Ranjit lal’s book brilliantly features three dogs, each of whom was an intrinsic part of his family, says Prateek Dubey
Bambi, Chops and Wag
Author: Ranjit lal
Publisher: Roli Books, Rs 195
Ironically the day I received Ranjit lal’s book, Bambi, Chops and Wag, for a review, my eight-month-old beagle, Nina, eschewed the stern injunction of sparing my reading glasses and chewed it beyond further refractions. It was a sign from the universe that I had not just collected a memoir, but every loving dog owner’s story of indulgence. So till the new spectacles arrived, my father relished the book to his heart’s content and as a result, saddled on Bambi, Chops and Wags, we reminisced days of yore when Toffee, Juhi, Newton, Beethoven and Jugnu roamed our landscape. Our history’s great moments, annexations and achievements revolved around four dogs and one very snobbish cat. Frodo and Nina, both beagles, are contemporaries and are occupying a large part of our lives with their small frames. Jugnu, the brat tomcat, has found his way to America, where he lives with my sister and is slowly but surely getting his ways with her.
lal’s book features three dogs, each of whom was an intrinsic part of his family. His recollection of their ways with the world around them is humorous for most part, and touching when it ends. There is virtually no villain in the story, other than a few thousand ticks and a rabid cat. The challenges were of difference in opinion about this world, edible or otherwise, between the two life forms. How can you become a gastronome of horse dung or bird droppings unless you do not sample themIJ How are we to know whether something should be spared from mastication, till it reaches the end of its use from youIJ And despite your ignorance, you have the audacity to curb us of our instinctsIJ You must educate yourselves further.
It is a funny book, written in a style of good conversation which can spread thickly over many drinks. language is crisp, appropriate, and does justice to the apparently incredible absurdities. Instances may sketch dog behaviour as frustrating and incomprehensible, but they are lit with the warm light of love. lal keeps us enthralled by recounting amusing collisions of his characters with the inexperienced and the craven. Embedded in humour he does something more than merely illustrate life with Bambi, Chops and Wag; he takes you to the subset where nature intersects man. The three characters are different, yet in their most basic impulses do not discriminate. This is the way of mother nature; slobbering, running, stomping, thundering, splashing, bumping, gulping and then colouring everything with delicate, loving cycle of sunrise and sunsets. The story also outlines the author’s and his family’s inclination towards the world. Patiently and lovingly they wear the garland of Bambi’s impulses, Chop’s energy and Wag’s idiosyncratic fusillades.
I enjoyed reading the book and often slipped into daydreams recollecting relationships with my erstwhile canine companions before bouncing back to eagerly know what happened next. I also loved the illustration by Priya Kurien, which graced the cover, and wished there was more of it inside. Have a look at it before and after you read the book. There is more detail in it than a mynah rolling its eyes over the portraits of a grim Bambi, a restrained Chops and that hoodlum from Hapur, Wag. look beyond the highland of a defeated chappal, monkey in the frangipani and an eager bundle of energy about to escape a car. The more you gaze at it, the more you’ll be enlightened with this side of cosmic love. To those who take life too seriously, it might just be inconvenience, for others like lal, this is life. Highly recommended for those who need a good company while travelling or as a gift to a dog lover.
The reviewer is a photographer and an artist with a history of fashion design. His life is incomplete without his pet dogs