I have been a pet owner since 2011, and I have no intention of turning back as an animal lover. My mother and I had worked selflessly for the innumerable dogs and cats, including the pets and the strays. In this recollection of memories, I will only write about my first pet, Chiki, and her family. This story was initially published in the “Our Pets and Us” anthology and today, I am publishing it with some modifications and additions along the way.

Life gives you roses and thorns. Life gives you floral fragrance and bleeding. That does not mean you are wrong now. You are not right either.

What I loved the most was your bravery and courage to be true to yourself and the words throughout the book. Young girls like us need you because we need to stop victimizing ourselves. See ourselves beyond the cage of self-pity and destruction.

“Don’t be shy. Have some food, water and enjoy,” said one of them. It has been a year. I never knew anyone’s name except a few. The people in the pandal knew me but not my name. I am referred to as the “Baccha Meye (little girl)” who is always offered food packets and checked upon every time I leave for the office in the morning and return home in the evening. 

“Don’t light the diyas here. We have to take care of the safety inside the pandal,” remarked Joy Uncle while attending to people and asking them whether they had the prasad or not. Half of his kurta is drenched in sweat. I stand inside the pandal, asking Thakurmoshai to give me something that I can keep for a lifetime, just like my saree.

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