Approximately four months back, on a nice rainy day we had a little new friend join us. It was a little turtle. One of my friends while coming back home from lab almost stepped on it and moved her feet just in time. She assumed it must be a little toad but on a closer look it turned out to be a turtle. It must be about an inch at that time. She took it home gave it a nice home in a glass bowl with a few stones. Later on it even got its own little plant in its bowl to some shade under. I met it after about a week. As I remember it, the first time i saw it I was a bit afraid to even pick him up. I thought it would be slimy all over and maybe even funny smelling. Yet again I was fooled by biology or maybe I am a fool in general to think so. It wasn't slimy at all and in fact its dried within a matter of seconds from coming out of water. The first time I held it between my thumb and the index finger bringing its face closer to my eyes just to see how it looked. It had a nice symmetric white pattern in its dark green face, round eyes and a teeth less mouth. I quickly devised a a game of eternal walking for it by keeping my two palms together, letting it walk across it and then moving the palm which was behind to in front of it. It was stupid, but I am guessing it was fun- for both of us. Over the course of the next few days, as a typical nerd, read about turtles and found out they live very long and if its a female grow very large. Also, once domesticated, they can't be let out again. On the other hand, considering its size, there was a possibility that bigger turtles might eat it. After thinking about it for a few days she decided to release it in a pond.
During this time, another friend wanted to meet our new little friend. However, her parents were here to visit here so she didn't have the time to see it. She always wanted a pet and decided to take care of the turtle. Since, we spent most of our weekends at her place, it being there, became a part of our fun times. Whenever anyone came, we would first go to it. Oh, I almost forgot- they named it "tootsie"! I know, a very stupid name but no one had a better option until later- Oogway, like in kung fu panda. Personally I liked this much more than tootsie. So, whenever we went there, we would bring it out and leave it on the carpet to roam around. It loved it, it just loved exploring! As soon as it was removed from its aquarium of sorts, it would run as fast ass it could across the room. It had its few favorite places- under the sofa, behind the tv, under the dining table and the most it loved was on the top of a router. On one Sunday, it sat on the router, without moving, for 7 hrs! And then when it was time to sleep and go back to its water home, it would just desperately move its hands and legs. to avoid going back in. Then just like a little kid would go to sleep in a little while once put back in. It grew by and inch or two within a month! So, we had to give it a bigger house. For this we gave it more space, bigger stones on which it could come out of water and sit and also made a small little house out of a plastic disposable cup. My friend would everyday give him 15 fish pellets, give him a bath and put in fresh filtered water. As far as I could see and sense- it was happy and content with his life and we were too to have it with us- especially the one who it was living with.
Yesterday it died. We don't know how, we don't know when. We were going to have dinner together at her place and when we reached, we found it lying upside down in its aquarium, stiff as a rock, completely swollen because of the water. It most probably died by drowning. We moved it out from the water and kept it aside, totally shocked, wondering how that little thing passed away. We had few more people coming and when they came we had a nice dinner and some fun too. But when the other people left, thanks to the nerdy-ness of my friends we found out that turtles can survive for long without oxygen. We saw a little glimmer of hope. In retrospect, we would take anything we could to get tootsie to wake up again. Truthfully, I couldn't help much. I just couldn't bring myself to touch it. But my friends tried to pump water out of it. They did that for at least an hour and a half followed by a CPR-like thing using a straw. Halfway through it, it twitched! Hope! a little light! Was there a little chance! We kept on! Kept on trying to get as much water out of it as possible. A foolish hope that it will somehow just start to breath again. At 4 I fell asleep watching, hoping. They fell asleep at 6, keeping it on its favorite router in a warm place. All with an almost impossible wish that when we wake up, it might too. It didn't. All the water came out, but it didn't move. It was gone.
We finally decided to bury it in front of the house. It lies there now, inside the mud, never to wake up again.
Its painfully funny how even a little "speechless" pet can become such an important part of our lives. During the day, even though we knew it was dead, we subconsciously were searching if we could still see it- under the sofa, under the TV, from the corner of our eyes. Somewhere! Just somewhere! No one said a word about it. Everything seemed as usual. But, a tiny part of us died with it today. Life teaches you the same lessons again and again, or maybe you see the same lessons from life and again. Little we understand the worth of things that we already have. We only realize what things meant to us once they are no longer with us. I know and feel it was perfectly happy, my friend was taking care of it in the best possible way, almost as if his mother. The friend who found too gave it a lot of love and care. We all, in our heart had assumed it would be with us for the next 50 yrs at least.But suddenly it vanished. Leaving us with uncountable memories filled with happiness, fun and stupidity, in just a matter of few months.
As another friend of mine said, "may his soul rest in shell". You will be sorely missed, tootsie!
