Zorawar may be a massive St Bernard but he thinks he’s small and sometimes, he thinks he’s a snake!
“When he’s happy he breaks into a ‘nagin dance’, wriggling on the floor like a cobra,” says 11-year-old Nirav Prakash. “And while dancing he ends up sliding under the bed without realising he’s too big for it. He gets stuck underneath and we have to lift the bed and free him.”
In Nirav’s words, Zora is his best friend, even dearer to him than his “human best friend”. The dog was his fifth birthday gift. “We had once gone to Punjab, where I played lots with my dad’s friend’s St Bernard. A while later we got a call from them saying that their bitch had had puppies and that he was sending one to us by flight,” recalls the Class VI student.
Nirav and his brother have grown up with Zora ever since. “My brother Bharat was only six months old when Zora came. We have videos of them playing tug-of-war with my dad’s belt and even biting the belt together,” Nirav laughs. Needless to say, the belt is history. Parents Gaurav and Neeti are happy-golucky too and let the three be.
Zorawar is named after the Sikh leader Guru Gobind Singh’s son, who was known for his bravery. Salt Lake’s Zorawar is very brave and protective too. “Once in the park, Bharat and I had run ahead of our father and Zora when a man approached us to say something. Zora dragged my father so hard and fast that he nearly tripped and fell. He chased the man off and stood guard next to us,” says the proud boy.
There’s no end to the games the kids play with the dog. They play “doctor-doctor”, using pens as play-knives and perform surgery on him. They pretend he’s a raging bull and play matador by waving towels in front of him. “Zora loves watching superhero movies with us too — Thor, Superman, Batman.… In fact, he’s inspired by the Joker and flashes an ear-to-ear smile like him too,” says the La Martiniere student. “And he has a huge yawn, like a crocodile’s.”
Nirav plans to learn the guitar soon and has already got himself one, that hangs on his wall. “Actually I have two guitars — one that I’ll strap on my shoulder and play and the other is Zora’s whiskers,” he says, strumming the same and making the sounds himself. All the while Zora calmly lies on his belly, watching the kids amuse themselves.