THE JOHANNESBURG DIARIES - MAN VERSUS BEAST - #BLOGCHATTERA2Z2023

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                                                                                       BT

The other day we watched the hilarious TV series called ‘Man VS Bee’ starring the inimitable Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) at his best. We marvelled at the ingenuity of the creator who had spun a whole series with just a man, a bee, a dog and a bewildered security person, evoking peals of laughter from the viewers.

When we were children, we laughed till the tears ran down our cheeks at the antics of Tom and Jerry, Porky Pig, Goofy and Pluto… all wonderfully entertaining creatures conjured up by the vivid imagination of Walt Disney. The funniest episodes were always the man versus beast encounters.


                                                                        Pinterest

Where do these ideas spring from? Well, if you have a pet at home, you would know. We have always had dogs at home, right from when I was a teenager. Their names varied from Tea, Coffee and Sandwich to Thambi, Pepsi and Tansi. The latest two are Pugloos and Midikki, loosely translated into the Crazy One and the Smart Cookie.

After I got married, we procured a Labrador, having paid a hefty price for him. Bozo was adorable as long as he was young. The day he grew into adulthood, his ears popped up and stayed erect, a trait that no self-respecting Labrador would own up to. My better half tried to curb them by placing a kneecap over them, hoping that Mother Nature would work a miracle, but Bozo’s ears refused to stay down.

The next pup who walked into our hearts was Leo who grew into a gentle giant with unmistakeable teeth that stayed outside his mouth, however much we tried to get him to shut them in. He would have made a lovely human being and he took care of us all, especially our daughter P, who, he was convinced, was his Siamese twin. Unfortunately, we lost him in Srinagar, when he got lost in the snow one day and did not come back, a sad day for us.

On one birthday, my husband picked up an adorable Labrador pup with a blue ribbon, hid him behind his back and surprised our delighted young daughter with a gift she would always cherish. That is how Sterling came into our lives and he remained with us, giving us immense love and happiness till one day he went away to Doggy Heaven.

The same scenario was played out in Johannesburg when our little granddaughter, Z, received a similar gift in the same manner. This time the ribbon around the adorable pup’s neck was yellow and the way he was received by Z was heart-warming. She could not believe her eyes and her excitement was revealed in the way she pedalled her legs up and down. Thus, Bronn came into the family and since Tyrion, a beautiful grey cat, was already part of the family, it was like a Game of Thrones script being played out.

Tyrion was a treasure. He loved being petted and sitting on our laps. He was extremely intelligent and independent, both qualities poor Bronn did not, and still does not have. Sadly, Tyrion passed away a few years ago, leaving a void in all our hearts.


                                           Tyrion (on the couch) and Bronn

                                                       Bronn and his hero, Z                                                            

Since then, Bronn has had the run of the household. Every time we went out leaving him at home, we would return with trepidation, wondering which part of the living room he had destroyed. For the moment the front door was locked, Bronn would get into his elements and turn into a marauding conqueror, tearing apart everything that could be torn – couches, clothes, plastic ware, kitchen dishes and food, of course. His most notorious escapade was when he got hold of a giant sausage that my husband had been hoarding. He would carefully slice off tiny pieces so that he could savour it, bit by bit. One fine evening, we were watching television and in walked Bronn with the sausage hanging out of his mouth, a huge grin on his face. One can only imagine how my husband took it!

What is uncanny is the resemblance between Sterling and Bronn, two beauties from different timelines, a fact that we realised recently when we took the pictures below.


                                                          Sterling (inset) and Bronn

A couple of years have gone by. This time around, Bronn seems to have become more circumspect, the reason being that P and V have bought him a toy which he loves… a longish, tyre-like thing that he loves biting into. So, the moment we are ready to go out, Bronn sinks his teeth into his toy and remains involved till we get back. There has been only one episode where he drank up an entire bottle of Ayurvedic oil which we had brought from India to cure aches and pains. However, it did not seem to have done him much harm!

And so, the tryst between man and beast goes on…

This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z2023.


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