Pet story by Bhavya Kaushal: Joy's World

Joy came to our lives on April 3, 2022. My mom named him Joy because the moment she saw him she felt so joyful. The little rabbit had been rescued from a neighbourhood nearby. Apparently, he had run out of his owner’s house and was roaming on the streets. Somebody saw him and immediately took him in to save him from predatory animals. 

He was barely a month old back then. That’s when we adopted him.

Joy quickly got used to life with us. Since I was working from home, taking care of him was not a problem. It is true when people say that pets change your life. I would look forward to waking up and running to Joy to give him a hug. He loved eating veggies but was not very fond of carrots. He was a complete foodie like me who wanted to try everything on anyone’s plate. 

I felt very protective about him and wanted to give him the best of everything. So I would take him to one of the best pet care hospitals in Delhi for his check ups. Ironically, the most amusing part of all this is that while he was extremely naughty at home, he was very well-behaved when we would take him to his doctor for checkup. My mom and I would tickle ourselves to death seeing him so well-mannered around the doctors and nurses. 

With him around, sitting down and enjoying a cup of tea was just not possible. He would always jump around, here and there, up and down, pulling off sofa covers and what not all!

But at the end of the day, he was the biggest source of ‘joy’ in our lives. We would often call him ‘little bundle of Joy.’ He was super soft and super naughty!

Joy made me realise what it is to be a parent. Thanks to him, everyone started calling me a helicopter mom! I would constantly worry about him. From his food to behaviour, I wanted everything to be perfect.

He became the center of my life. 

However, destiny had other plans. In October, we had to give him up due to some extremely difficult and unavoidable circumstances. I will never forget the feeling of homelessness and emptiness I felt then. It was one of the most painful decisions of my life- the grief of which I carry today and will always be there. Whatever people say about things happening for a profound reason may be true, but the amount of suffering you go through simply washes away any rational sense you believe you possess. 

I think about Joy everyday. In my mind, I give him an unlimited amount of hugs and kisses. 

I pray that the universe gives him a beautiful life – exactly how I had imagined. He will always be my boy and my biggest source of joy!