ADIRAAG: be your own voice

As big as a rope, as small as a pore. As hard as a stick, as soft as a chick. As straight as a tower, as round as a flower. As furry as a broom, as bald as a mushroom!
The diversity of their tales is as underrated as that of the religions.
But, unity exists in the diversity (and not in the statue). 
The rope, the pore. The stick, the chick. The tower, the flower. The broom, the mushroom. All these tails were united by a tale. A tale that the dogs can’t read. A tale that the dogs want us to read!
LARA is a one such tale. It doesn’t need ‘BRIAN’ in its preface or ‘DUTTA’ in its acknowledgements. Though, she is as playful as the former & as beautiful as the latter.
Lara entered my life into a box. It was a shoe-box. Within the span of a year, she would easily kick that box out of her way. Such was the pace of her growth. To your wonder, she doesn’t belong to the Labrador family which is popular for its rapid growth. Instead, Lara was a cross. In fact, she was a holy cross that I wou…

"Come on beta, drink your milk, otherwise the doggy would come." "Baby, it’s time to sleep & if you don't, doggy would come." "Don't cry, otherwise the doggy will come!!"
Such were our first life tutorials. Probably all of us subscribed to them & learnt to eat, sleep & drink.
As a kid, I was extremely scared of dogs. I was so scared that all my actions were inhibited by this dog-phobia. With even the slightest indication of a dog nearby, I could sense the chill that ran down my spine. This wasn’t because the dogs were intimidating. Instead, the tutorials were. If you wish to anticipate the extent of my fear of dogs, think about your confidence to say/write (or even, think) against the unity. I mean, Statue of Unity.
One fine morning, my fear was ready to take a toll on me. Sharma uncle from the neighbourhood visited our home & my papa called me up to show off that his 3-year-old has learnt the ABCD. So the examiner in Sharma uncle was …