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Spice of Life: Not diamonds, a dog’s a woman’s best friend

ByRadhika Attri
Oct 13, 2024 06:59 PM IST

Over the years, Tuffey has become closer to my cousin, closer than even her extended family. Like a fierce bodyguard, the retriever protects her from all and sundry.

We were taken aback when a golden Labrador came charging at us on ringing the bell of my cousin’s house in Panchkula. As she opened the gate, the dog turned even more aggressive, so we asked her to tie him up. Ignoring our request, she gently introduced her pet to us saying, “I’ve never tied my adorable Tuffey.”

Representational image. (HT File)
Representational image. (HT File)

Before we could insist, Tuffey was at our feet, sniffing and wagging his tail as we gingerly walked to the drawing room. Finally, he calmed down and let us be.

Just as my cousin sat on one side of double-bed, Tuffey leapt onto the other side and lay down next to her. Seeing our shocked expressions, my cousin told us, “It’s his space. He sleeps here at night, under the air-conditioner.”

Saying so, she headed to the kitchen to get us snacks, leaving us with Tuffey. His eyes glistened as he kept a close watch on us and ears perked up when we talked in whispers or giggled at our plight. Since I’m not much of a dog lover, I was more than happy to be the first to sit in the car as my family bid adieu to my cousin.

On our return, the conversation around Tuffey transformed my feelings for him from fear to respect. My cousin had lost her husband, who worked in the Haryana secretariat, when their son was just two years old. In order to get her deceased son’s job for her daughter on compassionate grounds, my cousin’s mother-in-law threw her out of the house and left her at the mercy of neighbours. Fortunately, they were good people and even fought the legal battle on her behalf. Thankfully, my cousin got her husband’s job.

Her only hope in life now was her young son, who she painstakingly raised as a single mother. In his adolescent years, her son brought home a Labrador pup, Tuffey, despite my cousin’s opposition. A few days later, a road accident claimed her son’s life and all my cousin was left with was Tuffey. He’s the last ‘living’ souvenir of her son and has stood by her through thick and thin.

Over the years, Tuffey has become closer to my cousin, closer than even her extended family. Like a fierce bodyguard, the retriever protects her from all and sundry, particularly misogynist males keeping an evil eye on the lonely widow. He soaks up tears shed in silence with his amusing antics as though he were her child. He became her companion during her lonely evening walks in the nearby park filled with nostalgic memories and reminiscences.

Barring office, Tuffey was always by her side with infallible alertness wherever she went, no matter how far she travelled in the car or at routine get-togethers, family functions, and even funerals. Tuffey’s presence boldly underlined that pure actions suffice. Their bond transcends sugar-coated words ordinarily used by humans to express how much their presence reciprocally means to each other.

Their story ended with the conversation in the car drifting to a random topic, but through the rest of the journey my heart kept wistfully wishing to rush back to my cousin’s home and hug Tuffey for unknowingly saving his star-crossed master’s life by becoming her life. 0423radhika@gmail.com

The writer is a government teacher based at Gagret in Una district.

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