If you follow Kimaya posts, you may remember the dog party we signed up for? The group have been organizing events mostly in the western suburbs, but they've now started in our part of town as well. The first party was here at the Oval.
At first Kimaya was very pleased to be in this wide open space; but once we approached the party she got scared and pulled away. The trainer had advised us to sit at a distance she was comfortable with, and only for as long as she was willing to stay. So we sat on the grass about 30 feet away from all the other guests, watching the games. We stayed for half an hour, longer than I'd expected. After that she wanted to go, so we walked around far from the other dogs.
We went back to walk at the Oval a few days later. That's when I took these pictures. She didn't want to walk through the gate or on the centre path, because that's the area other dogs are walked in. I had to carry her till we were far from all dogs! After that she got busy sniffing the ground and trying to catch a rodent in the long grass.
The grey stone 19th century building in the background is the High Court. Behind it is the Bombay Stock Exchange.
"Excuse me, is that a Maratha Hound?" a man called out to me through the park railings. She's a mix-breed, I told him; but he had a good eye and is probably partly right. Look up "Maratha Hound" and you'll see what I mean. It's more commonly known as Mudhol Hound or Caravan Hound.
These dogs were used for hunting in the Deccan Plateau, and must have mixed extensively with the village INDogs. So this look is seen sometimes in Maharashtra's free-roaming dogs. I also see some traits and behaviour in Kimaya that I haven't noticed in most Indies: very fixed eye-stalk behaviour, high prey drive, and love of running for its own sake, with no purpose. She also runs faster than the dogs we meet on Nagaon beach (I mean healthy young village dogs, not weak or malnourished ones).
Here's an earlier post in which you can see a dog with Kimaya's build.
We'll be going back to the Oval once it stops raining - if that ever happens - and we'll be going for more dog parties too, even if we have to sit far away watching. I'm sure Kimaya will eventually realize the other dogs aren't trying to harm her and perhaps she'll stop being so timid around them.
Mumbai
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