Other families may be on the warpath trying to stop their kids from playing Holi in the middle of a pandemic but not the Roys of CD Block. Here, it is nine-year-old Soumit Roy who has declared to all at home that they will skip celebrations this year. “Our puppy Alpha’s coat is pristine white and if he jumps on us after we play Holi, his coat will get ruined. The chemicals are harmful for him too,” explains Soumit.

Alpha, the English Golden Retriever, came home barely two months ago but he has already made Soumit way more responsible than his parents had hoped for. The boy does everything from feeding the pup meals and medicines to bathing and disciplining him. Why, the other day when the vet asked what medicines Alpha was having, Soumit’s mother Sampita fumbled with the name but the boy spelt it out perfectly!

Soumit teaches Alpha to “stay” in exchange for the treat in his hand

Soumit and Alpha run and play so much that to compensate, Alpha has recently got an extra meal added to his diet chart. The boy’s face is full of scratch marks received from the puppy in affection and Soumit wears them like a badge of honour. “But Alpha needs to be disciplined and I scold him when necessary,” he says.

Tales of Alpha’s misdeeds include tearing most of Soumit’s pants, chewing up his mom’s spectacle arms and grandpa’s slippers, uprooting Gladioli from the garden and devouring a double chicken roll meant for his elder brother Souporno.

The family also has a paludarium, that they created out of their aquarium some months ago. A paludarium is an eco-system of both aquatic and terrestrial elements. It has lovely rocks, plants and fish, names of which Soumit rattles off in a single breath: “Guppy, Neon Tetra, Cardinal Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora…”

The house has a room full of birds too. In fact, birds were the first pets for the kids as the parents wanted to see how much care they took of their winged friends before getting a dog, that would clearly be more demanding. The kids sailed through that test with flying colours.

The paludarium that Soumit set up with his family during the pandemic.

With Alpha coming in, the family has a new concern. “The other day I was playing with Pecky, a Lutino Fischer bird, in my hand when Alpha leapt and took him in his mouth,” says Soumit. “Luckily Souporno managed to wrest open Alpha’s mouth and rescue the bird, unharmed. Now we have to be very careful when opening the bird cages.”

Alpha has come from the kennel of a renowned breeder in Guwahati and Soumit, along with his parents, had flown over to get him. “Alpha is much cuter and larger than I expected,” smiles the boy. “His ears are, in fact, so large that they dip into his food bowl when he eats and get soaked. So when he eats now I fasten his ears above his head with a clip!”