Of pug tales and pet musings

Cross legged and with an occasional smile to oblige the photographers, 11 year old Dhruv Raman Singh, a Class VII student of Mount St Mary’s School, Delhi Cantonment, looked quite at ease with all the attention showered on him at the launch of his book ‘As Cute as a Pug’. HT reports

Cross legged and with an occasional smile to oblige the photographers, 11 year old Dhruv Raman Singh, a Class VII student of Mount St Mary’s School, Delhi Cantonment, looked quite at ease with all the attention showered on him at the launch of his book ‘As Cute as a Pug’.

HT Image

“As part of my Class V summer vacation project, I was asked to write a narrative and I chose my newly acquired pug as my subject. My teacher appreciated my writing and encouraged me to write more and that is how the book began,” said Dhruv.

Apart from giving a detailed account of Dhruv’s bonding with his pet dog, the 114 page book attempts to look at the world though its eyes.

Dhruv has already acquired a celebrity status of sorts among his friends. “My friends keep telling me, Arey tu toh writer ban gaya!” But his aspirations are different. “My aim is to educate people about the need to love nature and animals and how to conserve them. They have as much right to stay in the world as we do,” said Dhruv, who is also an active member of the World Wildlife Foundation, Delhi.

“I always wanted to keep pets and got some birds two years ago. But seeing them caged pained me, so I set them free. That is when I decided to adopt Tuppy, my pug.”

His heightened consciousness about nature and animals has also shaped his ambitions. “I want to spread awareness about animals and nature in whatever way I can.”

When asked what he wants to become when he grows up, Dhruv said, “IFS officer.” And before one could react, he clarifies, “I want to join the Indian Forest Service and not the Indian Foreign Service. There are two IFSs, you see.”