A letter to Sufi

Sufi, what a strange one you were! You arrived and left unceremoniously, leaving no trail in either case. It was my birthday and Radhika had taken me out for dinner and when we reached home at about 1 a.m., there were you, the most adorable honey-coloured creature, quite battered but waiting as though it were your mission to do so. Kindly neighbours were feeding you since you looked starved and were bleeding from every pore.                                                When i saw you sitting on my pristine white situ-floor among the hazaar plants, i gave a start. You saw me and said aloud, ``at last we meet``. You told me your name and decided you were staying with me. Someone suggested i send you off to SPCA and Pji said that he would send them to SPCA if they were mean to you. That kinda decided it. You were mine. The rest of course is a marvellous story. A fairy tale. i had to travel to Baroda once and panicked like crazy because to leave you behind was unthinkable and you would have loathed the pressurised cabin in the aircraft in that prison of a dog-box for which you were far too tall, anyway. You travelled with me to Baroda on the train and loved it so much, you wanted me to buy one for you. And that too, as i told Rongee the other day, would`ve been fine, but where would we have parked the darn thing, your lofty verhicle? You were the only dog who fraternised with the peacocks in our neighbourhood and was secretly scared of the big tom-cat lurking around, inspite of your nearly 30 solid inches of body height. You were an incredible creature. A prophet by profession. That is why you had to leave suddenly, i know.                                                                                                                                        Today, it is exactly six months since you left and i just send you this foolish note because for one, you were a high-tech guy and loved receiving mail (remember all that email exchange you had with Pji, you strange one?) and also because, most of all because noone but you really knows how i miss you. i have heard of odd things that happen in the kingdom above, Sufi. i have heard that souls get refreshed every now and again and inhabit a new body. i also hear that your dog can be as good as your own child and that even if he pretends to go away, he will soon return wearing new furs. Hey, did you hear the same stories as well? And are you taking so long just because you chose to travel by that stupid train? For this once, i implore you, get on a flying carpet. It will cost you nothing. And will bring us a whole new world of happiness. Think about it. All my love, a.