Me and My pets

Audience: All

When my family got a doggy in my hometown, I was so scared. More than scare, I hate them licking. Its Sunny,a 11 yr old and till date I haven't even touched or allowed it to come to me. My parents understand and keep him away if I go to my hometown. A year back, I read a book Marley and Me by John Grogan . It was awesome by the way the author has penned his experience with his pet.I really wondered what the feeling is like.

Recently I felt like having a pet for myself. Coincidentally one of my colleague said her pug gave birth to 4puppies and she wanted to give them away as she cannot take care of them. I said I will take one male pug, and I ended up buying two male pugs from her, so that they have each others company.  Sunny and Bunny, I named them and they are already a part of my life.

I made myself comfortable touching them and started slowly getting them trained for my lifestyle. Cleanliness is utmost important for me, unfortunately they ended up with me who gets their feet washed every time they go out and come:D. They hate taking bath but I make sure they are bathed with dettol water everyday. I hate them licking, I used to push them when they come to me with excitement. I feel guilt when I am sitting in office thinking the way I push them. They are hyper active.

Its been 3weeks for now, They are already a part of my life. I cannot imagine my life without them. I have started taking breaks from office to spend time with my puppies. My 2hrs in a day goes in cleaning the mess, but believe me Its worth it. The feel that you get when they come jumping in excitement to lick your feet when You are back at home from office is great. The feel when they hold your feet when you are leaving to office is great. At-times I just try ignore their hungry face. Sunny, the naughtiest of the two barks, jumps, stands holding my sofa to grab my attention. When I look at him, he pushes his cup to give him food.

They are special puppies. They are lazy and sleep 16 hrs a day:). They take cerelac . They dont take anything other than that. They love milky chew sticks. Give them sticks and they forget you for an hour busy chewing them. They look at me for two things. One to feed them and second to clean their mess. I dont believe I am doing this, but when I look at them and their innocent faces I just forget everything. Life is busy but these pets tell you how to live. I have now started to love every dog I see.

When I go to pet care center for checkups and vaccinations, I meet people, Pet owners. They are all same, pet lovers and we are friends now talking about the pets upbringing. I talk to them about their food, potty training and their medical and spa requirements. I just feel I am their mommy:). When someone rings my door bell, I open carefully saying my kids are inside and I cannot allow anyone inside. Can you beleive! My kids:D.We think puppies dont understand anything, but its so untrue. Take them to hospitals, all pets are well mannered infront of the vet doctor. They hug me tightly when I take them to doctor. They are scared, but I love it. They hug me as if there is no world around. I love the feeling.

If anyone is scared of pets, I would like to tell you they are worth having around. They are faithful, lively. They bring new reason in your life to live happily. Some tips for pet owners or would be pet owners

1. When you are getting them home first time, small puppy(few days /months old), wrap them in a towel and hold them carefully. Hold them like a baby because they are same. They will be scared and will be quiet for a day till they get used to you and their new place.

2. Love them but donot over feed them. They need more love than food. The doctor says limit the intake specially pugs because they are lazy and they put on weight, They cannot take more weight because of their structure and it will be difficult as they grow older because they cannot carry themselves. I fed cerelac for 60days and now I feed them a fistful of puppy starter(science plan is a brand I started using) four times a day as per vet advice. I feel bad when they look at me as if they have been starving for a week or so:). Just try not look at them for their own good. I feed marie biscuit to get them used to solid food and get rid of cerelac. You can give them milky chew sticks to keep them busy and forget eating till you feed them. Doctor suggests that its not food that interests the puppies or dogs. they just love chewing stuff. So feed them right even if you feel they look hungry or ask for it. If you are already feeding cerelac, slowly stop giving them. Donot stop immediately because it takes sometime for puppies to get used to the food.

3. If they are small puppies, donot give them solid food or milk for 60days. They can be lactose intolerant. Give them any baby food. If baby food(cerelac) is expensive for you, boil veggies ,mash them and feed them. Try Ragi malt but my puppies didn't even touch it, i had to go with cerelac because they just love it and I donot have an option. Now I have slowly reduced the cerelac and giving them puppy food. Will stop cerelac in a week or so.

4. Donot keep food 24/7. Fix a time for them so that they know when to have food. Feed them 4times a day and keep it for 15mins and take it off later. If you keep them for longer, they take their own sweet time and they will not have fixed time for food. Water keep it for 24/7.

