Pikey

I adopted Pikey a few months ago, outside Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, where I studied Mass Communications.

It's a funny story really because I was hurrying into college at around 12 noon, to write my final exam, my last paper on literature, to complete my course and get my degree. I arrived on campus about 10 minutes early for the paper. So I was standing outside the hall trying to do some last minute revision.

Well, my college has always been very pro-INDog and the college dogs are well known by all the faculty and students. So when little Pikey, who was just a puppy then, ran in front of me, I had to stop studying to see who this new puppy on campus was. Turns out, he had wandered on to the campus and was desperately crying out and darting about as he didn't know where he was. The other dogs in my college, Stephano and Gloria, were running after this poor puppy trying to show him he had wandered onto their territory.

At first I thought I'd just play with Pikey for a little while to calm him down, and feed him something from the canteen so he wouldn't be so frightened. But half an hour later, when I realised everyone had gone in for the exam and I had forgotten all about it, playing with Pikey, I decided to give my exam a miss and take him home with me.

He was very nervous in the autorickshaw ride to my house, but once he met the family and had something to eat, he started exploring the house and getting comfortable enough to sit on the sofa.

Yesterday I took him for a ride in my car, and as usual, in true Pikey style, he was very nervous and refused to get into the car. But once he was in and the breeze was in his doggy face, he seemed to start loving it and even barked at all the dogs outside. It was very cute to see his pointy ears being blown back in the wind and the way he enjoyed the breeze by the window!

Sagari Shetty
Bangalore