Vaidya Wadi's Moti

Everyone loves Moti. He has been living at Vaidya Wadi in Thakurdwar for the past thirteen years. Mr. Ahuja, a Vaidya Wadi resident confirms this. His younger son was born around the same time as Moti.

Vaidya Wadi has a cluster of old buildings with a long dead-end lane and narrow alleys between the buildings. Moti is a very smart dog and knows how to dogde us through the narrow alleys when we go every Sunday to look him up for all the maggot wounds that he keeps getting. He once got it on his eye and we thought that we will not be able to save the eye but luckily it healed.

Moti likes to hang around at the base of the Deepstambha of the heritage temple at the entrance which was renovated recently. He roams around through out the wadi and also on Thakurdwar road.

Raju from Oval Maidan

You will find him sitting amongst his people on a quiet Sunday morning. This is Raju, Champi’s replacement. After Champi died of old age, the sugarcane juice wala (the late Mauryaji’s son) wanted another pet. He found Raju somewhere in the suburbs just like the late Mauryaji had found Champi and brought him to Oval Maidan.

He has now grown from a very good looking pup to a handsome teen. He now wanders around the area, gets bitten and comes back with some wound or the other, the latest being on his head.

You can see him in the above photograph looking towards the sugarcane juice wala, the Oval Maidan and the Rajabai Tower in the background completing a pretty picture. The sugarcane juice wala agrees that it’s time that he is ‘fixed’ so that he stops wandering around.

The Parsi kua Rani

Good Ol’ Rani has been living at the Bhikaji Behram Kua (Parsi Well) for the past fifteen years. This well is located near Cross Maidan. You will pass it on your left if you are going from Churchgate towards Fountain at the corner of the road that turns towards fashion street was dug in 1725 by a Parsi citizen as a thanksgiving gesture after being saved from a potential calamity.

Rani has slowed down over the years and you will find her sitting in the compound of the well precinct. . She would be sitting either at the door under the photograph of Zarathustra or on one of the green wooden benches or somewhere near the well. She has always been a very gentle dog loved by the Parsi worshippers who visit this holy place and of course the attendants who dote on her. They are always very concerned about her and call WSD very promptly if she is suffering from any ailment.

Arthur Road Jail dog

This dog hangs around Mumbai's famous or infamous Arthur Road Jail. This is the same jail where the 1993 Mumbai Bomb Blasts trial was being conducted and where Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was being housed.
This dog is looked after by the policemen who sit outside the jail. She is very sweet and makes all sorts of funny noises when she sees somebody she knows. She will also starts jumping with joy on seeing you if you call out to her. In fact, during the trial, one of the Mumbai Mirror photographer's must have seen her and published five different poses of her, dancing and jumping in the air next to a policeman who she liked.

Who's Auto ?

Eknath, a stray, is much loved by all the autorickshaw drivers of Shivaji Nagar, Juhu. They share their cutting chai and biscuits with him as well as their meals and if he has even a small ailment or wound they make sure he is treated immediately. So its little wonder that autos are Eknath's favourite sleeping place.

Something Suspicious

Mother and son

The son is a shadow of his mother and she protects him and his other two siblings very well. After she littered in an unused open plot at the Ghatla Village road in Chembur, the citizens from the neighbourhood buildings have been sending them food ...day and night. Took this photo when the two of them were peering at some movement on the other side of the road.