What If It Rained Cats and Dogs?

How can it possibly rain cats and dogs?

I have time and again mentioned in my column, that there is no dearth of dogs in our vicinity.

I have also written many poems and prose pieces on our pet Nipper who was killed by a University colleague of my dad. long, long years back. I still see Nipper in my dreams and get up shuddering and perspiring.

Of late, two stray dogs have very conveniently adopted us. One is the very epitome of sloth and the other is hyperactive, always on the lookout for some fun. When the next-door tenants, two college-going girls who had adopted a stray cat, vacated the house,  they took the cat away with them. These two dogs had become very friendly with the cat, and I had been witness to many heartwarming scenes of canine-feline bonhomie. The cat’s departure left them crestfallen.

Now both of them sit outside that vacant house, time and again casting wistful looks at the door. It rips my heart. Their eyes eloquent pools of wistfulness, the Lata Mangeshkar song from Haqeeqat threatening to erupt from their hearts:

Zara si aahat hoti hai to dil sochta hai,
kahin yeh vo to nahi

During my walks, I have come across many varieties of dogs — Poodles, Pomeranians, Labradors, and Alsatians, and have often wondered at the ingenuity of the person who coined the phrase, raining like cats and dogs. How can it possibly rain cats and dogs? Why not pigs and porcupines? Or rats and rhinos?

What if a Labrador dropped on my head? What if an Alsatian came hurtling down? What if our childhood kitten, Lizzy was reborn on my rain-drenched head?

I  hold a dream close to my heart, of one day traveling through the length and breadth of  India with a poodle like Charley, ‘the mind-reading dog‘ of John Steinbeck in Travels with Charlie: In Search Of America [1962, Travelogue].

No, I wouldn’t call my camper Rocinate after Don Quixote’s horse. I would call it something else. something original.

I recall that Charley was a proud. elegant poodle who never could participate in dog shows, due to his crooked front teeth. it was indeed a long time back that I read the book, and I don’t remember the details, but what I remember is their mutual love. The dog is indeed man’s most loyal friend, crooked teeth or straight teeth!

Morning Meanderings is a weekly musings column by Santosh Bakaya

“There have been many trips in his lifetime…he knows we are going long before the suitcase has come out, and he paces and worries and whines and goes into a state of mild hysteria.” 

This line flashed in my mind and lost in my thoughts about Steinbeck and Charley, I headed out for my morning walk. The dogs were outside, waiting for me.

Like Charley, they went into a frenzy of mild hysteria, whining, whimpering, wanting to be petted. Without giving in to their pleas, I walked on, and they followed loyally. Suddenly the sky was covered with dark, sinister-looking clouds. I looked up.  Was it about to rain cats and dogs?

What if a bulldog fell over me? What if the rainclouds unleashed dogs of war over me? I scurried for cover under an awning. The dogs followed me, a look of bewilderment on their loyal faces.

Again Steinbeck spoke: “I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that dogs think humans are nuts.”

Did they really think that I was a nutcase, petrified of the rain?

Soon an emaciated little kitten also joined us under the awning. The eyes of the two canines lit up. The kitten looked scared at first, but soon, to my immense pleasure, they became a tactile threesome.

It continued raining cats and dogs, but I felt pretty safe in the reign of my dogs and cat.

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About the Author

Santosh Bakaya ( 174 Posts)

Dr Santosh Bakaya is the author of three mystery novels for young adults, and a book of essays titled Flights From My Terrace, which was recently published as an e-book on Smashwords. Her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad Of Bapu has been published by Vitasta Publishers, Delhi, India in May 2015 and has been receiving rave reviews from everywhere. Although a Political theorist, with a doctorate in political theory, it is literature which has been her first love. She was awarded the Reuel international award for language and literature 2014 for her long poem Oh Hark!, which forms part of the Significant Anthology. Many of her poems have figured in the highly commended category in Destiny Poets, a UK based website and many are part of international anthologies. Right now, she is giving the final touches to her satirical novel, tentatively titled Sanakpur Shenanigans.
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