Saturday, January 30, 2010

Purrfect bus ride of a cat and the story of our Andrew!

Today I came across this interesting video:

A cat has become such a well-known user of a Devon bus service that its drivers know where to let him off.

Casper has been queuing with other passengers to get the number three service from his home in Plymouth for months, bus company First said.

The company says the cat often curls up on a seat during the ride.

This reminded me of our dog, Andrew who was behaving like this, yes, nearly!

We lived in a Colony in Hosur (Tamilnadu border town near Karnataka) for some six years. The place is an Industrial town and most of the residents were people from outside the States. All of us had family friends, who were very close to each other.  We, three families were very very close - when the children had holidays, the children lived in each others' houses for two three days too!  And we had the habit of leaving our children with our friend's family, if we had to attend some function of our relatives in Chennai or Udupi or they used to send their children to our house if they had to go out of station.  All the three families had two children each, nearly of same age group. All of them went to the same school too.  I had one extra child, Andrew, our dog!  

One of my friend's house was some 3 Km. away from my place.  We had an auto stand in one corner of our colony and the autowallas were very familiar with our families.  We used to use these autos for going to their (my friend's) colony.  Sometimes, we sent our children and Andrew together in these autos to their house, if we, I or my husband, didn't have time to go there.  The auto drivers and all the colony people were familiar with Andrew, our house was in a corner on the main road and the house was called 'naai veedu' (dog house!) by some people, I was told!

Once my friend came home with her children in the morning and planned to leave in the evening.  When she started bidding us farewell, our Andrew went out.  Initially, we didn't give much  importance to his behaviour.  After 5 mts. we were still chatting on the door step and heard an auto coming and stopping near us! And the driver came out and laughingly said that Andrew went to him and sat inside the auto and he brought him home! Then, it struck to us...this fellow thinking that he was also going to my friends house or wanted to go with them (outing!), happily went and brought the auto! 

Actually, they had just come for a visit, but feeling 'paavam' at Andrew took him home along with them and my husband went and brought him back the next day!

33 comments :

Anonymous said...

Lucky chap Andrew to have you & your family in his life !!!!!

:D :D :D :D

you should have posted his pic also !!!!!

Anonymous said...

this is a story that swells the heart !!!! seriously !

Swaram said...

Aww thatz so so sweet Sandhya ... I hv never hd pets but for a pup longgg bk and for a very short time, I so feel in luv with them again and again when I read ur posts. Andrew seems so sweet :)

Naai-veedu ... hw sweet :D

Its so nice when we hv such family friends rt :)

Sandhya said...

hitchwriter: He was a happy and well-behaved dog. We have many photographs of him with all the family members. Only one photograph of his, is remaining (rest of them are with my elder son!)with us. I had already posted it here: http://maradhimanni.blogspot.com/search/label/dogs

Many more stories are there of him! Thank you. He was with us for 11 years.

Sandhya said...

Swaram: Yes, those were the golden days of my family. Children were going to school, studying well, were watching TV together(!), had good close friends, hmmm.... I miss that life!

He was the first pomeranian dog of that new colony! Like IHM said, cats own us, dogs adore us!

Pixie said...

That is so so sweet! :)
Awww...

We never had pets, but, I'm hoping we get to have puppies/dogs sometime soon in life! :)

SG said...

That is so nice. Never underestimate the intellegence of a dog.

Renu said...

wah! Sandhya..what is the meaning of Paavam?

Sandhya said...

Pixie: Pet animals are stress breakers. We can be ourselves with them, esp. at our age, when the children are grown up, we need someone to pet, which we can do with animals always. They don't grow BIG/huge! You will enjoy them, definitely, Pixie!


SG: Yes, they are very intelligent in their own way, SG!


Renu: Paavam means, 'poor thing' 'paap'!

Destination Infinity said...

I cannot see the video of the cat, but I somehow like cats more than dogs! I think they have an attitude!!! I have also longed for a pet, but never been able to have one - hopefully things will become better soon.

Destination Infinity

manju said...

Lol! Your Andrew was almost human!

Sandhya said...

Destination Infinity: Nice to see you here again! Cats are easy to bring up. But we have to dance to THEIR tunes!


Manju: Yes, he was!

Anonymous said...

Awww!!! What an adorable and smart dog :) And you were so sweet!! You let him go too ... and brought him back the next day!!! This is such a dream life for any child and dog :) My kids have also had many, many friends coming and staying over at our place, many of who loved our place because of all the dogs and cats :)
- it's simply terrific to find such wonderful friends :)

Shail said...

Awww..... Sandhya, this is the sweetest story! I just love dog and cat stories and Andrew is such a cutie -pie it seems!

Sandhya said...

IHM: Yes, I never came across such friends afterwards.

He was very special for us. We still remember him, talk about him often and our first cat Koyla, who was with us for a short time but became very close to our hearts.

Thank you IHM.


Shail: I have got so many stories of our dog and cats and kittens! You will be reading about them!

vimmuuu said...

You never gave anything for Andrew to eat or what ?? :D :D :D :D :D

Im glad he came back and its also so helpful when your dogs familiar with your neighborhood ! He must be one great fella to be liked by all !!! That reminds me of my Snowy now. let me konjify him and come back ! :D

Aparna said...

