Blacky and Browny are two street dogs whom I met outside the office of my companion. I had heard about them from him but it was my experience with them that still continues to amaze me.

Wondering what is so unique about these two street dogs ?!!!! Well, believe me ….. plenty….

These two dogs are sort of unofficial watchdogs with the security personnel manning the entrance of the office where my husband works. So one day when he tried to enter the premises in the absence of the security personnel, these two made sure that he would not be able to enter the gate till the security guards returned. No, they did not bark or bite or do anything in between.. they simply made sure that he petted them by literally putting up their paws onto his chest, with wagging tails.. Winning strategy I would say… My husband came home that night with the tale of these intelligent twosome.

Next day, my sweetheart took along some eatables for them … of course he was in love with their ingenious way of stalling his entry into his own office!!! The twosome simply refused to eat anything and again made sure that they got enough cuddling and petting from him for people to start believing that they must be his pets!

The favourite place of sleeping for Blacky is the sofa designated for guests which she forfeits with a look that would make any human being feel pretty bad about dislodging her from her comfort zone! Her second best choice is the air conditioned workplace. My companion tells me that in case she is having her beauty sleep in there, she will acknowledge his presence with a thump of the tail, a quirk of her ear and by opening one of her eyes. But beyond that she will not move a single muscle. The silent message – “if you want to love me and want to pet me then come to me, rite now I am resting and am not going to move my ass!!”

It appears that Blacky is more vibrant and involved in things around her than Browny who is more of the silent, sensitive and diplomat kind. Kids come for skating in the campus adjacent to the office of my companion. So one day my husband found that not only all the kids were listening to the ranting of their skating instructor but so was Blacky. It seemed that Blacky had a huge grin plastered on her face at the plight of the children. When she saw my companion, she gave him one of her brilliant smiles, thumped her tail and went back to listening what the irate instructor had to say.. all the while sitting at the back of the kids circling their instructor.. 

So on and off I would kept on hearing various anecdotes about their antics from my husband and then came the moment of absolute surprise for me…

It was the festive season and my husband was working. So in the evening me and my mom were scheduled to pick him up  from his office on our way home from the puja pandal. Once we reached there, I got out of the car, intimated him about our arrival and started to walk around since this was my first visit to his current office.

Suddenly I saw one black dog making its way towards me with a grin on its face and a wagging tail. You guessed it right.. it was Blacky. I was nowhere near the gate. Till date I dont know how she recognised me or why she came towards me on her own. I love animals… thats a fact. But in this particular case, I had not even noticed that she was there. I will never forget the expression in her eyes… full of love and laughter… as if we were long lost friends who were getting reunited …. As soon as she saw an answering grin on my face, she simply ran upto me, putting her front paws on my chest, trying her level best to lick me anywhere and everywhere…. it felt like a homecoming to me. I  can recall very few occassions in my life where human beings have given me such genuine, warm and unconditional love or made me feel so welcome. Following her closely and watching me with eager and soulful eyes was her partner Browny. He did not immediately come up to me but waited patiently for Blacky to shower her exuberance on me. It wagged its tail, a little less vigorously than Blacky but with such a soulful look in its liquid brown eyes that my immediate reaction was to nod my head towards him. That was enough to start an avalanche of affection from him too. Browny is bigger than Blacky and heavier too. He simply came forward, nudged his nose inbetween me and Blacky for his share of petting. Once he realised that Blacky had no intentions of letting him get in between, he went over to the other side and stood up with his front two paws on my chest! I realised that if I did not want to land up on my back on the road, I had better do something about my position!So all three of us shifted to the pavement near the road to continue our non verbal conversation…

For the next few minutes, all three of us were deeply engaged in simply sharing our love for each other. Blacky wanted to have all the attention whereas Browny was sure that such a proposition was not fair!! So on one hand I had Blacky licking my hands, my face and my feet to make sure that she had the maximum attention and on the other hand, Browny would simply nudge his wet nose under my elbow to get his share of love and petting. What was amazing was the way both of them would look up at me… I can still feel that choking sensation of the emotions that I had experienced and those tears of absolute bliss and homecoming that I had felt at that moment. The unconditional love that these two bestowed upon me was amazing….

Once my companion arrived on the scene, Blacky continued to stay with me unabashedly. But we discovered that Browny was quite a diplomat! He immediately looked pretty concerned about what my husband would think about their display of affection towards me. He moved towards him with a look of trepidation and an expression which seemed to say that his loyalty towards him was in no way compromised! Once he petted him and said that it was alright with him for Browny to be going over to me, Browny waited for a few more seconds before coming back to me for more petting!!!  It was amazing the way these two dogs can communicate with their eyes… They understand what we are saying in words or through our silence and respond immediately to that…

I have gone to meet my husband a couple of times after that day…. sometimes with a reason and sometimes just for meeting those two loving creatures! Each time I have come back with so much of unconditional love and affection which I cannot describe and limit in words… Its an experience, which I hope, I shall continue to have with them for a long long time…