Comfort zone: In the loving company of dogs

After I packed up six years of my life in Chennai and shipped it off to Bengaluru, I walked to the supermarket and bought two packets of Marie Gold and called out to Manickam. He came running slowly but with his tail up in the air and gobbled the biscuits up, three at a time. Through the first few months of the isolating pandemic, he was my only source of joy.

But I was happy to return to my parents’ home since I could finally reunite with five-year-old Indie, Penny Lane, who used to live with me in Chennai but had to move to Bengaluru because I had an annoying landlord (as usual). And after ten years, I was also back to sharing the house with my 12-year-old Tibetan terrier puppy, Beatle.

At home, every night, usually just after I shut my laptop, Penny scratches my door. Then I open it and let her inside. In the two seconds that it takes me to bolt the door again, she always manages to capture my pillow and then will refuse to move, no matter how much I push and shove her. Finally, I’d settle on the edge of the bed and hug her….

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