This is a short biography about my brother / my friend / my dog  "Blacky". I am writing this biography to celebrate the life of this very important member of my family. I have realized that Blacky a.k.a Black has probably got a few years of life left in him, so I guess its the right time to create this page for him.

I was around 11 years old when I first met him. He was born to a pure breed Australian Terrier named Goldy(female). The whereabouts of his father are still not known.  Goldy was owned by one of my good friends. It was during Goldy's first litter of 5 pups that Blacky was born. He was the youngest of the lot.

I had somehow managed to convince my parents especially Dad who at that time did not want to have a dog in the house to get a pup. It was Mom and I who went with a small basket to bring in the pup. Blacky was the obvious choice(he looked like this fluffy stuffed toy) from the group of 5 pups. So mum and I put him in the basket and brought him to his new home.

Blacky was the first dog to enter in our building. At that time it was interesting to see how my friends and neighbours were going to react to this new occupant in the building.  To my surprise Blacky was welcomed whole heartedly to the building. Most of my friends would come home very often to see Blacky.

It was time we gave the little pup his name. The naming ceremony(or so) was a brainstorming session with all my friends and neighbours. The first choice was "Snoopy", but it didn't work cause many thought it was feminine. After much deliberation and a whole lot of names like Dusty,Foxy etc. we ended up with Blacky. I believe to this day that Blacky was the right name for him. It symbolized the kind of dog he was. A very matter of fact kind, who was not afraid of anything(other than bath), full of expression(you'll have to see him to know what I mean). etc. the list is endless.

As a pup Black was a very enthusiastic dog. Always jumping around, he loved to run. He loved wide open spaces, it was relief for him from the confined spaces in our flat. We always made it a point to take him once in a while to the beach. He also loved biting anything and everything that was around him. His personal favourites were slippers. He also destroyed a sponge mattress at home(He also attempted at it later on in his life).

His enthusiam once nearly got the better of him. He ran out of home and almost got run over by a car. He was once diagnosed with cancer but thank God that ended up being a false diagnosis(crazy doc).

To me he was like a little brother. He was there during my formative years as an adolescent. He was someone I yelled at, cried to, sang to. He filled the void of a brother I never had. The best part about him was everytime I yelled at him, he always came back to me.

He's been into innumerable number of fights, many verbally few physically. For a dog of his stature, he had a very loud bark. One memorable verbal dual was the one he had with my uncle's dog "A Great Dane". A total mismatch as far as size was concerned, but Blacky was up to the challenge with his ferocious bark. Even to this day I think Blacky does not know his exact size.

Blacky's understanding of English remained to words like "walk,go upstairs,good boy,no,get down,climb up,dai,doctor,medicine,bath,chocolate,kadalai urundai(flavoured peanuts),freddy(dog friend),snoopy(wife/sister),James Bond(dog enemy),Puppy(dog enemy)"

Blacky had many kids of his own. Tiger,Tuffy,Gloves etc. He didn't like any of this kids. He always felt jealous as most of his kids looked prettier than him. Sadly not many of his kids remain today, most of them died due to illness. His wife/sister (ironically her name was Snoopy)born of Goldy still lives. These days she lives in our home.

Blacky has got an impressive wadrobe with most of this clothes coming from the US.(Mom bought most of them and others were gifts from friends). His wadrobe collection includes a raincoat, a sweater, scarf, cowboy suit, a jacket. (I'll try and add some of the photos in the link)

Blacky is extremely fond of my Dad, cause of the long walks and the bike rides he gets to go on. Black loves the wind in his face. He loves my Mom next cause of the food. He doesn't like my Mom cause of bath. He probably likes me the last cause I am the disciplinarian in his life.

He did make it once in his life in a train. This was on our way to Cochin. Sadly he was made travel in the dog van with a muzzle. Dad had to check on him, every other station. It was a tough journey for him as he had to be sedated to make it through the journey. He did have a wonderful time though in Cochin, running and playing.

He probably hated going to the doctor the most because everytime he got there, he had to have an injection. He loved the time after he had a bath(i.e. when he had to dry himself after bath), he would run around the house and wipe himself on anything. His favourite place was to jump on the bed and roll. He liked that time cause he knew that he was going to have chicken for lunch.

This is all I think about the him now. The wonderful memories of my little brother. There probably will be a void that opens up again in my life when he is gone. There can be no other Blacky.

I am going to miss my buddy when he's gone but until then I better get back and start worrying him with his monkey(thats the doll he's holding in the pic; he must always have monkey after lunch)