The Sentimentalist

What would a cold dry wind know about a warm sentimental T-shirt? If it did, it wouldn’t have blown my shirt off the terrace into the neighbor’s house. I stood on my terrace looking down at my shirt, crumpled up and lying by the sidewall of the house. I admit that the shirt is quite old and riddled with holes. I’ve even patched it up in a few places. But I am still holding on to it with all my heart. I wear the shirt only inside the house so that no one could see me in it, other than my mom of course. My father gifted it for one of my birthdays a few years ago. And he is not around for my next birthday. So yeah, I will keep the shirt. Period.

I have to retrieve the shirt before my neighbors see it. They’ll take one look at the shirt and judge me based on it. They wouldn’t understand my reasons. According to them, I am an upper-middle-class guy working in the software industry, earning a handsome salary, and buying branded stuff. And uncle Rajan, my neighbor, has always been comparing me with his son Nakul, who is my age. Nakul is into software too. Uncle Rajan likes to brag about how well Nakul is doing in his work, the frequent onsite trips he makes, the costly stuff he buys, and so on. If he sees the shirt, that would damage the image I’ve built for myself in this competition.

Anyway, there is no reason to worry. I will just go in and get the shirt. It will be an easy surgical strike. Well, that’s what I thought until I saw Peanut walk into view. Peanut was uncle’s dog and he was nothing like his name. He was a big, fully-grown Rottweiller. I’ve always wondered why they named him Peanut. In fact, I think he hates them for it and is just looking for an opportunity to have his revenge. He was not on a leash today and was roaming around freely. Why was he not on a leash? He was usually kept inside the house or tied to the window’s iron grill outside. Peanut and I don’t have a good history together. In the past, he has made a few attempts to bite off a piece of my backside. So, how was I ever going to get inside the house and retrieve my shirt?

My mind went blank. I didn’t want to ask my neighbor for the shirt. But I wanted it back so badly. It looked like I had no other choice. I dialed uncle Rajan’s number and heard his mobile ringtone. After a few rings, I heard his voice.

“Yes Sundar, tell pa”, he said.

“Nothing uncle just wanted to know if you are home”, I answered.

“No pa, I am outside. Why...anything important?”, he questioned.

“Nothing important, uncle. Actually, my shirt has fallen into your house. I thought I will come in and take it. But then I saw that Peanut is not leashed. So, I wanted to ask you for the shirt.”, I said, imagining that I would soon become a laughing stock for his family.

But uncle said, “Oh, but I will be back only in the evening pa. All of us are in Kancheepuram now. We will be back by 4 PM. I can give you a shirt then.”

“Ok uncle, no problem. I will wait until you get back”, I said.

“Don’t worry. You must have many new shirts with you to bother about this one. See you in the evening”, uncle laughed at his own poor joke before hanging up the phone.

It was only 11 AM. So, uncle wouldn’t be back for another five hours. I guess I didn’t have any other choice but wait for him; wait for him to come back and make fun of me. For now, I could imagine and cringe about it for the next five hours. Damn dog! It was making things difficult for me. As I stood cursing Peanut, I saw him walk over to the shirt and sniff at it. He then grabbed the shirt tightly with his teeth and shook it violently. Was he playing with it? He knew my smell and I guess he caught my scent in the shirt. I don’t think he was playing. He was going to rip my shirt to shreds. He couldn’t do it to me, so he was going to get his revenge by destroying my shirt. I caught myself imagining stuff and stopped the line of thinking. I had to do something to save the shirt.

As he kept shaking his head vigorously, he lost his grip on the shirt. The shirt flew a few feet and landed in the bushes by the side of the building. This was my moment. I whistled at Peanut from the terrace. He looked up immediately. The moment he saw me, he started barking madly. How much he must love me.

