Rani

Beautiful Rani lives in the south of France with owners Emmanuelle and John.
Read about her rescue and journey from Tamil Nadu to France!



Rani was born at the foot of a large and beautiful mountain: Arunachala.

This mountain is sacred, it overhangs Tiruvannamalai, a small town in Tamil Nadu, in the beautiful surroundings of South India. Ramana Maharshi, a very great sage and teacher living next to this mountain, regards it as the spiritual centre of the world.

This took place four years ago. And now here's the story of Rani:

John and I, Emmanuelle, are French. We are a couple.

We decided to spend six months in India in Tiruvannamalai in search of a travelling experience, and to practise yoga and meditation.

On arriving there, we went on foot around the Arunachala mountain, according to the local tradition which is called "giri valam."

The temples, the sadhus, the small village, the odours of vegetation and wild animals, the saris and flowers, all this was a source of discovery and astonishment.

One day during the trip, on the outskirts of a village a thin black puppy came up to me and followed me. This one did not seem to be like the others. Small, scrawny and ill, it had something attractive and touching about it. I knelt down to caress it and the puppy jumped into my shoulder bag!

Just at that moment the driver of a bullock cart asked us to climb in. John, the puppy and I found ourselves on board this carriage, which is rather unusual for us French people!



The puppy was a female, with an almost human look in her eye, begging for love and above all for something to eat. We gave her fritters, she was so thin that one could see every vertebra on her back, her coat was in a bad state and she had hair loss.

The same evening we gave her croquettes, but we could not keep her. How were we to take her to France? After three good meals we decided regretfully to take her to the ashram where other puppies are fed by tourists.



After leaving the pup there, I was overcome with sadness.

I ended up going back, but the puppy was no longer there. After some inquiries with the cooks of the ashram, we found her at the tea shop where we drank tea every day. She was very happy to see us come back.

The family that owned the tea shop told us that they wanted to keep the puppy: what a relief! An adoption on the spot! The young boy Chandra and I searched for a name for her, and after several attempts he suggested Rani, the queen! I thought it a super name!

Unfortunately this lovely story lasted two days. The third day we could not find Rani, who had been removed by a neighbour during the night.

For more than a month, on my bicycle I looked for her without success in the lanes near the ashram. It was sad to know that she was not rescued and healthy with an adopted family.

Then after a day of walking in the heart of the town of Tiruvannamalai, John said to me, "Look! That seems to be Rani over there!"

Incredible as it seems, Rani remembered her name, turned her head and raced towards us. She was absolutely overjoyed to see us! What a moving meeting!

She followed us for thirty minutes up to the threshold of our house. It was at this moment that we took the decision to keep her, adopt her and take her back to France with us.

Rani was in bad condition. She needed care - for wounds, skin disease, parasites.



After giving her a good bath I took her to a veterinary surgeon. He gave her a vaccination for rabies and other injections, and prescribed an antiseptic cream.

I searched on the net for the procedure for taking an Indian animal to France. It seemed complicated but the reality was even worse.

I needed: 2 vaccinations against rabies
Blood tests after some time
To send the samples to the Ministry of Agriculture in France
A microchip.

All this was done in Chennai, after a four hour journey. The Indian Ministry of Agriculture is located nearly two hours away from the centre of this huge city.

What was discouraging sometimes was that we had a lot of difficulty doing all this. For example, to send blood that might be contaminated with rabies is prohibited; a real setback. Fortunately John was there to help me speak English and do all this.

After all this and a positive reply from France, it was time for us to go back because our visa would have expired after six months.

Unfortunately Rani could not go back. It was necessary to follow the strict rules and regulations.

So we left her, with an enormous sack of croquettes, in the care of a kind Indian family who sold flowers in front of the ashram.

We went back to France and at the end of one month I returned alone to fetch Rani who had again become fatter!

I bought a special cage for air transport. The vet prescribed a sedative for the 8-hour flight that Rani would have to go through. I paid an excess baggage fee according to her weight.

Now Rani and I were in Paris at the height of winter. Rani was cold in the airport! My friends in Paris kindly put us up.

We finally returned to Nice on the Cote d'Azur, to be more precise to Villefranche sur mer, a small village in the south-east of France.

Since this incredible adventure Rani has lived happily with her owners, John and me. She goes jogging, goes for walks and sleeps in a pretty basket!



She is adorable and everybody turns around to look at her in the street. She is so beautiful, graceful and elegant.

Even people who do not like dogs ultimately love Rani. She has so many ways of winning over people, many expressions and movements of her ears and a look that is so expressive that no-one can resist her charm!

She is very sensitive and playful and she loves to run. She is also very greedy!

This is her story. I have so many things to add but I must stop here!

Thanks for your interest in the extraordinary life of Rani. This dog brings us happiness and love every day.

Long live the pariah dogs of India and the entire world!

Story: Emmanuelle Colorado
Villefranche sur mer,
France

Translated from French by Alokananda Mitter