Maybe some of you know that I’m a jazz singer, maybe some of you don’t. I’m not bringing that up randomly, there is a reason why I mention this. During the pandemic, I ended up making a bunch of virtual jazz videos with musicians from Russia, Argentina, France, Italy… all over the world really. And oddly, as I got to know the musicians, I discovered that there are streeties / rescue dogs everywhere. Many of my online musician friends had dogs under their feet as they played f...
Jul 12, 2022•36 min
I first met Bismi Anil about 6 years ago when my streetie Brownie had disappeared. Vanished. I hunted for her for a month and gave up hope. Then a girl I knew on FB posted a picture of a doggie that looked so much like a little Brownie that I had to have her. So we trudged all the way to Whitefield from Cooke Town… a two hour drive each way… to find that this little doggie didn’t want to come home with me. She ran up a winding staircase and peered at me suspiciously from the top. I was c...
Jun 26, 2022•31 min
ALAI (Animal Lives Are Important) is a dog rescue organization, about 5 years old here in Bangalore. Well it’s not in the city, but in a place called Mitganahalli about 15 kms from the heart of town. It’s well known in dog rescue circles in this city and Sajesh, the founder is legend. If you talk to people in Electronic City, or the Nandi hills and other outlying areas of this city, beyond the limits of the BBMP, where veterinary clinics and hospitals are scarce, people talk about ...
Jun 18, 2022•30 min
Prestige Golfshire, in the Nandi Hills, is possibly one of Bangalore’s most beautiful residential areas. 275 acres of landscaped villas, with an 18-hole golf course, pool, tennis courts and other wonderful amenities that make life just special, besides being close to the airport and not that far from the heart of the city.But this is not a real estate commercial. This is about what’s happening at around, oh, let’s say knee level. Yes. It’s about dogs. Ownerless, rudderless, street and vi...
Jun 11, 2022•28 min
If you’re taking care of street dogs in Bangalore, I guess anywhere in India, it’s a heart breaking, pocket emptying, frustrating but ultimately very rewarding and joyous experience. Once you begin taking care of streeties… you mostly cannot stop. It becomes a lifelong addiction. Because these dogs are on the street, they are way more susceptible to road accidents, pack fights, diseases and so on that your pet dog is mostly spared.So sometimes, even the most logical and rational hu...
May 29, 2022•37 min
When I first started podcasting The Indie Dog, one of the first stories was about a little dog named Inkling and a lovely lady named Vinita Rabbi.A little background: Inkling’s mother was Inky, and her uncles we believe, were Pinky and Ponky. Yes I named them, because I saw the three of them one night, and had to come up names quick, so I could report their presence in Cooke Town on our dog squad Whatsapp Group.This was during lockdown and before we could get these three spayed, along came In...
May 25, 2022•16 min
There’s something about the street dog community that feels like one belongs to a very special, very loving, very intimate family, even if you’ve just met someone. You can tell just by the work they do in rescue - rehab - fostering - healing or fund raising, that the connection is strong.Some months ago, my niece Arundhati Krishnan asked me to come to a puppy adoption camp run by Anwesha Majumdar… who is a little buzzing dynamo … she runs an organization Indie Tales of Hope…. And she’s b...
May 22, 2022•36 min
Warning: this is a very graphic and heartbreaking story. You may not be able to stomach the details. Just saying. It’s a story about medical and surgical heroism combined with human beings who refused, point blank, to let a streetie go.I’m talking to Archana Sreenivasan today. She’s an artist, illustrator and animal rescuer. She used to be a resident of Cooke Town, and an active feet-on-the-street member of the Frazer Town Canine Squad… But at one point, sometime during the pandemic, when the...
May 15, 2022•34 min
Now this is a podcast about The Indie Dog and one might think that it has only to do with native Indian dogs. But actually, it’s about dogs in India that fend for themselves on the streets for many reasons. Some are born on the streets and these dogs have a slightly better chance of survival because of inherited abilities. But many dogs are just dumped, because their owners have had it. Dogs with pedigrees, dogs with lineage, dogs that have been bought at great cost. Dogs that guard...
