Baba Furry

As far as I remember we have had a pet in the house. When we were young and my father was in service we used to live in houses with huge compounds and invariably had a dog to guard it . House cats to catch mice were a sine qua non. We also had,over a period of time various other pets like pigeons, ducks, hens and even a squirrel. Then my father retired and we had to come to Bangalore where houses were small and we could only keep cats.

It took almost 20 years for the pet mania to revive. I was posted to Hospet where again we had the luxury of a large compound and we acquired 3 dogs. We came back to Bangalore with 2 dogs and therafter went to Dharwad. One of the dogs died in Dharwad. When in the year 2000 despite my best efforts I had to go to Mumbai this dog - a strapping Doberman had to be given away as we just couldn't keep him cooped up in a 2 bedroom flat . The pain made us resolve to keep only pets we could keep with us under all circumstances and when we were in Hyderabad we got a persian cat.

We grandiosely named it Nazneen Pasha but children always called it Mata as it gave us two cute kittens - Rustom Pasha and Ghazi Pasha alias Baba Furry

When transferred to Mumbai we had the good fortune to stay in Nerul where the Bank's residence had a 1 1/2 acre compound. We practically had a mini zoo .

Over time we have now been left with only Baba Furry. I have retired and Baba has become old and cantankerous. Two old souls giving each other company.