Good Bye Tigger

This morning the vet put our eighteen and a half year old beloved cat, Tigger to his eternal sleep. Obviously, I had to authorize that. I was devastated with the idea when our vet, Dr. Ressel had suggested that about two weeks ago. I had mentioned to my family about my own plan – that I did not want to be bed ridden, that if I could not have a reasonable quality of life, not to prolong my life using machines, that life is not about quantity, rather about quality. Now, suddenly I faced the unique dilemma or decision point about Tigger’s life. I watched along with our daughters (who flew in from Chicago and Cleveland to spend a day with Tigger) Tigger go to sleep suddenly as the Dr. put that lethal injection. Tigger looked at me one last time before closing his eyes. We said our last good bye. Tigger has gone to his eternal home. His bodily ashes will be under some live oak tree somewhere in Anderson, Texas. I hope Tigger knew that he was loved. May his soul rest in peace.

Life, death, love, Dr. Kevorkian, Tigger, me – we all face the same reality, we all have same feelings – spoken or unspoken. What matters in life is to love and be loved. Our body becomes frail like a worn out shirt (as described in the philosophical book “Gita”), becomes ashes, but we (animals, plants, human) continue our endless journey through our genes.

Houston Half-Marathon

Thousands of people took part in the Houston Striders’ Half-Marathon on Sunday, October 25. I had participated in my first Houston Striders’ run 20 years ago. Once I found out about it upon my arrival from Luanda, I signed up for the run without thinking through. Not to speak of participating in a long distance run, I had not been running much at all in a while on a regular basis. My Sunday morning run in Luanda from our staff house in Ilha to Pointe Final doesn’t even come close to training for a long distance run. Anyway, on Sunday I got up at 5:00 AM, left home at 6:00 AM (without waking up my wife) to run through the streets of Houston on a cool, crisp, morning along with many others like me with a running problem. My goal was to be able to complete the race within the allotted time. Complete I did (time 2:13:45 – lot worse than my past record), but it was a struggle for the last two miles. Besides lack of training, age played its part too. I was in the age group 60-64. I suppose, “once a runner, always a runner”.

A Quiet B’Day

I am back home again from Luanda for a couple of weeks. Today is my official birthday, although I quit counting that sometime back. The empty nest seems emptier. My wife picked me up from the airport on Sunday. On Monday, I dropped her off at the airport. She went off to a business conference in Spokane, WA. So, here I am all by myself. No, not quite. Tigger, our old cat is still around - I am not sure for how long. I am also not sure which is better for him – living or dead. He is 18+ and sort of starving himself. The vet gave me some new food for him. He ate some and he seems to have come back alive at least for now or may be he is just trying to make my day. So, I went for a run, took a shower, had a greasy hamburger and then watched a movie at the nearby theatre. Not bad for a quiet birthday. When I got home, the doorbell rang. Some one delivered a flower arrangement for me from the rest of the family. I am used to giving flowers, not receiving. There is always a first for everything. So, I got my flowers that loudly make a statement about the affection of my family members although they are all far away. I feel very fortunate. It also brings back memories of my childhood when birthdays came and went simply as another regular day. It also reminds me of the days when this house used to be a lot noisier when it wasn’t so empty. Laughter, giggling, cries make a home. Silence can be deafening. Time changes everything and nature takes its course accordingly. So, time has added one more year to my count.

Luanda Hash Bash

It was the 381st Hash run for the Luanda Hash group. Yesterday after the Hash run there was drink, dinner and dance – a Bash organized from time to time for a small fee. This was my first.

The run started at the BP compound in Miramar. As usual we went through the sights, sounds and smells of Luanda. We did our traditional Hashers song (“Father Abraham had seven sons, …”) along the way on the trail. For the most part we went by some coastal area that had boulders, concrete with rusted rebars sticking out, trash piles, gigantic tires piled up and so on. In some places it was risky negotiating the slippery rocks, boulders and the rebars. Somehow we managed to get back to the BP compound totally exhausted. Then the usual ritual took place – dousing the “virgin” hashers with beer, punishing the hash run violators, saying ‘good bye’ to the expats who were leaving the country for the last time - obviously all of these by dousing with beer. It’s all in fun.

Since our staff house wasn’t far from BP complex, two of us got back to the house to take a shower and to go back for the bash. As always, Quintas drove us back and forth. As we headed for the bash, I gave Quintas some money to have dinner instead of waiting for us till it was over. There was plenty of beer, wine, soft drinks, snacks etc. before the main meal. Dinner was catered from a Chinese restaurant called Asia. There was karaoke music and people started singing and dancing. It was a party atmosphere. With a memorable and enjoyable experience, we headed back to the house around 9:30 PM (indeed a very long day for me since opening my eyes at 5:00 AM). Others stayed back to dance and drink some more. The night was too young still and who could blame them for having fun for a change in a place where there wasn't much social life.