February 10, 2013, by Kiran
Something Fishy Going On…
I have never had a pet. My neighbours back home used to have a cat called Kinky. I’m not exactly sure why they chose that particular name but it might have been because they found it amusing to hear the six year old next door run around the garden calling out ‘Kinky! Kinky!’ The six year old was me by the way. Anyway, that is the closest I have ever come to having an animal friend (apart from the time I made friends with a duck that is!)
But only this week my housemates were discussing getting a house kitten, maybe a rabbit or a dog. Surprisingly though, instead of rushing straight to the pet shop, the conversation remained hypothetical and we are still pet-less!
My friend Jasmin showing off her Fishy’s memorial…strangely quite happily
A friend of mine also found herself pet-less this week too. Going over to her flat, she expressed her grief over their house fish passing away. ‘Oh. You had a fish?’ were my wonderfully comforting words. It probably wasn’t the best idea to then go on to talk about how I thought goldfish were boring anyway.
This was all overshadowed by the fact that my friend then asked if I wanted to see the memorial they had set up for Fishy/Beyonce/Pesto/Fanta (they couldn’t collectively decide on a name) A lovely message board, the empty fish bowl AND a Flora margarine tub containing the dead fish!
I barely had time to process this before her flatmates burst in with a brand new replacement fish they had bought for a £1. Warning alarms went off in my head. Should these people really be allowed another fish? The other one had only lasted a week! Then again they did have a booklet entitled ‘Caring for your Goldfish’ but surely there should be some sort of vetting system.
Gathering around the fish bowl, we all tried to make the new fish feel welcome, putting the lid back on the margarine tub coffin so he would not be panicked that this would also be his fate. It ate a few fish flakes, swam around a bit, didn’t really do anything special but it was surprisingly entertaining to watch the adventures of this new goldfish.
I did feel a bit sorry for the recently deceased goldfish though because the flatmates had already announced that his replacement had a much better personality and was an all round better fish.
After watching this fish for about half an hour, deciding it wasn’t going to die immediately, it dawned on us that we should give it a name. Now it was clear that the fish favoured a particular side of his bowl and this happened to be the side that I was sitting by and so deciding the fish had bonded with me, the flatmates decided to christen the fish (drum roll please…) MR KIRAN!
That’s right. Mr as in a boy as in male. But still they had named their fish after me and Kiran is a unisex name and to be honest I did feel quite honoured….says a lot about my life doesn’t it! So even though I still don’t have a pet I think I am the equivalent of a godmother to this Mr Kiran fish!
p.s. I will make sure I go around again next week to check Mr Kiran is still alive. Mr Kiran please just keep swimming until then!
I do hope the name was a reflection of the fishes (and yours) sparkling personality and not a comment on how long you have left to live. Long live (Mr) Kiran!