2011-2021
The 1st Karmic Connection
Ever since I was born and brought up in my beloved Delhi, I have had a deeply ingrained scientific temperament, which was duly cultivated by my doting father, as much as in my school, which I loved from the bottom of my heart. Although a Sikh by birth, I hardly followed any protocols and tenets of the religion, and for most of my growing up years, and early adult life, was a hardcore atheist, with an attitude as if my will reigned supreme over everything else. However, as time passed by, higher education was followed in quick succession by a job in a public sector undertaking of repute, then matrimony and then parenthood, I learnt several new lessons in the ‘art of living’ (pun intended) which somehow changed me from being an atheist to being an agnostic, by the time I hit the thirty years mark- although a full, or even partial spiritual awakening was still some distance away. It was finally in my mid-thirties, when I went through a series of health scares that I started believing in the existence of a higher spiritual force, although my disdain for rituals still persisted.
Finally, it was through Snowy, our fur baby, who accidentally came into our life on 15th August 2011 that my belief in a previous life, or Karmic connection was finally reinforced.
Sometime in June 2011, on my daughter Mehak’s insistence, and against the strong opposition of my best half, Sonia, we decided to keep a pet dog. I belong to a family of animal lovers, and my vote went in favor of Mehak. At that time I was posted in Kota, about 450 kms from Delhi. As we were new to the town, we approached a vet through a family friend, and apprised him of our requirement. The soft spoken gentleman took us to a shop selling pups, and he selected a beautiful, pure, white, male Pomeranian of about four weeks for us.
“This pup is 95% pure in breed; will be perfect for you”, he explained.
After paying the pet shop owner, we drove to the vet clinic and purchased the requisite paraphernalia, including dog food, bowls and leash and got the vaccination done, as per age the profile of Snowy-the name we had given the new member of our family.
But Snowy was a reluctant entrant into the family.
Besides the usual traits, like chewing slippers, he would whine constantly. Although he dozed during daytime, as evening came his whining started, peaking towards midnight. Thinking that he might be desirous of a bio-walk, I would take him on the street below our first floor apartment, with not a soul in site, and absolute eerie silence, except the barking of stray dogs, and the occasional whistle of the night watchman. This started to adversely affect my sleep pattern, although I earnestly continued my effort for about a week or so. Till one day, I felt a sudden bout of dizziness in the morning, as I was getting ready for office. I almost stumbled and fell to the ground, but was steadied in the nick of time by Sonia, who was standing nearby. Worried by the sudden unseemly episode, we rushed to the doctor, who diagnosed a very high blood pressure and a racing pulse. He referred us to a hospital where our family friends had some connections, so, by the time we reached there, the husband-wife duo were already there.
I was rushed into the ICU and immediately surrounded by a bevy of doctors and nurses, even as sundry tubes, and an oxygen mask were thrust across my chest and wrist, and monitors started buzzing over my head. For some time I felt a sense of severe breathlessness and palpitation in the heart, which lasted till I most probably, under the effect of sedatives administered by the doctors, slipped into a deep slumber. When I regained consciousness, my university friend’s husband was confabulating with the doctor, and in all probability, it was the next day.
“Am I alive? Was it a heart attack?’ I asked very sheepishly.
“You are doing pretty well; it was a case of increased blood pressure due to lack of sleep; we will shift you to a special room from the ICU, keep you there for one day for observation and if everything is fine, you will be discharged tomorrow evening.” the good doctor explained rather patiently.
My batch mate’s husband who proved to be nothing short of a guardian angel for my family, slept with me for the night till I was discharged the next evening, standing on my feet, firmly.
But by now Sonia had taken a firm decision to overrule Mehak and me- and declared that my health was paramount, and the very next day we dropped the 95 per cent pure, white, male Pomeranian pup, Snowy back to the pet shop, from where we had purchased him, even though the lady refused to return any money for the few days that Snowy was with us.
All this started, and ended in June 2021.
