ROBIN

Robin passed away today. Saturday, March 16, 2002 at 3.12 PM. Death was peaceful. He was completely laid up the past week. Paralysis, Meningitis and an illness that resembled Parkinson’s syndrome all of which attacked him simultaneously as he was recuperating from a bout of Pneumonia had done him in. We watched helplessly as his condition deteriorated during the week. The pain must have been unbearable for him. We were helpless when he was crying out. Since he could not be shifted to the hospital, we had the Doctor attend to him at home. Manitol through IV was administered for three consecutive days. There was visible improvement when Manitol was given initially.

It just gave us false hopes. The third day it was evident that the system was failing him. Bedsores appeared from nowhere. Sensing the dance of death fleas descended on him in their multitude. He cried out day and night as the fleas bit him. We kept him covered with a sheet to keep off the fleas. He suffered quietly when the fleas did not irritate him.

On his final day, in the morning, I found him with his head down. The message was transparent. He cared no longer. Life was slowly ebbing away. The machinations of the world affected him no more. He was past caring about anything. When I went to him he tried to lift his head with great difficulty. Mute eyes looked at me pleadingly to make him well. He longed to be up on his feet. The eyes were telling me that he was not well. Just as I stroked his head, he moved it desiring me to stroke him at different spots, which I did. The touch was soothing him. Both of us remained silent. Through telepathy I tried to tell him that I was sad he was suffering and that the misery would not prolong. I hoped he understood.

Robin was only a dog. But he was our Robin. He had been with us for the past eleven years. Our late Aniappachayan gifted him to us. Aniappachayan was a lover of animals. He owned a farm. It was a real farmhouse. He was full of ideas. All he lacked was capital. He left behind his wife and two children penniless when a cardiac arrest stole him without any notice.

Aniappachayan toiled hard in his farm. The whole family toiled along with him for survival. Aniappachayan reared the animals, sold the products and made a living. For him, puppies were nothing but a produce of the farm. He sold them whenever they came along.

Lila, on one of our visits to Aniappachayan, had expressed a desire to own a good dog. Aniappachayan assured at once that Lila could have a puppy the next time he had a litter. We forgot the promise.

One day, while I was leaving for the office at Edathua, Aniappachayan met me. He told me that the Labrador had given birth to a few puppies. He had already had a large number of enquiries for them. He was selling them at Rupees Two Thousand each and he asked me to take possession of one of them. He wanted no money. It was a gift. I was really moved. Aniappachayan was not rich at all. He had no job or a permanent income. He had a family to care for. The wants of the family always exceeded whatever little he had. Their requirements always were minimal.
When I returned that evening, the puppy was at home bawling. Aniappachayan had taken upon himself the task of bringing him over to my place.

Pappa, fetched a cardboard carton and reinforced it with wire. There was a slit covered with a piece of wire net. The mobile cage was ready for the puppy.

I took the Venad Express in the evening next day to Trivandrum from Tiruvalla with the puppy. From my place to Tiruvalla, it was the State Transport Bus. The puppy was a fare-paying passenger in both the bus and the train. He was very confident and had announced his presence with vehemence during the whole of the journey. At home, no one had expected me that evening. Telecom services were not extensive and were yet to assume the latter day range, strength and gigantic proportion. The singular contribution and simple reforms of Sam Pitroda were yet to make their dent. The faithful Post Office remained the sole recourse to transmit messages. Reaching a message home was still medieval.

Lila and the children were a surprised lot. Such unannounced visits were a rarity. And I was holding a small carton that bawled at a high pitch. They welcomed the puppy gleefully.

A search was on. The puppy could not remain a puppy forever. He was in need of a name. Several names were floated which were met with instant disapproval. Ashwin, the creative genius, came up with the wonderful name ‘ Robin’. It found acceptance. All of us loved it and the puppy assumed an identity of his own.

There was a jostling crowd waiting at the gate to extend a warm welcome as I reached home every Saturday. The crowd grew in strength with the advent of Robin. He was all over me the moment I stepped in.

Dogs have a unique feature. Though they love all the people at home and are affectionate to all, they have a one master character that stands out. They recognise one person only as the true master. To Robin, I was his real master. He loved, respected and obeyed me more than any one else.

In a very short time, Robin grew up. He was big in size. All black, he was the off spring of a German shepherd father and a Labrador mother. He towered over me when he stood on his hind legs. It was a beautiful sight when he galloped at full steam. It was poetry in black when the white teeth sparkled at night. Visitors made certain he was secured fast before stepping in.

The cats, the rats and the crows were his enemies. Cats scurried to safety the moment he was let free. He would catch and kill rats every night and the children had a job on their hands each morning. The dead rats had to be disposed off. The crows mocked him when he was on the leash. An angry loud burst was his reply. The game went on and we loved it every moment.

He enjoyed most when we gave him a bath. Initially it was the hose linked to the pump. When water pumped at such heavy force caused infection in his ears we discontinued it. The vet who attended him rebuked us.

The bath became an affair of celebration for him. There we were with several buckets filled with water. We were very gentle with mug, brush, soap and all and each session consumed at least half an hour, a ritual minimum twice a week.

Robin liked meat but he loved fish more. Even on his last day, paralysed as he was, he devoured the fish Lila put into his mouth. He moved his head with great difficulty. He would eat only when food was placed very close. He did not take much. Lila was in tears when she fed him.

When he was laid up all the four of us ensured that we would spend some time with him before we left in the morning. We went straight to him as soon as we returned in the evening. He would lick us and invite us to stroke him as he lay there in pain.

We let him roam free when he became ill. The leash was put away for good. We hated to shackle him anymore.

