My lil Bailey, a 27 days old kitten, had just passed away and I was dying with a guilt of not doing enough to save the little soul. On one hand, I wanted to get another baby home and raise it with every single happiness, but on the other hand, I was scared to take up another responsibility and not keeping up to it. It was a constant struggle between my heart and my head and I had to make a decision in order to put my head to rest. Archana, the lady with a big golden heart, had introduced me to Blue Cross and I was already involved with a few rescue activities, therefore, was comfortable just walking in and spending time with some in-house babies. I sat with a few real tiny kittens and was still not sure if I should adopt one. I stood up with teary eyes, telling myself that I need time to think. I was about to walk out when two beautiful women walked in with a plastic bag that their dog had sniffed n carried. I was curious to know what was wrong, so I just stood there. My heartbeat was running a marathon, while I waited for one of the helpers to unpack, and within a minute, I saw a little, tiny, lifeless, squirrel-like pup in his hand. I was taken aback. A day old pup, who hadn't even opened her eyes and had closed ears, had blue paws and a blue tongue sticking out due to lack of oxygen. I couldn't stop my tears.. I took her in my arms and ran to the doctor, who said her chances for survival were minimum, and even if she survived, she'll either be blind or differently abled. My heart skipped a beat but then, I knew she was coming home. Doctor was very very clear when he mentioned that surviving in BCH, where we have other infected pups too, was out of question. The next thing you know, Bella was home with me. That tiny little fur of joy had brought happiness and a smile on my face. I now had to let my flatmates know about the new addition and I knew they will, by all means, embrace her and make her a family. Bella was now a pampered, most loved and talked about in the entire neighborhood. We would just keep waiting for the work to get over, so that we get to see her as soon as we could. Even though she was a tiny little baby, she had adjusted to stay alone for long hours. I would come home twice to check on her, feed her and change news papers and she wouldn't complain a bit when I left her. She was my hero, my survivor. She had to go through check ups every 15 days and to everyone's surprise, she was just getting healthier and prettier.. No signs of blindness or any sickness, whatsoever. She would join us for late night drives, hukka nights at Kargeenz, terrace walks and would attract everyone's attention. There were times when I had to travel and I just knew who would be her foster mother, everytime I had to leave. Archana has always been very passionate about animals. She was my Bailey's foster mother and now Bella was getting to know the person who loved her unconditionally. Archana has been my backbone through any pet crisis and I owe her so much. Bella had been the centre of attraction and none of us knew what pain, sadness, anger was anymore. We just knew love, love for my little daughter who was now 5 months old, healthy, pretty, naughty tiny princess. It was now time for us to move back to Bangalore and Bella was moving here with me. Many suggested that I should consider getting her readopted but then, that's not what you do to your kids. Do you?? I enquired about the train tickets, flights, cabs, whatever was most convenient for her as I had read a few painful stories about the whole pet shifting thing and wasn't very convinced with either way of transportation. After a month long struggle, I finally decided to book a cab and have Bella travel with me, even though it meant 9 hours of journey with several stops. But as far as my baby was with me, I had no issues. Bella was travelling for the first time and I was as nervous as any new mother would be. I packed everything, made a separate bag for her to make sure I have everything that she may need and our day long journey began. I stopped every 2 hours for a first few hours, but was surprised to see how well Bella took the entire journey thing. She was enjoying every bit of it. She sat over a few cartons, slept between my luggage, loved my lap and in this whole thing, the driver that we had hired was the most kind and adjusting man. He would let Bella sit on his lap, while he drove, just because that's how Bella wanted it. Not for once did she pee or poop in our day long travel. We finally reached Bangalore and she was sooo happy to see her older siblings, Bruno n Brownie. She had to spend about a month with them as I was supposed to stay with my sister and it was a no pet allowed zone. I'd go meet my three babies almost everyday and loved looking at how well they bonded. I found a pet friendly apartment for us and moved in together. It was now Bella, my new flatmate and me. Bella has always been charming and it took no time for my new family to fall in love with her. Bella is now 9 months old, she's grown up to be a beautiful girl and has every head turning when she walks like a princess. Bella is a desi rescue and trust me when I say this, you'll never get anything better than our own cute, adorable, adjustable, low maintenance, least demanding and ever so loving, Indies.