Such a sweet story Sandhya.
Your kids were very lucky to have a dog when they were growing up. Having a pet teaches the kids so many things that sometimes as mothers we fail to teach. Unconditional love, responsibility, loyalty and true friendship.
My children regularly demand to have a pet at home. But I feel that staying in a small flat in Mumbai, I will not be able to give a dog the kind of space it deserves. So till that time, my children are growing up petting other dogs:)

Sandhya said...

Vimmuuu: Maybe! It was a colony, so everyone knew everyone!

'Hi' to Swnowy from our side!

Thanks for taking time to comment in your busy schedule! All the best Vimmuuu!


Aparna: Yes, he was very close to all the kids in the family! When we took him for walks, he used to pull us alongwith him. But when small kids were holding his chain, it was always hanging...he used to turn back, look at them and then walk! Though we lived in a flat, it was on the ground floor and in a corner. So it was easy.

I gave my brother two kittens and his flat people were scared when they crossed them on the stairs, so he had to give the beautiful black kittens, with whom his daughter became very close, to somebody else.

R. Ramesh said...

haha..nanri for reminding me to read abt andrew...vallah..u were in hosur is it? i pass by that area i think during my blore visits via road fm chennai..sad unga elloraiyum paarka mudiyathathu during the visit..next time insha allah...hey S, this story abt andrew is interesting ya..

R. Ramesh said...

btw, my wife works for caliber schol as teacher in mylapore..:)

Sandhya said...

Ramesh: Yes, we were in Bangalore for 6 years and in Hosur for 6 years. Then came back to Chennai.

Good, your wife will not be bored and you have nice daughters. Beautiful family!

kanagu said...

this is really really wonderful, sweet, heart-warming post... Andrew is really wonderful.. :) :)

Never had a pet in my life.. maybe later I will have cats... I don't like dogs being tied... Cats won't frighten many...

Wini said...

Very heart-warming post mami!
I remember playing with Andy when I was little. Used to feed him roti. He used to gently it from my hand, it was almost as if he knew he had to be gentle with me because I was a kid!:) Nice to see that so many people know him now and are talking about him.. after all these years! :D

Sandhya said...

Kanagu: We rarely tied Andrew. Only when we were going out, we had to tie him and while taking him for walk!

We don't have much work or responsibility with cats. Have one, some day, you will enjoy their antiques!


Ashwini: Yes, you were around one, when he was asking you for roti bits. We had shifted to Madras only then and all of us were scared to leave you alone with the dog, but he was so gentle with you. He was wagging his tail at you and you were feeding him bit by bit, all of us were watching the fun. He was taking the bits with the tip of his mouth, without touching your fingers! Since then no one bothered to monitor kids when they were playing with Andy!

radha said...

What an amusing story. Animals are so intelligent these days! Was away from the blogging scene for a while.. thus the late comment.

Anonymous said...

Thats such a sweet story,Sandhya! Andrew is so sweet!

Will be back to watch the video,am a little pressed for time now :)

Anonymous said...

That was the sweetest story ever! Andrew must have been so cute! And he even got to go on a sleepover with your friends :)

It is amazing how much animals pick up! I loved reading this post, Sandhya! Please do post more about your pets - you seem to have such lovely pets!

And lol @naai veedu :)

Sandhya said...

Radha: Yes, they are! Welcome back!


Deepu: That is a BBC video, interesting!
This story reminded me of Andy!


wordsndreamz: All of us enjoy watching animals and birds. Now, it is difficult for us to maintain a dog - age factor. So cats are using us!

Did you see the latest photo of Jinju with her kids? It is in 'zorro's story' post and the picassa library! Poohi's comments pl.!

Kavita Saharia said...

Wherever life took me i always had a chance to have a dog as a pet,even while i was in dental hostel we had two to three street dogs who lived in our hostel campus,i still remember their faces while i have forgotten faces of many of girls living there at that time.

Andrew's story is very cute...its cool that your house was called naai veedu..the whole thing about even the autorickshawaalas knowing your dog is very interesting.The cuteness of Andrew must have been very overpowering...that explains all the paavam he was showered with that day.

Great story Sandhya... i was not keeping well so was once again out of blogger for few days...hope nothing stops me now from being a regular again.

Sandhya said...

Kavita: Yes, the dogs show their affection in so many ways. Our Andrew expired in '95, but we talk about him so often even now. Not only myself, all the family members and friends, remember him. Even my husband's maasi, who is very religious, never touches dogs, fell for him. When she stayed with us, one day,he was sleeping near her, keeping his head on her foot. She couldn't push him!

Your village house must be having dogs. My grandma's house had one 'Mothi' who was my grandma's pet, but she wouldn't touch him! He was not allowed inside the house, but during thunder and heavy rain, he used to come to the Pooja room and sit with us children (we pray to Arjuna at that time) and my grandma will say 'paapa' (poor boy)!

Are you feeling better now? I thought that you were busy with all the festivals etc. in your ancestral home. Good to know that you are OK now. Take care.

Solilo said...

What a heart warming, sweet story, Sandhya!

Andrew is a cutie.

Sandhya said...

Solilo: Andrew was loved by everyone who came into contact with him.

Anonymous said...

That was so cute :) But I dont usually like dogs :( I am scared of them after a doberman chased me once. So never had any pets.

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