Thursday, August 24, 2006

Make way for the king of our street

I had my first sitaphal of the season last week. It is my favourite fruit. It wasn’t very sweet but it was most amazingly fragrant. Almost like a frangipani flower. Do you which one is the frangipani? I am sure you have seen it. I don’t know what it is called in Hindi. I am assuming that you may not know what a frangipani is, because most of us know animals and fruits very well, but are quite bad at recognising flowers and birds. I wouldn’t be able to recognise a koel if I saw one, although there is one in our neighbourhood singing its head off every spring.

Speaking of animals, there is a local street dog in my mohalla whom I call Fatty because he is motu-motu compared to most street dogs. He is a study in calmness. He does not get into fights, does not run after cars, just walks majestically up and down the road or lies down on the footpath in a dignified way. Yesterday he was loafing about in the rain and was sneezing. Even the sneeze was so majestic. He puts into mind a king who has been unceremoniously dethroned, but does not let it affect his regality.

Even Amar would not have felt like kicking him. (It is a reflex action with Amar – he has to kick a dog if he sees one. I hate him for that. Otherwise I love him)

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