Anyone passing BD Market a few nights ago may have heard shrieks coming from a nearby house. The shrieks would be
frequent and dual-voiced. One would be the voice of Amrita Nandi and the other of her Pug Jimmy. And the two would have been watching The Conjuring 2.
“I was screaming and hugging him tight whenever I felt scared and just to give me company, so was he,” smiles Amrita, a Class VII student of Our Lady Queen of the Missions School.
Not just horror films, Jimmy likes a good football game too. “He’s a Brazil fan,” says Amrita, “and stayed up with my father all night to watch Brazil lift the Olympic gold a few weeks ago.”
The five-year-old Pug is dear to the whole neighbourhood and passers-by are known to stop their cars in front of their house and click pictures of him when he stands at the gate. “But he’s both obedient and intelligent and never steps out of the gates because we ask him not to,” says Amrita.
The only time Jimmy is naughty is when he’s left home alone. “He loves fruit cakes, rosogollas and egg poaches but even if we leave these goodies for him while we go out, he won’t touch them. What he will do is pee all over the place to express his displeasure,” Amrita shakes her head. “And then it’ll be up to me to discipline him. I’m the only one in the house Jimmy’s scared of.”
The Pug is scared of both Amrita’s scolding and loving. “Sometimes I cuddle him so much that he flees,” she laughs, trying to lift him and give him one such cuddle. But Jimmy tries to wriggle free and ends up scratching the girl’s arm. “Ouch,” she scowls, showing both her arms. “See, he’s scratched me all over.”
Amrita feels that her parents love Jimmy more than they love her. “I often get scolded but never him. In fact, Jimmy is a real scaredy-cat and he himself hides behind the couch when I’m getting reprimanded,” she says. “Even when the thunder strikes he comes running and jumps on top of my books. So I guess it means a lot to me when he feigns courage and sits to watch ghost movies with me.”
♦ If you have a pet you have brought up at home as a family member and which has its eyes only for you, do write to us with your contact number at The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or call 22600115 after 4pm or email to saltlake@abpmail.com
