Tale of two bunnies

Russet and Stapalamala. These are the two latest additions to our family of four.

They're really cute, two-week old rabbits. Mostly white, with little patches of black. Absolutely adorable. Although they do shed a lot of fur.

Nandana's been going on and on about wanting a pet for the last few years and we've been putting her off, as a pet is a lot of responsibility. Especially, dogs and cats are too much work and money to keep. And what would we do with them when we zip off back home every couple of years? So, no no, no and that's the way it's been.

Till recently. Nandana was thrilled when we moved into our new house last month, as she had two other girls from school who lived nearby. And she was even more thrilled when she found that one of the girls, Sinead, had 6 rabbits at home.

We should have known.

Anyways, Sinead's parents wanted to keep only 2 of the rabbits (out of the lot, of which, Speckles is the mom). They wanted Speckles and one of her sons. They found another home for two of the other baby bunnies, with their dad, Honey Bunny!!!! That left only two more to go, and Nandana literally grabbed them.

She was on her best behaviour for a few days, hoping that would be enough to let us say yes to bring them home.

We hestitated, but then thought we should say yes. After all, my brother and I've had a variety of so-called pets, from calves to cats when we were youngsters in our grandparents' place in Chennai. And Shiv has also had his share of doggy pals when he was younger. A pet is a must experience in any youngster's life.

Plus there were other advantages too. The rabbits were vegetarian like us and were coming to us free. Plus, the only cost was the hutch. And we fashioned a run for them, quite a funny one, but effeective nevertheless.

And finally, we went over to Sinead's place and brought them over last Monday. Speckles was quite reluctant and I felt bad to separate the little ones from their mum. However, that's how it worked out.

Needless to say, long before the rabbits came home, Nandana had thought of many names for them. But I put my foot down and said Nandita should name one and she the other. She went for Russet. And for Nandita's choice, she came up with a lot of weird ones, so we decided to go for a real original _ Stapalamala. This was a word that Nandita earlier would use if she didn't know what word to use when she was talking. Like, she would say, I am doing my stapalamala, instead of puja, as she didn't know that word then. Or she would say, I am eating stapalamala.

So, Rus and Stapy they would be!

They seem quite comfy at home. And while I may have to do all the legwork at some future stage (like cleaning their poos, etc), for now, Nandana dotes on them and takes them for walks (yes, rabbits apparently do like to wear leashes and go out for walks) and spends a lot of time checking for things like if they've eaten, if they've done poos, if they're sleeping etc.

The last word: the day we brought the rabbits home, she was running up and down the stairs setting up things for them and muttering about how happy she was. One of the things she said: Oh, heaven has come to our house.

It's still the little things that children love.