Goa has gone to the dogs, some say. Well, dogs are an essential feature of any Indian landscape. It is true that, with the increase in human population, dogs have increased too.
Before the British arrived to colonize us, only royal families bred dogs, mainly for hunting. Even in Europe then, pet dogs were not popular.
In the past, besides royal dogs, there were village dogs who served as guards. If some typical Indian villages still survive, one will
find such dogs. They are fed stale rotis in the wheat-eating north.
In towns
too, especially those that retain a rural ethos, one can find dogs per area
who will set up a chorus of barks at night should a stranger enter the
territory. Indian cities also follow such a pattern.
However,
there are variations across the country. Kerala, for example, appears to have
had next to no strays even into the nineteen eighties when I used to visit
Guruvayur and Trichur and the rare pet dogs were housed in cage-like dog
houses.
But, by the
2000s there is a visible surge in the canine populations across the nation. The
number of stray dogs in cities has become fodder for news at an almost daily
rate with reports of dog bites, dogs killing babies and dogs attacking people.
Along with
the increase in stray dogs, the number of people who feel for dogs has grown. In
Pune as well as in Goa, I have observed people who appear at regular times in
the day to feed strays. There are societies dedicated to strays as well as
individuals. Some even connect with veterinarians to care for wounded strays
and such people help with efforts to sterilize strays.
But there is a larger population, influenced by media, who buy pedigree dogs. Often they soon find that they don't like the dog and abandon it on the road,
creating new strays.
Besides the people who want fancy breeds from other regions,
there are people who are interested in Indian breeds. I suppose the typical Indian dog with any sort of breeding would
be of the hunting variety – slim and a long snout.
The caravan
hound is one such.
 |
Caravan hound Dolly1, Wikimedia Commons |
Like Chillar, the book is
slim and elegant and like her other book that I recently reviewed on this blog,
it is a must read if you are visiting this part of Goa – Camona, Orlim, Varca,
Mobor…
The book is also bound to
enchant dog lovers and while Goa has a healthy share of this breed of humans,
visitors to Goa too tend to contain a significant number of dog fans.
Since the book is so
slender, I will not offer any spoilers.
Buy it here: Eddi & Diddi