5. For potty training, make it a habit to take them out twice a day. Take them to same place so that they know why they are out for a walk. They relieve themselves in same place and they get it by the smell. So make sure you don't change their walking place very frequently. At home, they try smelling places and they turn thrice around, so its a sign they want to pee. Take them to place where you want them to pee and hold it for 2 mins. They will do it.  This way they know where to pee next time. I have placed a paper where I want them to pee. I change papers once a day because puppies go with the smell. Usually the time they pee is after food. Make sure you take them to the place for peeing so that they don't mess it up. If they pee in some place where you don't want them to, tell them immediately or just lift and place them where you want them to pee. If you scold later, they don't know why you are scolding and they will be scared of you when you scream at them. Remember to appreciate them when they do things right. Verbal appreciation is enough. Don't over touch them, they don't like it.

6. Don't take the puppies out or allow others to touch without washing hands before they are vaccinated. Its not good for both. They need 3 vaccinations so make sure they get it done on time. Regular checkups are needed for a healthy and long puppy life.

7. Handle them with care. Rub them frequently to show them you care for them specially near the ears and their neck line. They need it at times and they love it.  Remember don't make it a habit to carry them or hold them always. Its difficult when they get older. They get used to it and expect you to carry them every time. So leave them unless its required to carry.

8. Bathe them daily with warm water with dettol or just water.Bathe doesn't mean pouring water. Just wipe them with wet cloth and dry them immediately. they fall sick very easily. Keep them and their place clean. Wash their feet regular after their walk to keep them clean. Important note, avoid waters near ears. Don't allow water to enter the ears. Its dangerous for the puppies/dogs. If its summer you can bathe them with cool water because puppies enjoy it. They need cool place so keep the place cool and keep cleaning the floor with cold water. They love cold floor.

9. Wash their mouth as soon as they eat.specially pugs. They don't allow you, but try and wipe them with wet cloth. Since they have very small nose and food blocks their nose, then it will be difficult for them to breathe.

10. Clean puppies ears with finger. Wrap cloth to ring finger and clean it. Make it a habit because over period of time if dust accumulates its difficult to clean them if your pets are not used to ear cleaning. Train them when they are small so that its easy on a long run. Don't use earbuds.Its not good if the cotton gets stuck in their ears.

11. If you feel your home is stinking because of the pets, which as a pet owner I am used to it and don't feel anything, spill baking soda. It acts as a deodorizer.

12. If they are sick, you can give them paracetamol, Dolo/crocin should be Okay. If you feel they are having stomach infection, give them tablet for deworming/give gelusil. Check with your doctor before giving them for first time.Later you can take a call. If you stay in Bangalore, I found Cessna Lifeline Veterinary Hospital reliable. They have emergency services too. The treatment is good and reliable.

Address: #148, HBCS, Amar Jyothi Layout, KGA Road, Off Intermediate Ring Road, Domlur, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560071.

Landmark: Turn leftimmediately after FIAT showroom near domlur. Few meters away from Domlur - Koramangala flyover

Phone:080 3016 1324

My puggies are still small and hyper active. I am training them, but I still have tough them getting used to it.

a. Food at times they take me for granted and keep asking for it at irregular times. Wake up at 3am just to check them, they come running and push their bowl to feed them. Man it kills me, I cant see their hungry face. Naughty little ones. But the doctor has strictly advised to stop over feeding them and I am having a tough time now.

b. They pee all the time. Specially when they take cerelac. I have two puppies sometimes they do it at the place I want and at times they do wherever they feel like. Luckily they are still small and its limited to floor. Its scary to even think what if they mess my bed/sofa/dining chair:(.

I spend my most of the time at home cleaning the mess. First clean with dettol water, then plain water, then lizol and then plain water again. I just clean it, and one puppy goes and pees again. I feel like screaming , sunny/bunny...Noooooooooooo. But cant help. I end up cleaning again. At times I feel they have some grudge on me.

At times I need to bear their drama. Scold them they will go in one corner and sleep. They don't even eat. Call them, they look at me and look somewhere else as if they are ignoring me.I have to cuddle them to bring them in form again. They run like mad dogs at times else they just silently sleep. I am fine with both but I cannot take it when they sit silent:). I try to pamper them to get naughty.

They pull everything that's hanging. Bag strings, sandals, wires. I am extra careful now leaving nothing reachable to them. I am also careful not leaving any small thing that goes in their mouth. Everything goes in its place and thanks to my puppies. They are teaching us responsibilities and manners too at home:). But when they come and lick you and when you see them sleeping peacefully, the feel is incredible. Forget the world they are our world who teach us to love and care unconditionally. I am lucky I have them to experience the awesome feeling, you wanna feel it, get them . They are worth having around.



