A
stray dog had found his way to my house, not only he did not stay in the compound
like other stray dogs, he made a direct entry into the veranda through front
door as if it were his own. From first
day, he had certain princely manners – he just did not seem like another stray
dogs.
I
was never fond of a dog or of pets per se. But presence of this dog seemed
innocuous to me. Nor did it give rise to any other complications I could object
in its first few hours of stay in my veranda. All the dog demanded was a little
bit of attention besides regular and modest meals. I made a small change in my
routine, instead of working on computer and surfing internet at the end of the
day, I started spending those 15-20 minutes at the end of the day with this new
guest. I would stroke it, nudge it and
play with it just as young kids do with friends of their age. This routine
continued and it worked quite well for both of us. Or at least it seemed to
work well for both of us.
One
particularly good thing it did to me was that it did not allow me to sit on my
laptop after I come home in evening. Having worked whole day on computer, it
was not probably most healthy thing to do again towards the end of the day. A
lot of my friends had been suggesting spending time off-screen. However, little did I have in terms of
amenities and gadgets, so whenever I was not reading I would be on my computer
fiddling with it, wasting time browsing social networks etc.
Dog
also seemed to be enjoying our regular play time, gradually our friendship grew
stronger, or so it seemed, at least to me. Before I could realize it became a
routine for me to stroke the dog to sleep. Seeing his rhythmic breathing was an amusing
as well as satisfying end to a day.
One
day, upon my return in evening, I could not find the dog in the veranda. I thought the dog must have gone out and
would return to routine, as usual. A few hours passed but there was no trace of
the dog. Just as his entry, his exit was also mysterious and sudden. To say the
least, his absence did come across as an oddity, a break in well-scheduled
routine to me.
After
a few hours of thought, I finally assumed that just like other stray dogs, this
one too would have gone off and there was nothing particularly unusual about
it. I resumed to my erstwhile routine and opened up the laptop. In span of a
few weeks, the keyboard of laptop had gathered some dust. I cleaned it and
started off writing a review of a book I had just finished reading.
Feeling
my hand’s movement on the key-board, I sub-consciously compared it with its
movements while playing with dog. I contrasted these two experiences in my
mind, old as my laptop was its key board was as familiar to me as the dog
who had been my guest for a few weeks, if not more. Key board was also equally
amenable to my touch – I realized. Some of the letters on it had been on verge
of being erased due to frequent strokes I would have made on them over the
years. Another strikingly brilliant
feature of this keyboard was, it always responded to my touch with impeccable
regularity, equal responsiveness and efficiency. The more I thought of
key board, the more I realized how good and functionally effective it had been
all these years. I thought that its keys
certainly, smoothened, worn out and loosened at times, but a careful fix always
restored it to its regular efficiency. My hands on it were no less than a play we had
from several years, I might have been varying in precision, force and firmness
but the key-board always adjusted itself accordingly like a more matured
batsman in a great cricketing partnership!
Had this keyboard been in some piano instead of laptop, it would have
made awesome music I thought.
After
a while I realized, I still missed the dog, looking at my keyboard I realized
it did not breathe like the dog. It had no rhythmic sound or movements that
naturally happen with breathing of anything that has life. This was the only
difference perhaps between the two touches; one had life the other one did not.
That
night, however, I slept stroking key board of my laptop.
