Rain Dogs: Rohit Chawla's book reflects on stray dogs' fate and our bond

Photographer and art director Rohit Chawla's book Rain Dogs gets to the heart of why human beings care about stray dogs, and what makes their blood boil when they imagine their fate

Rain Dogs

By Rohit Chawla 

Published by HarperCollins India 

Pages: 164

Price: ₹1999

 

On August 11, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan ordered the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and authorities of Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad to pick up stray dogs from all localities, and create dog shelters or pounds where they will be sterilised, dewormed and immunised. The court stated that the directive was meant to protect children, visually impaired people, the elderly, and homeless people living onthe streets from dog bites that could lead to rabies.

 

Anticipating the public outrage in response to their order, the judges added, “Any hindrance or obstruction that may be caused by any individual or organisation in the smooth and effective implementation of our aforesaid directions will be viewed as contempt of this Court and we shall proceed to take appropriate action in accordance with law.” This has not stopped dog lovers, animal rights activists, politicians and celebrities from speaking out against what they view as an impractical, hasty and unsustainable decision that is lacking in compassion.

 

Photographer and art director Rohit Chawla’s book Rain Dogs gets to the heart of why human beings care about stray dogs, and what makes their blood boil when they imagine the fate awaiting these animals in conditions of captivity, restricting their natural state of being. It grew out of his friendship with stray dogs during the Covid-19 pandemic when he “sought refuge under the monsoon skies of Goa” in 2021. He convinced a hotel to open up a sea-facing room for him though they had no staff or functioning kitchen to support his stay.

 

In his evocative introduction to this edited volume, Chawla writes, “I began walking the beach to stay fit, 20 kilometres a day. The stray dogs followed me, hoping perhaps that I was the harbinger of manna from heaven, for on earth they’d been left with nothing — the tourists had fled, the beaches were no longer a moveable feast of leftovers.” Seeing them hungry and emaciated was hard for him but his words do not come from a place of pity. They invite us to reflect on the bonds of interdependence between human beings and other species.

 

He writes, “I often wondered whether the dogs were also able to sense that I needed rescuing as much as they did…Though I fed them whenever I was able, the bond that grew between us wasn’t only to do with food. Could they have been aware that, howsoever broken their lives, they were in a strange way restoring mine?” He points out the shallowness of the ridiculous assumption that humans are benefactors and animals are beneficiaries in this relationship.

 

The book contains heartfelt essays on dogs by a number of writers. Manu Joseph points out that, unlike Europe, where one witnesses “a complete triumph of the Christian Man” over other species that have been either subjugated or terminated, India presents a different picture. He writes, “The reason why animals appear to thrive in India is a combination of administrative incompetence and the success of secular western evangelism of animal rights that have influenced India to adopt animal welfare laws that are among the most sophisticated in the world…But all this will go one day.” These words were published before the apex court’s order but they portend the arrival of a dystopia that seems not too far into the future.

 

Writing about street dogs living on the beach stretch between Benaulim and Cavelossim in Goa, artist Katharina Kakar notes, “Some 60-65 million streeties live in India, making us the country with the largest population of homeless dogs in the world.” She says that every dog has a story, a name and a personality. Such an observation can come only out of respect.

 

Novelist and screenwriter Anuja Chauhan recalls how her children and their friends had helped “a mommy doggie” named Amma “fish her drowning brood of six out of the gutter during a cloudburst”. This act of care was frowned upon by “horrified uncles and paranoid aunties” who asked the garbage collector to take away the puppies and drop them far away.

 

Chauhan has the ability to talk about a serious issue with a sense of humour that makes people sit up and listen. She writes, “We found a fairy godmother in Rescue Without Borders, and in my sister Nandini, who got together to fund an airlift from Bengaluru to Boston for our puppies on Lufthansa Cargo. Outside my garden gate, The Neighbourhood shook their heads at the foolishness of Americans willing to pay good money to adopt indies from India.”

 

Vikram Seth, Mallika Sarabhai, Javed Akhtar, Vikas Swarup, Namita Gokhale, Michiel Baas, Prayaag Akbar, Orijit Sen, Ranjit Hoskote, Sumana Roy and Tishani Doshi are among the 30 contributors who have enriched this anthology with their prose and poetry. They did not charge any fees, and the royalties will go to registered animal charities. Chawla’s hauntingly beautiful photographs of dogs speak louder than every word in the book. “Unlike my human subjects, I couldn’t coax the dogs to do my bidding,” he says. The photographs can be seen at an exhibition at the Museum of Goa from August 17 to September 14.

 

The reviewer is a journalist, educator and literary critic. Instagram/X: @chintanwriting