Note:
1. My vet doctor said not to bathe the puppies every day. Weekly 3ice is enough.
2. Donot use dettol to wash them its too harsh for their skin. Use savlon or puppy shampoo.
3. Try brushing their teeth else give carrots. that will help clean their gums and smell better.
4. Clean their ears regularly and get them checked with vet. Else they develop yeast infection and its difficult to get rid of that infection.
5. Clean the gaps below pugs nose with saline water. If not cleaned regularly it might develop infection there also.
6. Try to put tablet directly in their mouth. Donot mix that with food. Its good for long run as puppies will know what and why a tablet is needed. Mixing with food doesnt help as they smell and not eat. I tried mixing de-worming tablet with cerelac and the puppy didnt even touch that. I forget that it was a DOG:)
7. keep your puppy away from Bees. One kiss from a bee to my puppy got him infection and had to get him vaccinated for that too.

With all these I still love my puppies. Good luck!

My Daughter is My Mother

My Daughter J is My Mother

I maintain my own blog and here is my lady who always asks to write a post about her in my blog. Here I go, I am single, I don’t have a daughter, but definitely I want to write about my mother who in fact acts like my daughter. She is naughty, stubborn and big time liar. She laughs, lives her life to fullest so what if world is burning, she knows to live her life in smiles. Open her mouth you get 1 lie. We fight, I shout at her, she cries, doesn’t speak for months then one fine day  I myself call up, her first question would be ‘You shouted at me that day’ and I apologize and then everything gets normal. She is very very stubborn.

She doesn’t ask for any big things.  She is an artist. She gets best out of thrash. Flowers with tissue paper, leftover soap and what not. She asks for petty things. Color paper, fevicryl paints, mud pots everything to fulfill her hobby. She creates flower vases with waste bottles at home. She keeps doing many things like this painting, embossing, tailoring, gardening, cooking. Her interests are not one but everything revolves around her small world, Our Home.

She cribs like a kid. Ziddhi hein. I say I need a dress, she will take all pain to stitch it on her own. Though not perfect she wants me to wear just becoz she stitched it. She is tired but she cooks, too spicy to handle but she wants me to eat because she cooked it. I say my Bhabhi cooks well, she will cook same stuff and asks for feedback. She doesn’t want me to praise anyone other than her. We had potluck she cooked 1kg of curry and sweet paratha and gave it to me asking me to tell people that she cooked. I said I want to paint my room, she comes with a paint and roller and paints on her own. Patchy but she is happy because she did it for meJ

I used to travel, she wants to come to airport, not to see me off, but she likes to see the lights in airport. She loves to see flight takeoff and landing. She enjoys very little things. Too kiddish and annoying to handle. She cannot adjust. She needs everything to be perfect. Go on a trip she wants nice room, with AC, she needs car and she needs something or other to munch to keep her busy. She can’t handle her tickets, she needs me around, she wants to buy stuff but she doesn’t have a penny, because I am her pocketJ.

She is very annoying most of the times. Ask her not to wash hands in plate in hotel she does it and gives a cheeky smile. Tell her not to throw waste paper on road, she throws and smiles. In a busy road, in a speed she wants you to stop and buy her flowers for her plait. You want to sleep, she will wake up and keeps watching movie in mute so that I don’t wake up. She snores whole night and in morning 5am she wakes me up and says she couldn’t sleep whole night. She walks 100times unnecessarily in and out watering, cleaning portico and by eod she says she is too tired as there was so much work. She messes her house on her own and cleans it up. She wears anklets that makes so much noise and she keeps walking at home, she never sits peacefully. Man she never likes to change her lifestyle. You crib her about this she cries. Yes like a kid my mother sits on my neck.

 Though she is so immature I love her to my death and one big thing that inspires me about her is, she didn’t grow up in luxury, she never had gold with her though many had, just one silk saree for every family function. She never craved or felt jealous of people who were rich. She is just a happy go merry kind of person. Now she has everything but nothing has changed. She is still the same kid. We are 5childern at home, but in actual we are 7kids at home. Including my dad and mom. She is my inspiration who tells me to hell with the world and be good and be happy. Have coke and pizza watch TV9. This is her life tats itJ a real woman.

