Soker

He is winter-born and my oldest memory of him dates back to the day when I picked him up and got him home. I was studying in Sri Ventateswara College (Venky), DU. Someone by the name of Kavita walked up to me and my friends with a pup in her hand. She said that all the siblings of the pup had died and this one was the only survivor. She wanted someone to take him home. When I took him in my arms it was no "OH MY GOD" experience but honestly I had no idea what I was going to do. I asked my brother, who used to study in the same college. We both decided that we should take him home as his paws where bruised badly. As for Mom, "Manaa lenge" ("We'll persuade her").

He sat in my car really scared. My brother called my mom and said "Mom, didi has a surprise."

To which Mom replied, "What has she done now... has she gone bald?"

I still remember standing with him on the door step not knowing what was going through my mother's head. She looked at the pup and gently called out to him. And then I asked her "Can we keep him?"

To my surprise she immediately said "YES!!!!!!!"

That was that. Like they say, life changed at that moment.

My Mom used to call me: "Soker climbed his first stair," he did this and he did that.

Now he is a pampered little thing... has to sleep with us and can't stay a moment without us. He is the baby of the house. At four years, he is mentally still a little pup. He jumps for joy each time someone calls out to him. Many of my brother's friends and my friends who didn't have a liking for dogs or were scared of dogs, went through a sea change after spending time with him. They all enter our house now and the first thing they do if they don't see Soker around is call out to him!

Soker is a fussy eater, and I have somehow come to believe that the kid thinks love and air are enough to survive.

Thats the story....

Oh yes, and all my efforts for the pariah breed are because of him. He is the one who taught me all my compassion towards this breed. He is the reason why I started paying sooo much attention to the lovely dogs around... And that's why this adoption craze of mine... So all I'm doing is because he inspires me to do it. He helps me see the beauty and life in them.

Malleka Gupta
Delhi

Malleka works very hard for the cause of pariah dog adoption. She has recently found good homes for Xena's six siblings. Do help her by spreading the word about Xena and the tiny pups. Her blog:
http://indianbreed.blogspot.com/