I was telling a friend that if I ever think of getting a pet for myself, it's definitely going to be a couple of speckled padlopers. Long ago, I had seen them at a female friends' place, where they were referred to as Singapore Tortoise. They are immersive pieces of biology that can have you engaged for hours together.

Then my friend revealed that he would like to cherish a dog as a pet. I was beginning to think that dog, doggie and pet are so synonymous. And "My pet is a Dog!" is becoming so much clichéd than ever before.

Before, I could think more about pets and clichés, my friend started speaking.

"I have always loved dogs. And you know, the next very understanding being is the cow. I remember the time when I was rebuked for some felony of mine, and I would flee from home, and go and sit in the cowshed, speaking to my cow. Caressing it, talking to it, and complaining. Complaining about what I loved doing, and enjoyed, and the others despise. I used to cry, and the cow would do the same. Its patience and motionlessness subtracted all my agony. It crippled the complainer in me. It made me stable, more patient and more all-observing.

Then, there was Raja, my wonderful dog. I used to flee from home when punished, and a bewildered Raja would follow me. It would follow me to where my legs couldn't take any more, where I would succumb to the dust, in the shade of an old tree. He would try to keep pace, and would always snuggle up to me when I collapsed. Every single time I shoved it away, slapped across its face, and directed the lava of my angered vent towards Raja. It suffered every atrocity, every fit of anger with a perseverance that was infinite. With dropped ears, and moist eyes, and a tail tucked in its hind legs, it came back to me recursively. Every time it came back, it came back with a hope that I will be mellow again, without fearing whether this another attempt would result in a slap across its muzzle. Eventually, I would cool down and hug it close.

I learnt perseverance from Raja. A pet for me would be a dog. Now you know..."

With this he came back from the flashback, and the haze disappeared from his eyes, as they focussed at me and his mind synchronised with the present.

I was moved, but I would still have a couple of speckled padlopers.

What kind of pet would you (or do you) have?