May 08, 2022•30 min
If there’s one thing about adopting a doggie or two and raising them… it’s that nothing is ever predictable. Especially in a city like Bangalore where dogs can disappear without the slightest warning. People will dognap them knowing you’ll pay ransom. Or they’ll just wander off... especially streeties who remember the freedom of the open road. Sometimes the noises of our multicultural, fire cracker-led religious holidays and birthdays of politicians… well they just drive dogs berserk. An...
May 01, 2022•28 min
Doctor Lee is a Korean acupuncture / acupressure specialist, who was introduced to me by a friend. I’m having some awful hip issues and figured I’d give it a shot. As it turned out, despite the excruciating pain of his Korean Torture (he laughed when I called it that) the problem didn’t go away. I think it was by way of distraction, but he kept talking to me while he twisted and prodded and poked and pulled, also asking me to talk about myself. In the middle of some heartfelt yelps,...
Apr 24, 2022•29 min
This year in February, there was a big deal being made of the date 02-02-2022. Many people thought it was a lucky date. But if you were you were a doggie named Duke it was the worst possible day for you. Duke was lost… alright let's call it what it is… he was bloody abandoned on Wheeler Road Extension, around the Village Supermarket, here in Bangalore. Someone driving a dark blue car hit Duke straight on, despite the very bright streetlights and despite the fact that it...
Apr 17, 2022•24 min
In 2022, for some reason, right after the pandemic, there have been a number of deliberate acts of violence against the street dogs of Bangalore. From CCTV cameras we have been able to determine that the culprits are often young men. Cruelty to animals (and other children) starts at a very young age, sometimes three or four year. The very same age where it’s possible, with the right intervention, the right role models and therapy, we could be instead creating a future of compassionate, animal...
Apr 10, 2022•36 min
On the 23rd of February, 2010 a posh residential building in Bangalore named Carlton Towers caught fire. There were many, many illegal aspects in the construction of that building… and as a result the fire engines were unable to get to all the residents in time. Several lives were lost that day, and many people were left injured. Some irrevocably scarred for life.Maneesha Ramakrishnan and her two small sons were in that building. They watched people jump to their death… as they feared for the...
Apr 03, 2022•27 min
Harini Raghavan is an HR professional with a deep passion for animals. She is extremely active in advocating for the rights of animals. That’s another way of saying, she lobbies and cajoles and pleads with the government to do their job, please, did you hear me say please.Harini and a few other people set up Citizens for Animal Birth Control (ABC), which is an organization. The key here is not the word ‘organization’ but the word ‘Citizens.’ Because it is mandated by the government...
Mar 21, 2022•21 min
Vaibhav Mungole worked in the IT industry for maybe a dozen years. A dozen too many. He was fed up. He wanted to get out of town, maybe move to a small village, a farm, something, anything to get out of the city.But other forces were at work.Specifically, a doggy named Eddy, that came into Vaibhav’s heart and soul about ten years ago.The area of Bangalore they lived in didn’t have dog parks where Vaibhav could provide Eddy with a chance to socialize or play with doggies of his ilk. Eddy was a...
Mar 20, 2022•37 min
Mehvash Arslan has been a resident of Cooke Town for the past 10 years or so. She works in an NGO that helps small businesses like the local tea walla, or the isthri lady. But her involvement is unusual. She has accidentally… or deliberately… found herself rescuing older, very sick, severely disabled, even blind dogs, usually without much chance of survival. Sometimes these dogs make it and sometimes they don’t. But that doesn’t stop Mehvash from turning her world upside town to give so...
Mar 14, 2022•22 min
Vera DeJong is an artist. And her husband George Penner is a baker and jam maker. They are not doctors. They haven’t been to vet school or nursing school. But if you listen to these stories, puppy after puppy, I swear you’ll want them by your side if your dog has a medical emergency. For a decade or more, with intuition, mindfulness, empathy, YouTube and Google, they have they’ve saved the lives of hundreds of puppies, because there was no vet available in those beautiful hills of Kodaik...
Mar 07, 2022•23 min
When I first Saakshi Kewalramani, she wasn’t quite 17 and she was already heavily into animal rescue, rehab, feeding and, fund raising. This is now almost two years later and Saakshi wants to be a veterinary surgeon. She is trying to gather practical experience before she joins school next year. This is the story of a little very mauled and mangled dog named Nexa that Saakshi found in the army quarters near where she lives. It’s the story of a struggle for life while losing an eye and a...