July ended in relative peace, and silence on the pet front, but by the time August dawned there were again rumblings in the Malhotra household to get a fur baby as a new member of the family. It was obvious that Mehak and I had not learnt from the experience of Snowy I, while Sonia was hell-bent against burning our fingers again. She exercised caution, while we were throwing discretion to the winds. Finally, after a series of deliberations, some of which were quite heated, the majority view prevailed and on the 15th of August, 2011 when almost all the shops were closed, we requested the lady who ran the pet shop to show us her stock of pups, with our faithful vet in tow. From a side- not so clean alley- she took us up a flight of stairs, where, on an open terrace, in a small cage, there were three-four not so cute or clean puppies, certainly not in the same league as Snowy I. The vet, on closer examination, expressed his view that all were mixed breeds, almost 55-60% pure. Nonetheless, the pet shop owner, in an act of salesmanship, showed us a female pup, a little longish in size than normal Pomeranian pups, and not very clean at that point in time, not very healthy or one can say rather emaciated.
The lady told us that the pup, dull white, with brown patches on her ears and back, had been kept by an Army Major for a few months, and was fully toilet trained, and will not cause us any undue trouble. The vet estimated her age to be around four months, but despite her lack of purity in breed, we, as a family, were hooked by the innocence, which oozed out of her eyes. Without any further thinking, we decided to make her a part of our family, and there and then named her Snowy, with 1st June as her birthday.
My belief in the cycle of Karma took root that day………..
The 2nd Karmic Connection
Snowy was a darling.
She kept mostly to herself- ensconced under a bed or sofa. And as the pet shop owner had promised, she was completely toilet trained. The only time she tended to throw tantrums was when we took her for walks. On several occasions, because of her thin neck, she would slip out of the collar leaving a limp leash, and run around in circles like crazy. If it was a closed space, like the park adjoining our house, it was still manageable to catch her. But if it was an open road, like the lane between two rows of houses, it became a nightmare to catch her. This happened quite a few times but somehow we managed to salvage the situation, till one Sunday morning, she just disappeared.
Sonia and I shouted in desperation, but there was no sight of her. I took out my car and we drove for miles on end, with a hope to get a glimpse of her, but to no avail. Finally, we drove along an open drain which was full of muck and sewer, with an abundance of vicious stray dogs and starving cattle. It had such a foul odor that it was difficult to go past it. Our heart sank for a moment, as we dreaded of the consequences if she had ventured there. Without an iota of doubt, the strays would shred her to pieces in minutes. With a prayer on our lips for her well being, we all but gave up hope of seeing Snowy again and drove back home, with a heavy heart. The day went about rather drearily, till, at around noon, to break the monotony, I ventured into the balcony, and outside the porch saw a shivering ball wrapped in muck, with red patches on it, which I could discern from the first floor. I shouted-somewhat in dismay, somewhat in joy- as all three of us left whatever we were doing, and rushed towards the porch, our hearts beating faster than the Rajdhani Express.
On reaching the muck wrapped ball, in no time it became apparent that it was Snowy, and that she was grievously injured. The extent of her injuries became obvious as we washed her under a tap in the porch. It was certain that while running, she had lost her way, and probably strayed into the marshy swamp, where she was mercilessly mauled by stray dogs. Without wasting any time, I took out my car, we wrapped Snowy in a neat towel to protect her wounds, and I drove at the maximum speed possible on Kota roads, infested with stray cattle, vendors and students, to reach the vet’s clinic in the shortest possible time. Immediately the vet took Snowy under his care, giving her multiple doses of injections, followed by dressing to heal the injuries. He gave us a horse harness for dogs to put on Snowy instead of a collar leash, and as we were about to leave, he told us,
“You sure have a strong Karmic connection with Snowy!!! Otherwise, the situation through which she seems to have passed, it is very unlikely that she could have survived; moreover, after undergoing such a trauma, how she managed to find her way home is itself inexplicable, which only falls in the realm of a higher spiritual force”
A tear silently dropped from my eye as we headed home……..
To our relief Snowy recovered speedily and fully, to become her usual cherubic self and the apple of the entire family’s eye. In between she travelled with us in the car to Delhi for a vacation, in which she was introduced to her grandparents and sundry other relatives, where she playfully ran between everyone’s feet, as was her wont. It was all a two way love and bonhomie….
