Above: I saw this beautiful dog sitting behind a highway "dhaba" (restaurant) on the way back from Bori-Satpuda. INDogs often climb on to high places like walls, unlike most other breeds.
Above: Marking territory
Above: I disturbed his siesta
Above and below: Scenes like this gave me an impression of an idyllic life, specially in the case of the child and pup below.
A closer view of this boy's family completely shattered that illusion. The family are very poor, like most forest-dwellers. He and his little sister are mentally challenged, and have no doubt worsened over the years because they've had no medical attention at all. The smallest sister is a baby and very hard of hearing. They are totally neglected by their mother, who probably started having children at a very early age and pays them little attention except to yell at them once in a while. She had eight children but only four have survived. She told us that she had no time to take her children to a doctor, as she had to work in the fields all day.
Below: Sadly, the pup and the chicken seemed to be the only healthy members of this family (and I shouldn't really describe the poor chicken as a family member). This visit left me uncharacteristically depressed.
Below: Furry mix-breed - like the pup above.
Above and below: This INDog and his family live in a Korku village which has just been resettled outside the tiger reserve. They were in the process of shifting at the time of my visit.
Bori-Satpuda Tiger Reserve,
Madhya Pradesh
