E-Paper
Pets: The truth about cats & dogs
Prefer HTon Google
Two new books, each dedicated to our canine and feline friends, celebrate a love that can never be measured
If you’ve ever had a dog, you’d know exactly how unconditional their love is and how much they can truly enrich your lives. For editor and publisher Hemali Sodhi, taking in her first Labrador, Simba, was more than just enriching. It was a relationship that changed her life.
Since Simba, there have been brothers Jack Sparrow and Carlos and rescue dogs Cooper, Nikki, Junior, Muffin and Custard, as well as numerous strays that have adopted her and her husband. For someone who grew up “terrified of dogs”, Hemali has come a long way. Now, in a new book, The Book of Dog, Hemali has compiled and edited stories, essays, poems and even recipes from 45 unexpected authors who reveal intimate glimpses into how their dogs have shaped their lives, changed their futures, and been remarkable companions.
For Devapriya Roy who edited Cat People, a book with a clowder of cat short stories, longform pieces and list essays, the idea for the book came as naturally as Hemali’s. “With all my books I’ve had the same sort of an instinctive response: ‘I have to do this’ combined with ‘I don’t know enough about this’. And this is exactly what happened,” she reveals.
Take a paws
Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always touching, The Book of Dog contains stories from Vikas Khanna, Gillian Wright, Rajdeep Sardesai, Cyrus Broacha, Shobhaa De, Devdutt Patnaik, Gulzar, Ashok Ferrey and many, many more. As any pet parent will know, it isn’t hard to get one to talk about their pets at length, but to get 45 of them is definitely a task. So, how did Hemali do it?
“The initial list was of around 30 contributors and it grew from there,” Hemali says. “I think the challenge for me was to draw a line and say, ‘this is fine, we have enough!’”
For Devapriya, it was just as easy to get writers on board. “They were thrilled that such a book was going to come into being,” she says. “Most of them said yes immediately and didn’t ask about money!”
What makes both these books even more interesting is that they don’t stick to any particular format and none of the contributing writers was limited in the way that their stories were told. Speaking about the diversity of these stories and the forms they took, Hemali says her book has everything. “From essays to poems, graphic narratives, photo features, a historical narrative, dogs in mythology—and even a recipe for a dog treat by a renowned master chef,” she laughs.
Devapriya shares, “A few of the writers knew immediately what they were going to write, a few sent me several ideas and a few found out after finishing their piece what it was all about!”
Royally speaking
The one thing Hemali was adamant about was her clear vision for the book, right from the get-go. “There are so many extraordinary people working in animal welfare and I thought it would be right to contribute royalties towards some of these organisations working in this area,” says Hemali. “It was an idea all contributors embraced instantly.”
Even though the idea for The Book of Dog had always been at the back of her mind, it was during the pandemic that Hemali began to seriously think about paying tribute to man’s furry best friend. “It seemed like the right time,” she states. “In an uncertain and unpredictable world, when things were bleak, our canine companions provided comfort (as they always do), and this book is a tribute to some of these wonderful beings.”
The cat’s meow
From Varun Grover to Aneela Babar, Jai Arjun Singh, Vangmayi Parakala, Teesta Rawal, Gurmeher Kaur and Priya Sebastian, the stories, people and, of course, cats, in Cat People are bittersweet, moving and poignant. Whether you’re a cat person or a dog person, you’re bound to relate.
Cattitude: “Three kittens swinging from the end of grandma’s saree when she put her feet up”
By Devapriya Roy
My mother’s parents had a house in a small town in Jharkhand called Khunti. It was 19 miles from Ranchi, and was well known for its mica mines. I went there for my holidays and they were pretty idyllic: picnics by waterfalls, mutton curry for lunch, unlimited mangoes in summer, spending all day running around in the dust with my friends, a champa tree by the entrance of the compound.
One season, the house cat had given birth to kittens and they gambolled around the inner courtyard, disappearing into nooks and crannies when unfamiliar people came, playing freely the rest of the time. My mother and aunts would sit with my grandmother and chat. One afternoon, when I had come back from playing with my friends, I saw that three kittens were swinging from the ends of my grandmother’s saree as she had her feet up on a stool. It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. My mother was chatting with her two sisters casually, and the kittens were swinging happily—they were three sisters too. My mother was no great fan of cats, but these kittens were an exception to her iron rules. For the rest of our stay this became a daily ritual. I know I must have named the kittens and petted them, but none of that remains. Only this one memory has survived. The house has now been sold and my grandparents are no more, and somehow the three kittens now tug at my heart strings with greater ferocity.
Doggone it: “My Great Dane hid his face behind me, thinking the rest of him could not be seen”
By Hemali Sodhi
I remember receiving a call from Tandrali at Friendicoes, saying there was this young pup they’d rescued from a situation of extreme abuse and if we could give him a home—followed by a photo of this adorable, floppy-eared Great Dane, looking extremely scared. One look at him and of course we had to say yes; we went to pick him up from the home he was temporarily being fostered in. Cooper (or Coopsie as he came to be called) came with us in the car, trembling–and was too afraid to even enter the house on day one.
In the early days, the strangest sight was when people came home–Cooper used to hide his face behind me, assuming the rest of him couldn’t be seen either (given that he was the size of a small pony this was clearly far from the case!). He would emerge much later, once he instinctively realised he was amongst well-wishers. Over time, when he realised he was amongst people who wouldn’t inflict harm, he slowly started coming into his own.
And then came the day we took him to a place with an open space–seeing Cooper run like the wind, bounding about, obviously delighted, his ears flapping majestically–it was one of the most beautiful moments ever. Dogs in shelters (irrespective of their breed) just need to be given that break, that one chance of leading a normal life with people who love them–and you can see magic happen.
Follow @modwel on Instagram and @UrveeM on Twitter
From HT Brunch, February 27, 2022
Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch
Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
