and well behaved. There is a lot of similarity between them and we, husbands,’ hubby added curtly.

‘Dogs are faithful. They do not lie because they cannot speak. And we husbands speak to those who don’t listen.’

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