Chapter 12 Yoyonama

Chapter 11 Yoyo-nama

The one time that Yoyo got quite seriously knocked off his jaunty perch, was when we suddenly let in a tiny new puppy into our lives. One winter, late evening, the time when fireflies appear, I found a three-four week old mongrel puppy simply waiting politely on my threshold, like someone who had appeared a little early for his appointment. From where he appeared, remains a mystery. Snoopy had recently passed away, and in spite of our resolve not to get any more dogs, we simply could not turn away this tiny creature (who without any intimation, proceeded to grow rapidly into a huge Collie-like fellow, towering easily a foot over Yoyo.

Yoyo was out for a walk with Tatsat then, and when they returned, Yoyo took one sniff-whiff of the tiny puppy, shrank from its overtures, and exaggeratedly steered clear of him, skirting him widely and running into the house and straight upstairs and on to Tatsat’s bed. The entire body language was so much like Melvin, the Jack Nicholson character in As Good as it Gets.

When Yoyo realised we had named this new entrant (Jugnu, which means firefly, as he had appeared tiny, with eyes shining, in the twilight) and heard us talking in terms of endearment to this new kid on the block, he stalked off to the narrow back strip of the house, sat under the struts of a water tank, and stayed there for ten full days. He was about 6 years old, then, and quickly turned into a curmudgeon in front of our eyes, not letting the new dog anywhere near him, not coming to us, and only staring out at us with one baleful, disappointed eye, from under the water tank. We began referring to him as Melvin. ‘Has Melvin eaten?’ ‘Any tail wags from Melvin?’ ‘Is Melvin willing to come out for a walk’? The answer, most times, was No. The only time we heard any sound from him was when he would growl at Jugnu if he tried to bat at him with one tiny paw, cajoling him to come out and play, or worse, let him snuggle up!

 Food bowls had to be slid across to Yoyo, which he would half-heartedly eat. Getting him to go for walks involved bullying him to get out and go.  He kind of came round, in 10 days, but proceeded to ignore Jugnu completely. Just like Snoopy and him before, Yoyo and Jugnu too shared an uncommunicative, definitely not playful relationship, rarely or never cuddling up.

A few weeks later, we fostered another wandering puppy, and much to Yoyo’s horror and utter disgust, kept him for several months. Yoyo spent another few days sulking under the water tank, and would snarl at Bertie, every opportunity that he got.

While Jugnu learnt to give Yoyo a wide berth, Bertie was one of those characters who simply could not resist teasing and baiting Yoyo to try to get him off his high horse. He would brush past him, or snipe jovially at his tail, or even push his nose inside Yoyo’s ear and give a sharp yap and leap out of the way with a mad grin splitting his fac. Sometimes he would irritate Yoyo merely by sitting at a safe distance and stare in adoration at Yoyo, which of course Yoyo disliked deeply. As Bertie grew taller than Yoyo, they would look ridiculously funny together – Yoyo stiffly holding on to his dignity, while Bertie pranced over him as if he was a low-slung hurdle to be cleared. When Bertie finally left for a farmhouse, Yoyo became slightly warmer towards Jugnu – at least you know how to keep your distance, he was saying. And once in a while, when he thought no one was looking, he would do a nose-to-nose hello-brother kind of greeting to Jugnu, even wagging his tail slightly at him. Jugnu too soon began to tower over Yoyo, but remained respectful, even deferential, towards him.