feeding on James Herriot

James herriot has been my staple diet for the last few weeks. It is a good bedtime reading book, makes you feel nice and relaxed. The author's love for dogs comes through every line. And reading them day in and day out in a relaxed time has slowly made me very fond of dogs.It is an earthshaking revelation to me, as i would run when i spot a dog at the horizon.Prashant and me will be walking along marine drive, and suddenly and dart to one side and prashant will be perplexed as to where i vamoosed suddenly. He would not spotted a tiny mongrel at a distance that i had.
But that is digressing from the subject. I am now truly a dog lover and so went to oxford book store yesterday with the single and specific purpose of fishing out a book which has pictures of dogs and also tells an uninitiated like me, their various characteristics. I wanted to read them and relate to them when i read about them in 'All things bright and beautiful'.I managed to get two good books, one an encyclopaedia on dogs and the other "VIP dogs". It had chronicled the 'dogs life' of various cannines which were owned by VIPS. I glanced at it, looked interesting, plan to browse through it again in the next few days.
I also want to identify the dogs that i come across during my morning walks near my area. I think there are more dogs here, with and without a leash per square inch of space , than in any other place i have lived so far. If you cant fight them join them is the policy i am adopting now.
You watch this post for more 'dog stories'.
Yes, I am a convert!

First flight at 86

yes, athai finally did fly in her 86th year. And woh it was fun.She was excited planning for it and could not be kept away from having to share the minutest details about every aspect of flying. She could not believe it first, that she is actually booked by an indian airlines flight, she wanted to see it and asked hundred and one questions about it.Immediately after she was sure about her schedule, she planned the most important thing for her; the saree she is going to wear! She has an entire assortment of personal belongings which will put a modern teenage girl to shame; she took each of them out and sorted them and wanted clarifications whether to carry them with her or it can come with my husband a few days later. It required massive planning and redoing the luggage many times over. What about 'narthangai' which is a must during travel? can she carry a few pieces? Her cough syrup which is never too far away from her at anytime, will it pass through the x ray machine? while she has not actually travelled, she is a well aware person, who reads the tamil newspaper regularly and thoroughly and has an opinion on everything.She also has to listen to sun tv news in the afternoon and just before going to bed. So she knew about the various restrictions on travel baggage.But she just could not make up her mind about the numerous napkins/hand towels/throat losangels, whether they come with her or later.
The biggest issue of course was her hearing aid. Yasaswini told her not to wear them as they will cause her discomfort during the flight. So, she needs to carry them. then how will she handle the batteries and the spare batteries that she needs to carry in her hand baggage. She was quite anxious that they should not throw away the batteries, as each of them cost 30 rupees and nothing to be sneered at.
So everything sorted out and we reached the airport only to be told the flight is 3 hours delayed and will leave by 11.40 pm. We came back home and had our dinner and rested for a while and then headed back. she did not want a wheel chair as she said, the place is so well lit, she can see her way.She exulted in every single aspect of the airport that we have come to take for granted.The escalator, the mobile chargers, the restaurants, the water dispensers, and the x ray machines!
We got into the aircraft and prashant gave her window seat and sat by her side. She was talking non stop during take off with prashant just nodding and helping her with the seat belt. She was feeling sorry that she was not guided to take more toffees which were offered!I asked for and gave her a pillow and blanket and she thought i had pulled off something really great and was thanking me profusely for it. It gave her a lot of comfort she told me. The biggest surprise was when they served dinner and she wanted something light, like potato chips!, and at 12.30 in the night.That is athai for you.Zestful.
We got off at mumbai at 1.30 am and while prashant and me were feeling drowsy and wanting to just get back home and hit the bed, athai was full of beans and wanted to read all the road signs in mumbai and kept exclaiming about the skyscrapers and beautiful buildings.
Gave her warm milk and tucked her to bed beyond 3 am.Was checking her hand luggage and putting it away and saw a huge roll of cotton. I was intrigued and asked her, if she hurt herself or something, which made her want to carry such a huge roll? she said yasaswini asked her to carry cotton, to plug her ears during take off and landing and that is why she carried something extra!!