My experience of being in IT for a decade

2016 is going to be special. I am completing a decade in IT industry. Real IT as a software test engineer(I was an IT recruiter for a firm for sometime before joining technical department).When I look back on what I really wanted to be is a school teacher/lecturer and a simple wife to a man. Seriously!Yes,I used to dream my life in very small city that would have job from 9 to 5pm and evenings will spend my time with family(my husband and children). This was a thought i used to get may be because many girls were trained at home for this kind of life unlike my family where we were supposed to just focus on career.

I came back from dreamland when my dad got me my CET results and colleges list on which college I would be sent for Engineering. Little did I know that I would end up in IT industry once I am out of my college. I started getting interest in being a HR professional. Wanted to do MBA in HR. I did become a HR professional just to realize that it wasn't the life I was looking for. I quit in 3months.

Soon I started my career as a Test Engineer in a startup, thankfully it gave me good exposure on technology and IT in general. I started dreaming of working for NOKIA. I set my own target that I will end up in Nokia. But it was hard, my domain(storage), my experience was different. I didnt have a choice and my financial needs made me jump to next firm, which couldnt survive. This was the firm I took by rejecting Robert bosch offer. For a moment I felt I made wrong decision by choosing a startup over CMM level 5 firm.I understood what company shutdown means. I started feeling the job insecurity in IT industry. All I had was my passion and energy. Moreover I needed money. I got into Aditi Technologies while I was still in startup and was serving Notice period, a awesome firm to work with. Working for Microsoft, this firm gave me taste of professionalism. Confidence that I can do anything. It was time when i was enjoying my work, i got into Nokia. My dream job which i wasnt happy when I got it. But family wasnt happy with me working for Aditi. Nokia had a wonderful work culture, I knew it as my cousin was working for Nokia. Here I go, I lived my dream.

Nokia gave me good exposure. Working with great people, great leaders, good managers,lousy managers and great colleagues and friends. nothing stopped me from being happy in Nokia. I met people I traveled outside of India which I never dreamt of. Life was awesome till Nokia hit the bottom line. I knew this was coming as Nokia was already shaken before i joined. People warned me about the situation, but I wanted to live my dream. So did I. No regrets. I realized why I went to startup and not to bosch. Probably after joining Bosch, I wouldn't have thought of leaving that firm at all and my Nokia dream would have been only a dream.Nokia gave me memories and few friends for ever.The team was like a family.

Nokia's shutdown was a disaster. It was never like a firm it was dream for many Nokians. I was one among them who never thought of leaving the firm anytime in my life. Unfortunately its IT, lets be realistic about it. I joined a startup. I was depressed, I made up my mind that I will focus on my personal life and stop worrying too much on professional end. But destiny had something else for me. I was working for this startup, call it a bad time, it was a devil in disguise for me. For first time, i felt I was special. Not because I was too good at work, but because people started feeling jealous that I live luxury life. I was a celebrity as i drove to office. Crap! Wondered what it was, here I got the list why that few people in that startup felt I had luxurious life. My dressing, my watches, me driving in car to work, living in my own house, myself being single . People felt I was happy as I earned and I was single with no responsibilities. Call them ignorant or morons, they never understood what I was and what I felt . I hardly expressed my situations to people because there is no market for feelings. I had previlege of working with senior psychopaths who cannot take woman's voice. But WHO CARES:) its my life to keep or kick them out of my life.It was afterall just a JOB. Some people said I was materialistic, but I wasnt. The actual world was. This firm gave me an experience that no other company gave me. I had never taken 5days continuous leaves from beginning of my career 2006 till 2014 feb. 1March,2015 I was jobless.  Whatever situations were, they were just because of peoples ego and jealousy and ofcourse my star positions. Meanwhile I had opportunity to move to London. I still donot get why I didnt take up that opportunity in London which I got through a friend.

I got into a firm in Bangalore within a month but I stayed at home for month before joining my new firm.  So it was 2months in actual I stayed at home trying to focus on my life. Toughest time as all dreams were shattered by this time. I lost my confidence, I stopped living. I started feeling lonely, insecured. I had to just bury them as if nothing happened just to keep my career going.
My present company gave me a chance to prove myself. Initial time in my present firm was tough, but it didn't last long. Thanks to Akamai Technologies, for its great culture. I have a job and team which is worth working with. Its getting my confidence back. I am happy that I am spending my time in a good firm. Now I am Akamaized:-)

Overall if you look at it, IT gave me success, recognition, money, exposure to the real world, good people, bad people, gender differentiation, humiliation and what not. It also gave strength to live life independently. Thanks to IT and my Dad, for his decisions, I am really having a wonderful time in IT.