Okay, now I got his attention away from the shirt. But it won’t be for long. And I can’t retrieve the shirt if I am going to just stand on the terrace and hold his attention. I had to get down there and do something. He shouldn’t rip the shirt by then. Momentarily there was a sound from the front side of my neighbor’s house and Peanut dashed to the front gate. It was the postman. Peanut now stood at the gate and kept barking at the postman. That was good. I could work out a plan now. Maybe I could jump the wall and retrieve the shirt. But it was still too close to the front gate. I needed Peanut on the other side of the house. But how could I get him there? The moment he sees me, he is going to bark and keep all his attention on me. I need to cause a diversion without him seeing me.

I went downstairs and cautiously approached the boundary wall of my house. Peanut was still at the front gate and barking furiously at nothing now, as dogs always do. As I contemplated my next steps, my eyes fell on the coconuts stacked up against the wall at the back of my house. I knew what I had to do. But it would need an awful lot of timing though. I quietly tiptoed to the backside of my house and picked up a coconut. From my vantage point, I could see the boundary wall on the other side of my uncle’s house. I flung the coconut into the house. It landed on the ground with a loud thud and rolled to a stop against the boundary wall.

The effect was instantaneous. I heard an angry bark from Peanut. But I didn’t wait to see him run to the back of the house. I was already running to the front side of my house. From what I know about dogs, they have an excellent sense of direction. I was banking on the hope that Peanut would rush to the source of the sound, following the direction from which the sound came, which was the other side of the house. I was right. I heard him running on the other side. I didn’t have a moment to lose. In one swinging motion, I jumped the boundary wall into the house. I went to the bushes and quickly retrieved my shirt. As I turned to jump the boundary wall again, I saw Peanut turn the corner. He stopped on his tracks when he saw me. He bared his teeth and gave a low growl. Then he rushed at me at full speed. I stood petrified. He only had to cover a 20-feet distance. 

I regained my senses, and with adrenaline pumping, I jumped the boundary wall into my house. But as I landed on my feet, I felt a sharp pain in my arm as it was twisted behind my back. I turned around to see Peanut gripping the shirt with his bared teeth. He must have caught it as I jumped. He stood on two legs, balancing himself on the boundary wall. He pulled at the shirt violently. I tugged at the shirt at my end with all my strength. Instantly, Peanut let go of the shirt. I lost my balance and fell down. I thought he was preparing to jump the boundary wall to attack me. Scared out of my wits, I slowly got up only to see him back at the front gate. He now started barking at a cat on the road. That’s the thing about dogs. One moment, you are holding all their attention. And the next moment, you are not even there.

I came back indoors before I checked the shirt. I was dismayed by what I saw. The shirt was totally ripped where Peanut had grabbed it with his teeth. It cannot be worn anymore. My precious shirt was gone. And to think that I had also lost a coconut in my efforts to retrieve it. Such a loss. 

When I reflected upon it, I realized that I had gained something from the experience too. I conquered my fears today; my fear of Peanut; my fear of getting hurt; my fear of losing something precious. I saved my father’s most precious gift to me, myself, from getting ripped instead of the shirt.

The shirt was just a symbol of the sentiments I was holding on too tightly. I didn’t need it anymore. Smiling at my own realization, I went back to the boundary wall. I threw the shirt into my uncle’s house. Then, I whistled. Peanut came back running and barked at me. The next instant he saw the shirt, sniffed, and grabbed it once again with his teeth. He started playing with it vehemently. In his enthusiasm, he even forgot that I was still there, just a few feet away from him. 

I felt a strange sense of contentment seeing him play with the shirt. He was only a child. Who knows, maybe Peanut and I would get to become good friends eventually. But definitely not today. I came back indoors. I didn’t have to worry about my image anymore. When uncle sees the shirt, he is going to think that Peanut ripped it to shreds. He is even going to apologize for it. He is never going to know that I wore them with holes and patches in it. He is never going to know that I had jumped the boundary wall and stepped into his house. He is never going to know about how I escaped from Peanut. My image and my backside are intact. It was all that mattered to me. I don’t know what he was going to make of the coconut though.