Mar 01, 2022•18 min
In many part of the world, if there’s an animal in trouble, there’s someone to call to get help, Immediately. That’s not the case here for obvious reasons. We can barely take care of our humans… so expecting special treatment for animals is unrealistic. Yes, there are numbers for Cupa, Care, the BBMP, other animal shelters, but there’s so much pressure on them with the number of domesticated, freely multiplying animals… that they cannot cope. You could end up waiting forever. The animal ...
Feb 23, 2022•20 min
Now, more than ever in Bangalore, the impunity with which drivers in expensive cars seem to playing some sort of murder-for-fun game with street dogs, the number of dog-hit-and-run cases is steeply rising. We – all of us in the streetie community – need to make ourselves familiar with aspects of the law and statutes on animals so that we can bring pressure to bear on the police, legislature and judiciary. The punishment has to match the crime.Hospital costs for injured animals is not che...
Feb 20, 2022•28 min
Ricky Kej is one of the few Indians who’s ever won a Grammy in music. It’s a huge deal. And a huge honour to have him wandering in our midst here in Bangalore, shedding inspiration and encouragement to other musicians as he walks the streets of the city.He’s not shedding alone. Because Ricky has two dogs, shedding right alongside him.Both of them were quite literally rescued by him before his neighbours tossed them out for various reasons. He doesn’t think of them with hatred in his heart – a...
Feb 16, 2022•28 min
Sudha Narayanan runs CARE (Charlies Animal Rescue Centre) and is the absolute go-to person when your own pet is in distress, or you find a streetie who needs help. The reason is she is not in it for the money. She genuinely cares about street dogs and will take care of dogs for as long as they live if there’s no one else who will. We talk about two very important things. One is why people should change their attitude about sending street dogs ‘away’ to a shelter, as if it’s a magical pla...
Feb 10, 2022•25 min
I speak first to Mia Bhat, a 14 year old schoolgirl for whom online lessons are just great because she can spend more time on street dog activity as opposed to commuting two hours a day to Inventure Academy. She found herself drawn into the world of Indie dogs quite by chance. Or maybe not. The Indie dog is quite beguiling. Their puppy dog eyes and yelps are irresistible.In a year or so, Mia has become well-known in the doggie rescue community. She has helped a lot of streeties with her ...
Feb 03, 2022•33 min
Onnisha Mojumdar (that’s spelled Anwesha Majumdar) needs some help from you and maybe everyone you know on Sunday, Feb 13 from 11:30 am to 5:30 pm. She and her organization 'Indie Tails of Hope; have about 30 puppies they’d like to find homes for. Forever homes. Homes that are kindly, gentle, friendly and fun. The kind of home you’d like to live in. It’s an adoption camp. For 30 healthy adorable Indie puppies who’ve all been vaccinated and checked out. Some of them may n...
Feb 01, 2022•21 min
Covid saw the rise of the 'neighbourhood canine squad' an independent-thinking group of animal lovers that through magic (and What'sApp) rescued and fed hundreds of dogs. This didn't really happen on it's own. It happened because of one fierce and indomitable force of nature named Priya Chetty Rajagopal. You'll hear about her thoughts, ideas and how she used management techniques in the handling of street dogs.And then, on the other side of the podcast, you'll hear Claudia Vinita Ra...
Jan 26, 2022•20 min
Falling in love with a dog changed lawyer Anupama Hebbar's life to such a degree that she is now part of a dog squad and actively assists in the upkeep and maintenance of street dogs in her neighbourhood in Cooke Town, Bangalore.Her passion is infectious, and that's a nice kind of infection, not like Covid. She talks about giving people legal advise and common sense advise, both of with are not mutually exclusive. She has a pure bred lab and a pure bred Indie. She says the Indie is...
Jan 17, 2022•25 min
What is The Indie Dog? The indigenous dog? The Indian Dog? The Independent Dog? All of the above?The stories about the Indie dog are plenty. Everyone I speak to has a different story and yet there's one common goal. To love, nurture and stop the rapid multiplying of hapless and helpless animals. They are smart and have figured out how to survive amidst aggressive humans and vehicles each day, whilst looking for food. Humans are the only hope for this group of four-legged mutt...
Jan 05, 2022•2 min