Omana, our help, took good care of him when we were away during the day. She would feed him, drive the mosquitoes and fleas away and ensured that he did not suffer in our absence. She seemed to love him like her own son, a son whom she longed to have and did not have. She could not hold back when Robin breathed his last. She wept without restraint.

Robin always toyed with Ammachi. He would take the opposite route whenever she sought him. She fed him with vitamins when he was a puppy. She brought medicines whenever he was in need of it. Ammachi had seen to it he was in his prime all the time.

When it became apparent that he would go, our hearts went out to him. Medicines, food or Physiotherapy were to no avail. The creator was adamant that Robin had had his day. The progressive deterioration was much more than we could absorb. During nights, when he cried out in pain, we would wake up, stay close and stroke him to provide succour.

The sores and the fleas that appeared out of nowhere were too much to bear. The sun bore down on him mercilessly. Lila and the children managed to provide him shade with a makeshift shamiana. Sheets were tied over the place where he lay critically ill. When the sky was overcast and an outpour was imminent plastic sheets were clipped to the cotton sheets. Blissfully, in reply to our prayers, the rains skipped the Asramam Road.

Finally, on that fateful day, we chose euthanasia. The misery had to end. We had little choice. Otherwise he would have suffered prolonged agony till the end came naturally.

Vijayan came along with us from the SPCA. As I touched Robin one last time, he turned his head and lifted it with great difficulty. The eyes were on to me. They tried to convey so much in that brief moment. The good and the bad we had together. I stroked him. Tears rolled down my cheeks. The past years came very much alive.

Vijayan wanted him on the leash as he administered the medicine. He wished to avoid a violent backlash.

Ashwin had dug a grave for Robin in anticipation of euthanasia. Robin was so dear to him and he could not forgive himself the dark deed. He had locked himself in his room.
Giving vent to her emotions aloud, Lila kept aloof. Anoop who had fought lonely yet successful battles for Robin when he had fallen ill on earlier occasions had wisely stayed away this time. He too could not bear it.

The mantle fell on me. Someone had to help Vijayan. Fighting the tears in my eyes, with trembling hands, I held the leash as the medicine went in. I did not want my Robin to go while on the leash. Much against Vijayan’s admonishment, I took the leash off as soon as the needle was withdrawn. Aware of my feelings, which were intense, Vijayan advised me to go away while the medicine did its job. I went in and broke down. I cried unashamedly for our Robin who had by then become a part of all of us, in fact an inseparable part of our whole family.

It did not take too long. Robin passed away into eternity and became history. Death was quick. He did not suffer at all. Ashwin and I stood there silently. We watched him, as he lay there freed from the turmoil and the agony. Nothing would ensnare him anymore. Vijayan and Ashwin wrapped a sheet around Robin. They carried him to the grave. I stood there as they lowered him. Tears rolled down again when they put earth over him. Lila could not bear to stay close and watch. She watched from afar.

The rains that came down heavily in other parts of the city never made its mark in our locality when Robin lay seriously ill. It was as if nature suffered with him and did not wish to add insult to injury. It was an outpour the moment Robin was buried. Nature was shedding an avalanche of tears for the sake of Robin who must have been dear to it.

Robin had almost been lost to us on a few occasions earlier.

Ashwin did not lock the gate perfectly one night. The next day there was no trace of Robin in the morning. He had managed to sneak away and explore the world through the yawning gap. Anoop and I took the car and went in search. We covered the roads up to Oruvathilkotta, Chakka,Pettah and Pattoor but in vain. Ashwin bore the combined ire of the family. He went around on his bicycle through the by lanes. It was pitch dark. Ashwin finally managed to find Robin in a vacant compound. Robin leapt in joy when he saw Ashwin and followed him home. We still see him lying down sheepishly at our feet with remorse for the transgression.

The infection in the ear and the relative attack by worms had almost killed him. Timely intervention by Dr.Sreekala at the initiative of Anoop and continued nursing care brought him back to life. Dr.Sreekala is indeed an exemplary personality, a doctor who has imbibed the objectives and traditions of her profession so thoroughly well. Assisted by Vijayan she gave off her very best for Robin. They were simply superb.

We fought for him again when he had fallen ill for the last time. We did not wish to give him up without a fight. We were sad when we lost. But laws of creation are alike for all living beings. Robin was no exception. We were happy that we could fight the battle with the limited resources available. Nature’s laws are inviolable. We learned it to our dismay when Robin finally went.

A dog is a dumb animal. One may wonder why so much time and space is devoted to it. Man’s best friend, it has an intelligence that surpass our imagination. When an animal ingrains and endears itself into our lives, it becomes a part of us. When it departs life becomes shallow.

Robin came into our lives eleven years ago. In the short span he was allowed on earth, he became a symbol of love and affection for all of us. He made us love him. He was grateful for the affection we had showered upon him. He was so playful that the trail he left behind whenever he entered the house resembled a tornado in action. I still see him at the place where he lay sick on his final days. When I look intensely I donot see him. At night, when I wake up, I continue to look out through the window in search of Robin. One who loved his master most, he would lie down close to my window. He would stand erect whenever I stood up. He was attentive to the needs of his master. He would lie down when I hit the bed again. A light interruption at the gate or anywhere, Robin would be there though he had been fast asleep till that moment. He would scare the wits out of any, would be intruder through his growl.

Robin, we are grateful to you for enlivening our lives all these years. We are grateful to you for keeping watch and protecting us. We are grateful for the love and affection and the obedience. It was fun when you were around. We miss you. You will remain etched in our minds forever.



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