It’s 11 PM, and every passing vehicle gets 6 of them ladies rushing towards the gate to welcome their best hooman – Prashant.
Bubbles, Blossoms, Kaalicharaun, Beau, Jerry, and Sheeba are still settling into their new home in Goa – a rather huge Portuguese house with a backyard and a veranda. The 6 ladies have their dedicated beds – their spot to relish bones Prashant gives them – a little late-night ritual they have. This is their 8th house in one year before they moved to Goa from Delhi.
One is enough. Or wait…
“I got one of them home and told myself that’s enough. Then came another, and the next. Now there are 7 of them!”, says Prashant.
He is still reluctant to acknowledge that Junior Beau’s left. She was the 7th one, the bubbliest one, who succumbed to an injury recently.
“I ran a cafe back in Dharamshala. JB just showed up on the door, and within minutes made herself comfortable around me. We inquired to find about her owner, and the cycle repeated thrice. The third time she was spotted by someone in Dharamshala, I decided to keep her with me. A dog doesn’t run away so often if it’s kept well,” he says, telling us stories of JB and how she’d make friends with anyone.
To which, I’d agree. I didn’t have to make an attempt to make friends with JB. Well aware of her tiny size, JB instantly jumped on a chair nearby demanding her due attention. Next 5 minutes, she was in my lap, comfortable AF.
“Sheeba is a mountain kid, she’s huge, loyal and fierce. She scares the shit out of everyone but not JB. JB would look right in her eyes and shout back. She had no concept of fear in her head”, he adds.
Prashant and his pooches faced quite a bit of backlash in the hills and the metro.
“At one of the places I had rented in Dharamshala, I was asked to immediately vacate the place with dogs. I was beaten, thrown off and threatened for life. People find it hard to understand the connection between pet owners and their pets.”
Prashant moved back to his fam in Delhi with his dogs only to be asked to ‘give them away’ and get married. His parents would invite people over to see the dogs and take them away.
We Are A Family!
“They call my love for them crazy. But how can you ask parents to abandon or worse, ‘give away’ their kids?”, says Prashant, humoring his transformation from a proper Delhi boy to a warm, responsible parent of dogs.
Dharamshala To Delhi To Goa
“Living in Delhi became difficult with 7 of them and that’s when my girlfriend Aditi suggested I try moving to Goa. I had no job, no plan. But 8 of us had to just get away.”
And so he packed his bag, booked a tempo and left for Goa with his dog fam on a 3 days road trip.
“It’s been 3 months in Goa and 6 of them have become therapists to so many people! Right from kids to friends and friends’ friends, they are friends with more people than me!”,he laughs recalling JB, the most in-demand therapist.
As our conversation proceeds, Kaalicharan replaces JB and assertively demands belly rubs.
“She is another story”, Prashant says pointing towards Kaalicharan.
“She was owned by a family of labourers, in a construction site right opposite to my house. I heard her cry so many times, being hit by the family members, I couldn’t just let her be there. I threatened the family with a police complaint, 4 days later they abandoned her and left the place. One thing led to another, and just like that, she was added to the family. She has been mishandled by men, hence she is usually a little apprehensive around men. It takes her time to get comfortable. She loves women though!”, he says.
Prashant’s house stays open for anyone to walk-in to spend time with his dogs. Suraj, the care-taker makes it a point to feed everyone some on-the-house beer and feni.
“They bring out smiles in everyone! All 7 of them have been adopted, not bought. All of them have their own survival stories. No matter how my day is, how you day is, they can bring out happiness in others just by being there. They’ve made me realise that sometimes in life, all we need is a connection, a small moment to get us through”, Prashant shares.
If you’d like to spend some time with these 6 cute pooches, you can connect with Prashant here.
“Beer’s always on the house”, Prashant adds. Here have a look at some of the pictures of Prashant’s kids, as he calls them.
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