The 3rd Karmic Connection
In July 2013, Mehak got admission in one of India’s premier medical schools. And in August 2013, I was transferred to the famous Pink City of India, Jaipur. Sonia and myself were in a serious moral dilemma, as Snowy had become a part of our family primarily on Mehak’s demand. And now, when we were to be alone in Jaipur, we did not exactly feel the need of a fur baby in our life, and perceived it more of a liability. But we were also not willing to leave her with someone where her care could be in jeopardy, or even a little less than the high standards we had maintained for her in the two years that she had been with us- we had pampered her in every way possible.
But after lot of deliberations, we concurred to put her up for adoption.
Our hunt for a good foster home did not go beyond the housing complex where we lived. Mr. Singh, who had a god fearing family, and who had earlier loved Snowy as their own, volunteered to adopt her. They were people of simple means, and we knew that although they would not be able to provide Snowy with the luxury that she was used to, they would compensate it with their love and compassion. A few days before we were to leave for Jaipur, I used to drop Snowy at the Singh residence for short durations, in order to familiarize her with her new family members, and surroundings. But Snowy was a very intelligent girl, and somehow got a feel of what was in store for her. Because on the day the truck loaded with our household goods left for Jaipur, and for the last time I handed over the leash to Mr. Singh, and walked towards my car with a heavy heart, and just dared to look back at her once, she was still standing where I had left her, her wide expressive eyes knowing all that had happened, and accusing us of betrayal.
But we moved on in our car to Jaipur.
Little did we realize at the time of leaving Kota that life in Jaipur without Snowy will be nothing less than hell, more for Sonia than for me. From day one she started receiving calls from worried neighbors about Snowy’ s plight- on how she would be made to roam in the afternoon under the merciless Kota Sun, sometimes for hours on end, maybe without water, on how she was losing weight fast and so on. A worried Sonia started calling back, often many times a day, and the first demand to have her back popped up around the tenth day of our leaving Kota. The raconteur in me took another ten days to weave a credible story to convince Mr. Singh to send Snowy back to us for a few days, as Mehak was coming on a short holiday and wanted to meet her little sister. Finally, with this plea, on the 21st day, I hired a cab in Kota- the driver was known to me- to fetch Snowy to Jaipur, as she sat like a Princess, sprawled alone, in the rear seat.
When she came face to face with us, either in feigned anger or genuine angst, she refused to recognized either of us, and immediately went to rest under the sofa- which had been her favorite haunt earlier also. She remained there for the next one week, coming out only for food, water and her walks. After this, slowly the ice broke, and she was back to her normal self. She was back in our family, never to go back again.
Mr. Singh never called back.
The 4th Karmic Connection
Again, in April 2016, with the blessings of the Gods I believe in, I was transferred to my beloved hometown of Delhi, and as we moved, this time Snowy was safely ensconced in our car. We settled comfortably in our own house in the South Western suburb of Dwarka, with Snowy fully enjoying her Delhi stint- basking in the winter Sunshine and lazing under the chill of the air conditioner in the blazing summer heat. She was particularly terrified of the monsoon showers and the thunder which accompanied it. She liked to visit sundry relatives with us on weekends, and went gaga when someone came over, specially during festivals.
She was really dismayed when my father passed away in 2017, and then my father-in-law bid adieu to the world in 2019. But one of the worst phases stuck in January 2020, as the world was brought to its knees by the dreaded CORONA virus. As the situation worsened and India was put under a countrywide lockdown from the midnight of 22nd March 2020, Snowy’ s daily walks became shorter and infrequent, as we were all confined to the house by dictates of the law.
But there was more bad luck in store for Snowy, from a least expected quarter, in the worst of times.
