You and I, in this beautiful world.

Today I took Lucy out to meet my friends in Andheri. 

Let me rephrase that:

Today, for the first time, I took Lucy out to meet my friends in Andheri.

It was quite exciting actually! Me and her driving down at 12am listening to Lobo on the radio.

I sang a verse and she licked my face.

We reached a little early so had to wait under the building till everyone else reached.

In the mean time Lucy's charm woke up all the dogs in the neighbourhood. 

This was fun.

A silent neighbourhood at this hour with street dog barks that echo till Lokhandwala, those are the streets of Yari Road! What made it worse were the giant-eyed stares the watchmen around gave me because of this.

Anyway, at least it wasn't raining. 

So we all met. Everyone was excited to meet Lucy and she was excited to meet them too.
Only difference being that her excitement died within 5 seconds. I love her that way. She's like,
*HEYY!!* *hug* *hug* *lick* *paw* *wag* *wag* *bye*.

Adorable.

A little while passed, we were all contemplating life and enjoying the breeze on the terrace.
This is when things started to get surreal. I could feel Lucy telling me that she had started feeling cold. So I went and sat next to her and hugged her. She hates hugs, obviously. Lucy. But that moment, I could feel her emotions. I knew she was uncomfortable in the environment. She was slowly getting into her defensive position and she was way too alert. The kind of alert that turns even the most domestic into wild. 

But she was very subtle about it. So subtle it was almost subliminal.

And somehow I could feel the gravity of the state she was in. 

Though funnily, it's not like she wasn't having fun. She was loving the attention everyone was giving her by petting her and playing with her.

You know how the connection is between a Dragon and his Rider? The kind that is mentioned between Eragon and Saphira? It's as though they become one being. I think I felt the way same way with her, though on a slightly smaller scale. 

So we left. 

We reached the car and she dove right in. Poor thing. I followed her in, she jumped on me and licked my face. I apologized to her and then we turned on the radio and started to drive home. Only this time listening to the morose Adnan Sami on the radio. (I wish 94.3 were a 24/7 radio channel.)

She was safe. She was warm. And she was once again excited about being in the car with the windows down and the brilliant monsoon breeze.
We reached home safely. Generally when I get home at this hour she starts barking loudly from the bedroom, waking everybody up. I could never sneak back in the house because of her.
But today she was with me.
As I bent to get her out of her leash, she licked my face again and quietly walked into the bedroom with me. She popped into bed next to Sehar and I put her blanket on her.

It wasn't the most successful trip, but it really brought both of us so much closer.  We both felt it. 

Sometimes in the midst of trying to take care of your pets, you forget, tragically, how much joy they can actually bring you. I will be spending so much more real quality time with her now.