Dreams can be amusing, amazing, scary, weird, you name it. Anyone who follows this blog ought to know that I have had some really odd ones. They say I don’t know who the ‘they’ are, just that there exists a ‘they’ who is an authority on the stuff dreams are made of, and the wisdom of this ‘they’ was passed on to me by someone or other – your dreams consist of only those things you are already familiar with in your life. That makes me think. Where do bears come in?

While taking a post lunch nap today, I dreamt my home was besieged by bears. Bears, I tell you. Why bears? I have never met them socially, just seen them in the zoo where they conveniently remain behind bars or deep trenches. Unlike the zoo bears, the ones in my dream, though huge in size, had sparkly eyes and cute inquisitive faces, almost like the soft toys loved by children. In fact they had ribbons around their necks, tied in a bow, and they also had on cute hats. In spite of their cuteness quotient being extremely high I seemed to be afraid of them in the dream, and was running around trying to close the doors to keep them out. How strange.. I have no idea what brought on this Attack Of The Teddy Bears kind of dream. The L&M thinks it must be the viral video I watched of a woman pushing off a bear from her boundary wall and saving her dogs.

Talking of videos, what is this sudden rash of videos of Indian mothers feeding dogs *with their hands* trying to prove? Like really, people! Get a life. If mollycoddling your sons (and at times daughters too) by mashing food and shoving it down their throats wasn’t bad enough now you are doing it to the dogs too. What the heck! Leave the poor dogs alone, like you should your grown children if you had any sense. I saw a video where a woman had a dog lying face up on her outstretched legs and was feeding it spoonful of gruel of some kind. This maa-ke-haath-ka-khaana business popularized by Bollywood is now taking its toll on the poor canines. Or it could all just be a ruse to make viral reels for social media platforms. I really, really hope that is the case and that the dogs are otherwise left to eat as dogs do.

Dogs remind me of cats. Don’t ask me why, they just do. I was frying fish for lunch today when I heard a kitten mewing. It was right outside my kitchen door. Ahh, I said, you want fish, right kitty? When I went to open the door, Luci who had been snoring away in the living room till then, was right at my heels. Where did you come from? I asked her. I thought you didn’t want to be disturbed till lunch time! But she had no time for me. Let me out, let me out, she clamored. I looked out cautiously. No kitty cat anywhere around. Luci’s loud protests had scared the poor thing. I saw it in the evening, sunning itself on the roof of the shed in the back. When I chirruped it raised its head and looked at me, a trifle reproachfully, Why you calling me now after setting the dog on me? What can I say? Without exception this is how all the neighborhood cats view me. That I guess is the cross I bear for being a dog-mom. 😉

© Shail Mohan 2021