A Pawsome Tale

Purely by chance, two highly introverted (read, people-unfriendly), then hardly acquainted, PhD research scholars got the 250 acres campus to hear themselves think in the blissful solitude during Diwali 2019. A certain set of pawprints, wrapped in all its golden glory, started following us around ever since. Bingo she was named, and our dearly adorable companion did she grow up to be. She soon befriended our human friends, and made sure we fed her canine peers along with her. Not to mention, she found her way to the medical clinic if she was left bruised from some random animal kingdom war on campus. She acquainted herself with the medical attendants rather too well, and they in turn got her a-bit-too-frequent treats without fail. With the course of time, of course, she went on to cherish her own version of University life at the Rashtriya Raksha University, and now, a few weeks ago, she, and this campus, has been blessed with four cutest and fluffiest puppies one could find around here. Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe they might be called.

Our beloved Bingo amazed us as the wisest and smartest, and the most caring dog parent one can ever imagine; and now, is back to her abode near our rooms and introduced her babies to us, while familiarising the four baby doggies with our beautiful campus, starting with the lawn right across our hostel block. We are admittedly biased to a fault, but it is indeed rare to find such little bundles of furry delight, with an overly alert stranger danger intuition, and such perfect sense of  obedience to their mother. The four siblings cuddle one another to sleep, deep inside their green shrubbery while their mother is away, and wake up to come outside on the lawn only when their mother comes back to them. The four are always to be found huddled up together and you cannot touch one without alarming the others, or of course without their mother running at you, from wherever. When the sunshine warms the lawns, or on some nights even in the soothing moonlight, the four offer a sight of unadulterated joy, scampering about on the grass and rolling over one another, while their mother rests on the soil, barking fiercely at any other elderly dog or wild pig loitering even at the farthest corner of the block.

It took us weeks of patient, dedicated efforts to assure the present generation of our adopted pawsome family here that we mean no harm to them and are only looking out for their safe-keeping from the older doggies on the RRU campus. The sweetest imprint would be Bingo pacifying her babies as we finally got to hold all four of them, as if to give a parental nod to her children’s association with us; and her prying eyes on us and her babies as we returned them back inside their earthy dens behind the long green leafy curtains, after their little twilight venture just across the street.