Bini completes my life

Bini used to live on the street below my house, Regal Cinema at Colaba. Her full name is Binodini; she was named after the heroine of the film Chokher Bali, which was showing at Regal at the time. (If you've seen the film, you'll understand why - Bini has the same melting eyes). She was energetic, lavish in her diplay of affection and completely besotted with my pet dog Ronnie. One day I found her sitting very quietly, only to discover that she had blobs of pus where her nails should have been. Even after a month of medication and dressing there was scant improvement, so on the doctor's advice I brought her home. It took her six weeks to recover and her address permanently changed from Regal Cinema ground floor to Regal Cinema second floor.

Binodini has been with me three years now, and I've seen so many avatars of her. Bini the shredder - she was equally fond of decimating bed sheets and new dogs in the area. Bini the affection dispenser - I just step into the house and she's all over me. Bini the scavenger - no matter what I feed her, the contents of the dustbin are always more alluring. Bini the coward - she can't handle our ginger cat Champak. Bini the race horse - she runs through my passage in a flash.

Its funny, when I had my earlier pet Sonia, also from the street below my house, I thought she was the most beautiful dog in the world. She was jet black, sleek with erect ears, she was quiet and undemanding, just the way a dog should be. Bini's all white except for a patch of brown on her. She has beautiful expressive eyes; she is vivacious, maddeningly affectionate; aggressive with strangers and sometimes friends - just the way a dog is meant to be.

Daisy Sidhwa