One day, in the first week of April, I had taken her along for some grocery shopping to a nearby store in the car. On coming back, I brought the car to a halt in its designated parking slot. As I came to the other side of the driver’s seat to fetch her, and she jumped out in excitement, out of the blue, a stray cat, which was probably hiding under the car, suddenly pounced on Snowy, and with lightning speed, and viciousness of the devil, scratched her right eye with its sharp nail, and even as Snowy cried in pain, disappeared in the adjoining bushes. I was shaken to the core and for some time did not realize what had happened. Only when Snowy tried to scratch her eye did I realize that something was amiss. In desperation I called Sonia, and together we rushed to the vet, who, fortunately was open for emergency patients. He thoroughly examined both the eyes, and gave his verdict-there was nothing to worry, it was a superficial scratch and spray of water twice a day is all that was required.
But for once the good doctor was wrong in his prognosis. Completely wrong.
From the next day Snowy’s eye developed a swelling which kept on increasing as time passed by. Immediately we realized that there was something horribly wrong and again rushed her to the clinic, where a strenuous, almost daily, two-month long fight in the midst of a stringent lockdown commenced to somehow salvage her eye. Although in the initial days the doctor gave us some glimmer of hope, but as the days passed by, and the eye, during different phase’s oozed raw blood, and then developed an opaque layer, it was obvious that though the eye would remain, the vision would not return. Sonia, was a picture of virtue and dedication in these two months, as she single handedly took care of Snowy’ s medication at home- which sometimes included a mindboggling six-eye drops cycle in a day and sundry medicines and syrups to be fed orally, something which Snowy disliked. At the end of the two months of turmoil, the doctor raised his hands and said that it was the best he could do. Snowy would have to live with the vision of a single eye.
Snowy was a brave girl.
She took all this in her stride. Although when we took her for walks after the unfortunate accident, and occasionally there were insensitive and snide remarks, mainly from children, she never bothered and went about her life as before, as if nothing had happened- our 4th Karmic Connection– further binding us together.
The 5th Karmic Connection
Snowy would have completed ten years with us on 15th August 2021, although we celebrated 1st June as her official birthday, which was marked on the vet’s card and the municipal certificate. Although Mehak was abroad, Sonia and I had decided to celebrate it suitably, in our house in Delhi, though alone, as the country was passing through a dreaded second COVID wave, and most parts of the nation, including Delhi, were in various stages of lockdown.
But the Delhi plans were not to be as on 23rd March 2021 I was transferred to a small, but Mesmerizing Township, about 15 kms from Bina, a tehsil located 700 kms from my beloved Delhi, and 170 kms from Bhopal. This was the period when the number of COVID cases Pan India had crossed the four lacs figure per day. April passed off in this way, in absolute fear and dread, with a major scare in my immediate family member, but finally, we decided to cover the 700 kms distance between Delhi and Bina by road on 11th May, with Snowy in the back seat, a day after our household goods had been dispatched on a truck. Initially we had mulled over the idea of taking a driver along, but at the last minute advice of well-wishers against this adding to the risk, we decided to drive on our own.
We left Delhi at 7 am and drove almost nonstop to reach our township by 1830 hrs with Sonia on the wheel for around 500 kms. Needless to say, we were tired by the time we reached our room in the guest house. I had taken special permission from the Manager of the guest house to keep Snowy with us, although he was reluctant initially. But when we assured him about Snowy’s impeccable behavior and manners, he consented, provided there was no complaint from any other occupant. We were confident of Snowy, but not so much of humans. We were afraid that it would be difficult to find a foster home for Snowy for the few days it would take us to settle our house in this new place, where we did not know anyone, and no one knew us.
Our fears came true on the second day itself, when the Manager, rather politely told us that a co-occupant had raised an objection to Snowy staying with us in our room. We were non-pulsed at the sudden development, and sought some time from him to make arrangements in this new place. After a lot of running around and dialing numbers, we could finally catch hold of a gentle, dog loving soul who decided to keep Snowy from 13th May to 17th May, although Snowy was not used to staying away from us, with strangers, and that too just two days after coming to a new place, having traversed a distance of 700 kms. Though she went along without creating a fuss, we knew she was traumatized, as she probably thought that we had got her so far to give her away to a foster family.
On 17th May, when she came home, she was still quite active, although she looked a bit fatigued. Little did we realize then, that the next twenty days were going to be a nightmare for our family, including Snowy.
