May 8. “You go first.”

“No problem, Button.”

PIPPA’S HOMECOMING

Pippa, where are you? Pippa!

What’s happened? Are you looking for someone?

Pippa seems to have disappeared. I can’t find her. Last night, before going to bed, when I checked in on her, she was all curled up and fast asleep!

Let’s look. Maybe she’s gone for a walk.

A walk!

Pippa came home riding piggyback on an earthenware vessel which serves as a water bowl for Raja. Incidentally, Raja is a stray living on Carmichael Road. As the vessel was all slimy and mouldy, we got it back home to clean it up.

The next thing we did was give her a name and adopt her. A snail and adoption! Nevertheless, we named her Pippa and gently placed her on one of our potted ferns.

I would check in on her quite a few times each day and got the distinct impression that she was enjoying herself.

She’d roll in the mud, climb up the tulsi she shared her space with, do the bungee-jump or simply roll up and just go to sleep. Therefore, one Sunday morning, when I went to look her up, as was my usual practice, I was shocked to find her gone!

I didn’t fret till late evening, when I found that Pippa had still not returned! A few unpleasant thoughts crossed my mind—Had MoJo eaten her up? Had she climbed on the window ledge and taken a leap of faith! Had the mynah who used to come and camp on the scaffolding outside the kitchen window pick her up and carried her away as a special dish for his Sunday brunch!

It wasn’t strange because, even when she was sharing the vessel of water with Raja, she was in the habit of going for long walks. I had even found her missing on one or two occasions but, then, she had always returned.

The entire family including the house staff did a thorough search but Pippa was not to be found!