"Hamdard kaa sinkaaraa"

Tonight's a very special night in Calcutta. The moon is brightly lighting up my terrace but hidden away by the thinnest of rain bearing clouds. As I type right now, I think it has started raining as I hear water hitting the tin ledges of my neighbour's house. I live for days like these when the air has that promise of rain, a delicious hint of coolness which is like a turbo charge to my office strained body.

No wonder, that for the first time in my life I won a game of dog-tag. Every night when I come back from office, I have to involuntarily participate in this toughest of physical challenges. It's true that when I first enter home, my dog treats me in a manner worthy of a Biblical story of the second coming of Jesus Christ but after a few minutes she is playfully biting my ankles. The reason? I have to entertain her in a game of what I call "dog-tag" which essentially is alternate sessions of me chasing her and she chasing me. On normal days, I am like that wasted guy at the beginning of the old time DD ad of "Hamdard kaa Sinkaara" wheezing along without much hope. "Yeh bechaaraa kaam kaa bojh kaa maaraa, isey chahiye Hamdard kaa Sinkara" could easily be my status at the end of every working day.

Today however, I was more the guy at the end of the ad who after a dose of the magic medicine shoots up the stairs long before the lift gets there , smiling with all his healthy teeth. In fact, I ran with such enthusiasm that after two years of trying and failing, I finally got my dog to just plop down in front of my feet, tired and tongue lolling out in submission. After this abject surrender by my rival, I sat down next to her on this night blessed by a beaming moon and revelled in my victory. The secret to life's happiness can be just so simple sometimes. Work like a dog and then play with a dog! Just when I was getting trippy on the wonderful breeze that the Ganga was blowing across a drowsy Calcutta, a sharp nip on my elbow shattered my reverie. My dog had recharged too. Seems like there was some kind of a series on. I had barely won the first match. Oh well! I guess this "sinkaaraa" was not for humans alone.