When Anita Nair Met Two Dogs Who Won Her Over

With forty-five original pieces by some of India’s leading writers, outstanding new voices and individuals who have dedicated their lives to animal welfare, The Book of Dog is a testament to how deeply dogs touch us, to the special bond we have with them and the unique place they hold in our hearts and our lives. Read an excerpt from an exclusive piece contributed by author Anita Nair to this heartwarming collection:

The Elegant Mr Darcy and the Brooding Heathcliff

For five years, I resisted loving a dog again. For five years, I had lived with a Sugar-shaped vacuum in my life. For five years,
I refused to accept the thought of another dog-child filling that space. It felt like betrayal. So I made friends with strays, hobnobbed with friends’ dogs; I even was aunt to my brother’s dog. But no dog was going to steal Sugar’s place.

Then in early May 2019 I was in Chennai, and one evening as I stood by the ocean, a little stray came to stand at my side. Our eyes met and he gave me a great big smile that pulled at the steel vault I had encased my dog-mother self in. I smiled back and offered him my fingers to sniff at. His little stump of a tail wagged furiously and he moved closer. We stood there in companionable silence—I watched the horizon; he watched a crab scuttling. When I bent down to trail my hands through the approaching wave, he sneaked in a giant lick. The steel vault door flung itself open.

Was it the wave? Was it the little dog’s uninhibited move of affection? Was it the moment when the sky and sea blended into a steely grey in which the only speck of colour was the biscuit brown of my little companion? Was it the abject sense of loss I knew when two boys from the fishermen’s colony came ambling by and the little dog left with them? Was it the expression in his eyes as he looked back at me apologetically? All I knew was that I could no longer live without a dog in my life.

Later that night, Leela, one of my dearest friends, posted an album of her sister’s dogs: a Chippiparai couple and their litter of eight puppies. Through the night I kept looking at the photos and videos. When I returned to Bangalore, I called Leela and told her I was ready to love again. She decided to gift me one of the dog children. Two days later, the pup reached Bangalore. We went to pick him up from Leela’s home.

A pup came running towards me and leapt into my arms.

I hugged him tight. Leela looked at me wryly and said, ‘That one isn’t yours!’

I continued to hold him tight and just then an elegant pup trotted in. ‘This one is yours,’ she said.

I reluctantly put down the pup in my arms. Dear heart, hold still, he is not yours. Let go. Now.

I took the elegant Mr Darcy in my arms and cuddled him. He shoved his snout into the crook of my elbow and made himself comfortable. The other pup’s eyes grew big as if to ask: What about me, Mummy?

‘What about the other one?’ I asked.

‘Well, the people who were supposed to take him in Trichy didn’t show up. So the man brought him along to Bangalore. He’s going back to Mayavaram later today,’ Leela sighed. I looked at the pup. He had a worried expression on his handsome face as if to say—now that we have found each other, are you really going to let me go?

I knew then that our destinies were linked. I may not have recognized the tie but he had. I took a deep breath. Count till ten, I told myself. You will change your mind by then. The pup at my feet whimpered.

That he would have to go on a ten-hour journey by bus was just one part of it. The unassailable truth was that he chose me and even in that first moment, we signed a pact to love each other till death do us part.

‘May I take him too?’ I said.

Leela laughed. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘They will grow up to be big dogs!’

I don’t think I was ever more sure in my life. ‘Yes,’ I said, scooping up my brooding Heathcliff into my arms.

When you tell the universe your innermost desire, the universe makes it happen. It may take time to evolve but when it does happen, the soul raises itself on winged feet and nothing is ever the same again. I thought I had only room for one dog in my heart. It seemed that I had room for two.

And no, they are not called Darcy and Heathcliff.

Taking a cue from their heritage, they have names to match their looks and line. Sunderapandi and Nachimuthu.

The Book of Dog is a project to which the editor and all the authors have contributed for free. All royalties will go to registered animal welfare charities.

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