Bengalureans remember the ‘Charlie’ in their lives

The new Kannada movie shows the depth of a human-animal bond and the city is full of real stories

In the recently-released Kannada film ‘777 Charlie’, Dharma, a factory worker, takes in an abandoned female Labrador puppy as his companion. Later, he sets out on a gruelling road trip to Kashmir to fulfil the dog’s wish of experiencing the snow. He calls her Charlie. The movie moved many to tears, including Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai.

City pet parents recall how they spent the last days with their furry babies.

‘Zazu saw horses, trains’

Jakkur resident Sujaya Jagadish says Zazu was the son her family did not have. A Husky puppy handed over by an Iranian couple as they left India, he died aged 10 after a long battle with liver cancer in January 2021.

“He loved anything that moved fast. We would take him to the riding school near our house and he would sit on the lawn watching the horses gallop. He would howl (out of joy) every time trains went past the crossing near the GKVK campus. He loved running, so we would take him outdoors, especially to our farmhouse in Mittur (in Kolar district),” the animal welfare worker recalls the last 20 months of Zazu.

Zazu’s memories live on as a 100-page coffee table book Sujaya has written on her “boy”, his ID badge tag, food bowls and leash the family has preserved in their Bengaluru home, and his life-sized painting that adorns their farmhouse.

‘Boiled chicken for Zombie’

Dr Meenakshi Bhat with Zombie.

Dr Meenakshi Bhat says her Zombie developed all possible medical complications one can associate with a pug and succumbed to them in December of 2020, aged a little under seven.

The clinical geneticist finds it comforting that she could feed Zombie a piece of boiled chicken a day before she died, a treat she loved very much but which the doctors had struck off her diet because she had developed bladder stones. “She did not like the taste of the pellets she was put on, day after day. It came to a stage when I had to request the doctors to let us give her boiled chicken once a week. We fixed Sunday as that day and Zombie would look forward to it,” Dr Meenakshi, who stays near Hosur, shares. “Zombie was quiet towards the last months. But that evening (in December), she was quite perky and ate the chicken heartily. It was unbelievable that she stopped breathing the next morning,” she says.

Zombie was buried in their garden along with a quilt and a teddy bear that she loved.

‘Homemade butter for Luke’

Manjari Chaitanya Colaco's son Advaith with Luke.

Manjari Chaitanya Colaco found Luke on Cunningham Road — with broken hips and burn marks. When veterinary doctors said the 12-year-old indie would not survive long, the JP Nagar resident took him home. Luke went on to live for 18 months.

“He loved having a dollop of fresh butter, so I would make a vat of butter at home every day,” the animal rescuer reminisces.

Manjari hasn’t been able to bring herself to make butter “since Luke moved on” in August 2019. But she has since opened her home to old and terminally-ill dogs “to provide them dignity in the last days”.

For one indie called Candy, who she lost this March, Manjari went on to buy a car, the family’s first car, to take her on long drives.

Currently, she has 10 dogs and is fostering four more.

‘A sunset drive for Freddie’

Keerthana Sudarshan with Freddie.

Musician Keerthana Sudarshan’s first dog, Freddie, died of a genetic disorder in October 2020.

“One day, when he seemed to be feeling better, we seated him in the car, rolled down the window and drove him past Cubbon Park and a beautiful sunset. He left us the next day,” the Sanjaynagar resident talks about the cocker spaniel.

Now she is showering all the love she had for Freddie on her new dog by taking him to beaches, pools and vacations.

Rahul R with August.

‘Longest walk ever with August’

Rahul R lost August, a golden retriever, to a sudden bout of gastric complications last March.

“He loved long walks but I would not be able to make time because of my studies. But hours before he passed on, August and I went on the longest walk we had taken. He also came and slept next to me on the bed, which he would never do,” the Banashankari resident shares.