By Dr. Kuhu Roy
Some matches are made in heaven. One such pair was of Tweeky and Orange. While they lived on the streets of Mumbai, they were branded ferocious stray dogs because they retaliated in self-defence when provoked. They had only known the vicious side of mankind until then. When my father took their charge, Tweeky and Orange met the first human who cared for them. Their fear of us humans increased manifold when their friend, White, was taken under the pretext of sterilisation and never made his way back. While the world around was hostile, the two found strength in each other and in my father who ensured they be fed every single day come what may, he gave them both a name and an identity. In the repeated meetings, we started building on trust that ours was a bond for a lifetime. When conditions were made more hostile, they came to Baroda to be reunited with their father to live under the same roof.
Their personalities that were subdued because of hatred, flowered with home-coming that gave me the opportunity to discover who they both really were. The ferocious dogs were apparently the most docile dogs we could have ever had. Any rescued canine who was in no shape to go back to streets and eventually came home were first welcomed by Tweeky and Orange to become a part of the family. If not for these two, homing the un-homed would never have been possible for us as a family. They together raised two rescued pups, one paralysed and the other orphan, by becoming their adoptive parents. Orange, while raising Chutki, had the time of her life. She tore pillows, bedsheets, rolled around in the mud and went about digging our backyard, that made us call Orange as the CEO of Orange Diggers Private Unlimited. Tweeky, on the other hand was an indulgent father to the two, who played with them by trotting around like a horse. Orange’s bark was music to the ears, the softest ever, while Tweeky’s we never heard of until Zenobia, an orphan pup, arrived and stole all of Tweeky’s peace in his super senior age. Having earned their trust was one of the greatest privileges of my life. It has been a journey of love, struggles, faith that has paid rich emotional dividends.
