Milli From Mumbai

The story of how an extraordinary being won our hearts from a distance of 150km and later came to cover the same to become the most stunning part of our lives.

Oct 5th, 2018

7:00 am [Wadala, Mumbai] Two girls, in the teen-to-young-adult transition phase, saw a pup, about a month old, roaming about the streets. Upon waiting for the pup’s mother for 10-15 minutes and seeing that she didn’t turn up in that time-frame, they decided to go on and pick up the pup.

7:30 am [Matunga, Mumbai] My aunt, whom I lovingly call Maus, saw the two girls on her morning walk. Sceptical of their relationship with the pup, she went ahead to inquire about it. Upon doing so, she came to know its story. She also found that the girls only intended to play with the pup for some while, hadn’t decided upon what was to be done later and displayed sheer incompetence when it came to caring for the whelp. She decided to bring it home.

1:15 pm [Bavdhan, Pune] My mother checked her WhatsApp to find photos of the pup, sent to her by Maus, and felt the dire need to forward it to me that very moment.

1:30 pm [Kothrud, Pune] I checked my phone and saw the words “Found this pup. Brought him (it was later revealed that the pup is a girl) home…” on my lock screen. My heart skipped a beat and my hopes began to soar. But that didn’t last long. I checked the complete message and it was drawn to my attention that the message was forwarded and the original that was sent to Maa by Maus also included “Putting him for adoption”. Attached was a photograph of the adorable doggie and I was determined to pay it a visit before it got adopted.

A couple of weeks passed by when I had my exams and despite Facebook and Instagram posts resulting in a handful of phone calls, the pup who was now called Brownie, refused to be adopted.

Then on Oct 23rd, I visited her. She was, and still is, adorable. Everyone said she had a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. Call it naive or whatever, but I failed to see it. She mingled with me from the moment she saw, or rather, smelled me. Playful and full of life, she won my heart. Without having held her, Maa felt a spark too. On our journey back home the following evening, my family and I talked of nothing but her and finally started considering adopting her.

In not more than a week’s time, we made up our minds, that she would be the fourth member of our family. We decided on the name “Milli” since she had been found (Milli is Hindi for found – female). With all the necessities delivered home by Amazon, having watched Cesar Millan videos on YouTube and having learned WikiHow of Dog Training by heart, we were all set and pumped for her arrival.

After the seemingly unending wait, on Nov 3rd, we were off to Mumbai again, but this time to bring our baby girl home. Spending about a day with her, we learned the basics of her health and hygiene from Maus and were as ready as could be to become dog-parents. Finally, in the evening of Nov 4th, Milli made it to her new home and started to gauge her new environment. Here’s to hoping that she will love us as much as we love her and to the start of a new phase in our lives.