When Nilanjana Bhattacharya got her first Pug over 20 years ago, people on the street would ask — not what dog it was but — what it was! “This was before the Vodafone ad made a household name of this breed. Even I had never seen a Pug till a puppy was placed on the table before me by a breeder.”
But it was love at first sight and Nilanjana has only had Pugs thereafter.
Her current Pug Kutkut came during the lockdown. “I had chosen him beforehand but then the lockdown got called. I remember setting off to the breeder’s house at day break one day before the police could catch me!”
Once Kutkut came in, Nilanjana realised he wouldn’t walk. “He only ran. He still is a volcano of energy playing football, fetch, wrestling and tug-of war,” she smiles.
Some months later, Nilanjana was approached by a colleague who wasn’t being able to bring up his Pug. “So we brought Boots home. Kutkut was livid!”
He bullied Boots no end but they've come to an understanding now. “They aren’t friends but I guess you can call it an armed truce,” laughs the doctor.
Today Kutkut is extremely friendly and will fall over backwards trying to play with a guest. Boots is more reserved but then he blew off steam at a trip to Santiniketan recently. “Boots started chasing a mouse there and jumped into a lake while at it! Labourers waded into the water to pull him out but he seemed to have had a great time,” she laughs.
Not just Santiniketan, the Pugs would accompany Nilanjana to the puja pandal downstairs too. “They are loved by the entire complex. “Once in a while, they have walked out and someone or the other has brought them back. We even celebrated their birthday jointly in the park downstairs with balloons, streamers and treats. The party began with seven invited dogs and their families but soon every passer-by dropped in to bless them.”
As for Nilanjana, who has a stressful job as a doctor in a hospital ICU, she swears there’s no stress buster like the dogs. “They are my children of a different species,” she smiles.
If you have a pet you have brought up at home as a family member and which has its eyes only for you, write to us with your contact number at The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or email to saltlake@abp.in