From 18th onwards her appetite dipped steadily, as did her weight. Her activity level plunged abnormally and she would just lie on the floor at one position for most of the day. Walking became a painful affair for her, especially when we took her from our second floor apartment for her morning and evening strolls. Somehow she managed to come down, but then had to be carried up, as she would just collapse and sit at the bottom of the staircase. Initially we thought it to be some sort of a trauma, due to difficulty in adjustment in a new location, and were confident that she would recover in the coming days. But then we thought it prudent to drop in to a vet and get a checkup done. Although the city was in the midst of a strict lockdown, on 24th, a neighbor referred us to a vet in Bina, with whom I fixed an appointment, and on 25th evening we reached his clinic, located in a not so clean and hygienic side street, where no COVID protocol was followed. It was a complete anti-thesis to our Delhi vet, who maintained a plush interior, and stringent COVID protocols. Anyways, we decided to go ahead and after the initial conversation found that the young man was quite good in his job.
After patiently going through all the blood and urine reports, which we had got done in Delhi barely a few days earlier, he physically examined her and diagnosed that she was running high fever. There was some infection in the blood and urine also, for which she was already taking some syrup orally, as prescribed by her Delhi vet- probably these had not subsided, or maybe resurfaced. For the fever the doctor gave an anti-pyretic injection, and some other antibiotic injections to curb the infections in the blood and urine. He gave a syrup to boost her appetite and asked us to come the next day. On 26th May also her condition remained the same- although there was no fever, the level of weakness and lack of appetite was debilitating. He repeated the intravenous dose of antibiotic injections, and in addition put her on a drip. The same treatment continued for the next two days, at the end of which Snowy was barely able to walk because of punctures in her thighs due to multiple injections and drip in the front legs.
Hereon, her condition only worsened.
It was obvious that the treatment was not having much impact on her health. The doctor advised us to give oral antibiotics on 29th and 30th May (Saturday and Sunday- when there was a complete Junta curfew) along with appetite boosting syrup. When I rang him up on 31st morning, he was down with fever. My hackles were raised, as though I was fully vaccinated, I had been in his close proximity for four days in a row, and the condition of his clinic was hardly better than that of a horse stable. With great difficulty he advised me to continue with the treatment, till he recouped and was in a position to examine her again. Meanwhile, Snowy’ s condition deteriorated by the hour and from 1st June-her 10th birthday, which we had planned to celebrate in our own home in our beloved Dilli- on the doctor’s advice, Sonia started feeding her some milk, multiple times a day, with a dropper, which she took very reluctantly. Her walks came to a complete halt and by 3rd June her intake of milk, very meagre to start with, further reduced.
It became obvious that Snowy was slipping.
In desperation I called another vet, whose contact details I had managed to procure from someone. The good doctor heard me in rapt attention, but then gave a very grim prognosis, indirectly refusing to examine Snowy. In true filmy style he said:
“This is a very small place; you have done all the treatment possible here and the reports from Delhi are also not very encouraging to begin with; you can take her for specialized treatment to Bhopal-although I don’t think she will be able to sustain the four hours strenuous highway journey in the condition you are describing her to be in; So let her be at home-in peace”.
Hearing this, the mobile slipped from my hand, and Sonia and I both burst into tears and hugged each other, at our inability to do anything more for the apple of our eye. Obviously, we had more than a Karmic connection with Snowy- a parental connection. From 4th onwards she went comatose, and although she could hear our voice, she could not lift her neck to respond- she just rolled her innocent eyes in acknowledgement. From 7th afternoon, she started vomiting, which continued throughout the night and on 8th June, around 10 a.m., as we watched teary eyed, she gasped for breath and then her heaving chest fell silent, for the last time, as a stream of white froth, mixed with blood, oozed from her mouth.
Rest in peace-sweet princess.
Stay blessed; now and always- wherever you are!!!!!
The 6th Karmic Connection
In our ancient scriptures, it is written that only the body dies, while the soul is eternal. During my ten years Karmic association with Snowy, my belief in this hypothesis has been reinforced. I am sure that we are destined to meet again- some day, in some form, somewhere…….
Musings of a Delhi Boy 
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