At 74, for the first time to-day, I had the privilege of walking a Pekingese, SASHA, belonging to our grand daughters at Dubai, UAE. The Little Oxford Dictionary (1994) describes Pekingese or Pekinese as a `dog of small short-legged snub-nosed breed with long soily hair'.

First a bit of history, in particular, why we never had a dog all our life. We have lived in UK, USA but mostly in India. Our daughter, MADHU, was born in Bromley, UK, in April 1957. In September, we sailed by a cargo boat, P&O COROMONDAL from London to Calcutta. Why cargo boat?

It was not our choice. I had expressed preference to my new British employer (whose India office I was to join and help float a full fledged Indian company) to travel by sea, presumably by passenger boat.

But their finance director, an old timer colonist, chose a cargo boat for reasons of economy, also our family having expanded from 2 to 3, meanwhile.

It proved to be a case of penny wise pound foolish. Yes the company saved some 50 pounds on the fare, but in the process, was poorer by some 5000 pounds!

The cargo boat took 15 weeks instead of the scheduled 5 weeks and the company was paying me from the date we were ready to leave, plus all expenses, including entertainment, en route!

For us it proved to be by far the most enjoyable holiday ever. It couldn't have been bettered even by design, cost notwithstanding!

This journey also proved to be destined for MADHU to be fond of dogs. On board there were a dozen passengers, including a Canadian family with two teen age daughters, also a Britisher with a dog, a dalmatian. Before we knew it, MADHU became friendly with the teen age Canadians and also the Dalmatian.

The Canadian teenagers vied with each other in looking after Madhu and this proved to be a boon. Madhu was so happy with them and the dog that soon we became `dispensable'! It gave us freedom to be on our own and at the ports even go away for sightseeing and return to the comforts of a five star hotel, the ship!

Why 15 weeks instead of 5? Very simple! The boat carried cargo for some half a dozen ports en-route and quite often the 1-2 day scheduled stop turned to 5-10 days due to labour problems and/or strike. This afforded us a long, relaxing holiday, with all expenses and more paid. Cargo boats are a little cheaper than cabin class passenger fare, but the facilities including food etc compare most favourably with those for first class on passenger boats. So we had best of both the worlds, and all found. I was `on duty' with no `9-5' and no work! Fortunately, I found myself to be usefully occupied, for one thing, the proofs of my first ever book (caught up with the boat at one of the first stops):

Nomograms for Chemical Engineers (Heywood & Co, London, 1957)

with a Foreword by Sir Harold Hartley. Significantly the book is dedicated to Madhu, so have most of my books to members of our growing family.

To make the story short and come to the present topic, MADHU developed a liking for animals in general and dogs in particular. In my working career right through 1985, when Madhu got married, we lived in flats/apartments in Calcutta and Bombay. Despite Madhu's wish to have a dog as a pet, we felt that it was `cruel' to have the pet confined to flats plus also the problem of looking after the pet on our travels. But Madhu was delighted to marry into a family who have had dogs as pets.

Madhu and her husband Sunil (both hoteliers by qualification and training) moved to Dubai three years ago. Naturally, they, but particularly their daughters, Geetika 13 and Anika 10, missed the constant company of a dog during their childhood. At their first opportunity, they acquired a few months ago, a pekanese, SASHA, who is the favorite of the family, specially of Anika and Geetika. Sasha came to them from an ex-patriate who was leaving the country. The visitor was keen to find a good home for Sasha, otherwise he had decided for the `worst'.

We are currently visiting our children at Dubai and the `dolls' are away to Abu Dhabi visiting Sunil's parents. This gave me an opportunity to WALK SASHA this morning!

I thought it was a routine and simple matter taking just `10 minutes' as Madhu cautioned me. Yes, it was, indeed - but for me an education extending to nearly half an hour, just observing and learning. Sasha was at first doubtful if he would come out with me at all, but once he was convinced of the `treat', he jumped at it and behaved like a perfect `gentleman'.

Instead of his normal luxury of using the lift, he was quite happy to walk with me down the steps from second floor to the ground. And he was delighted to be out in the open, fresh air.

At the first opportunity of being in a large open parking lot, he spotted a bush and `took' me straight there. First he assessed the `logistics', and once `approved', he raised one of his rear legs and did the `needful'. Immediately thereafter, he seemed delighted and scratched the earth with his legs to cover up what he had done. This was repeated at half a dozen different places, in the shade, then in the sun and at the end of it he seemed quite happy.

It seems that I passed the `test', since I was in no hurry to bring him back home promptly. I gave him more chance to enjoy himself and when I found that he was ready to come home, we returned and as a `bonus' I let him come up in the lift.

After this `walk', SASHA's attitude to me seems to have changed for the better. He seems much more friendly to me and I expect that he will look forward to letting me `walk him' for the rest of our stay here with our children. I may even be `welcome' on our next visit instead of being somewhat `suspicious' when we first `met' him on arrival here.