A lovely pet parent

 

As I walk in the busy little bazaar street on the banks of Ma Ganga, a sadhu and his dog meet my attention. The sadhu’s one hand supports the dog’s head like a soft pillow. With the other hand he is fanning the dog to sleep. The people get amused and laugh, thinking him to be a crazy baba. To be frank I also think so initially. But when I return after a couple of hours, he is still fanning the dog to sleep with the same loving care. I think there must be something wrong with the dog otherwise why would it lie so still and calm with closed eyes in broad daylight with hundreds of feet tapping the narrow street. So I sit down to chat with the baba. ‘Maybe the dog is sick,’ I ask. He laughs and points to a big food bowl, ‘No Badal ate too much and who won’t sleep with cool fan air and a palm to support?’ The dog’s name is Badal. ‘Badal also is Bhagwan’s avatar. If you can’t love a dog, how will you love humans, and if you can’t love humans, how will you love God,’ he elaborates his simple spiritual equation. He was offered to Joona Akhara by his parents at an early age. I ask him does he miss his parents sometimes. He cracks a big laugh, ‘What a question! He is the biggest mai baap!’ he brandishes his bright pink plastic hand fan towards Lord Shiva’s statue kindly looking at us from the top of a gateway. I feel embarrassed. Yes he is under the protection of the biggest baap!