Rabbit Little is the first soft toy I ever owned. Got him a couple of weeks back. That’s right, as surprising as it may sound, I’ve never owned a soft toy before in all these years. The fact that my lunch mates at work thought I’d like a soft toy for my birthday almost made me laugh, but then, it made me happy too – I didn’t want to go down in history as The Girl Who Never Owned a Soft Toy. Now, it’s not really because my parents couldn’t afford me a soft toy that I never owned one – that sort of  Oliver Twist, David Copperfield stuff never actually happened. It’s just that I’ve never really been interested in them. Not that I grew up playing with cars, bikes or rambo toys either. I did have my share of barbies, kitchen sets, doll houses and other girlie toys but furry stuffed animals were never part of my play room. Even my parents and friends had never thought of getting me a soft toy in all the several birthdays that passed by. I don’t know why but I never complained. If you’re wondering what happened to the barbies, I never knew.  They probably went to live in the farm after their little arms got broken in little car accidents – the cars belonged to bro. 

It’s not that I don’t like animals in general. We did have two cats … named Puss. Yeah, both cats were named Puss. First one came and we named her Puss and later another one came, and since we couldn’t find a better name, we named him Puss as well. They were around the same time and they looked a lot alike too – white with black spots. Wouldn’t that be confusing, you might ask but no, somehow whenever anyone at home called out “Puss”, the right one always came. I never knew how but it was always the right one. If you’re wondering what happened to the cats, well, Puss ran away (she was female) and Puss died (he was male). Well, both were kittens then. So, don’t you get any crazy ideas!

I liked dogs too but then mom apparently went through some sort of heartbreak during her childhood when their family dog died and to spare herself and her kids another heartbreak, she decided we should never get a dog. There was also the fact that, with my parents working and we kids in school, no one would be at home during the day to feed the canine..but then, that fact never bothered me much anytime I cried to my parents for a dog. I probably never even knew then that dogs have to eat too. I probably figured they’d grow up just like that. On the matter of pets, I wouldn’t mind a pet bear either (as long as he is clean, keeps his nails (or claws, are they?) trimmed and doesn’t growl too much). But, stuffed animals were never in my line of liking.

Anyways, coming back to  Rabbit Little, he’s a cute little green and white bunny..with cute long ears. After my colleagues at work threatened that the rabbit may not be there the next day if I left him on my office desk, I brought him home and took him out of the box…after a week. He did make the house appear cheerful and all that, but after a couple days, I started feeling he was taking up too much space in the room. He was getting in the way all the time. When I want to make my bed, he’s there lying somewhere under the sheets. When I want to clean the room, he’s there on the floor busy picking up dust. When I want to sit, he’s there on the chair. And, when I want to untangle my laptop’s cable from the other cables, he’s lying there tangled in the mess. I was getting a little tired of throwing him around each time. And it made me feel bad too – he was a gift, after all. So, I came up with this ingenious idea of placing him at some place, where he wouldn’t get in my way and yet, be accessible to pinch-nose when I’m happy and punch-nose when I’m frustrated. I chose a nail on the wall, removed the basket of flowers that were hanging on it, and placed the bunny there. Because, I couldn’t find the right place to tie the string to keep him upright, I just tied it around his neck. Now my parents are worried. They’re wondering why I have a rabbit committing suicide in my room.  Bro suggested, rather helpfully, that I have always been a little weird and that I’ll  be fine :-/ I keep giving people such unintended impressions, for no fault of mine.

If you’re wondering how Rabbit Little is doing now, he’s perfectly fine. Thank you for asking. Still hanging but not quite dead yet.

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