𝗙𝗹𝘂𝗳𝗳𝘆 – 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆

On International Dog Day, our member Ms S. Bhattacharya revisits memories of her German Pomeranian Fluffy who was a member of her family. For most families their pets are more than animals and over the years become members of their families. For me, Fluffy, our German Pomeranian, was no less than my son. He was a couple of years older than my daughter, and so he was like my first child.
When my daughter was in Nursery, she would be taught about animals. Upon seeing a picture of a German Pomeranian in class, she told her teacher that she had an elder brother, a 𝘥𝘢𝘥𝘢, who looked like that. The puzzled teacher, who knew she was an only child, checked with me. I laughed and clarified to her that Fluffy was like a member of the family and that my daughter was used to calling him 𝘥𝘢𝘥𝘢.
The bond between my daughter and Fluffy was a special one. I have younger brothers of my own, and once on 𝘣𝘩𝘢𝘪 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘢 (𝘣𝘩𝘢𝘪 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘫) my daughter sadly remarked to me that she wished she had a brother. I told her that she had Fluffy. She then made Fluffy sit on a square mat next to my brothers, offered him sweets, and put a sandalwood tika on his forehead! Fluffy sat obediently through the entire ceremony. It became a tradition thereon for my daughter to give him 𝘣𝘩𝘢𝘪 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘢 .
Once, we as a family decided to join my husband who was teaching in the USA. I refused to fly without Fluffy. We had to comply with lengthy procedures and documentation and even had to prepare a box for him to travel in. Our plane made a scheduled stop in Hong Kong, and I asked the air hostess if she would allow me to feed Fluffy and take him for a walk. I was not allowed to disembark, but the air hostess assured me that his needs were taken care of. When we landed, I found out that Fluffy had refused to relieve himself! Can you imagine the state of an animal that has not relieved himself for over a day? Once he saw me, he was overjoyed and finally relaxed enough to answer the call of nature.
I truly feel there is no companion like pets. Animals are god’s creations, and when they come into our lives, they increase our capacity to love and care for others. Fluffy is no more but remains close to our hearts.