Fur ever friends

ROSHIN GEORGE

Adorable canines walking down the aisle or being dogs of honour on their human masters’ big day is nothing out of the ordinary in the West. But when a doggie in Sharjah crossed the seas to reach Kerala in time for a wedding in his foster family, it became a topic of interest for Indian newspapers.

Smurf, a spunky Yorkshire terrier, could not accompany his human family – journalist Roopa Kurian and her daughter Malavika – when they left Sharjah for good on a repatriation flight to Kerala in June last year. He was housed with a relative for a while until a pet relocation company in Dubai organised his transportation in an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Bangalore in late October. As India permits export/import of pets only to six major airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore – the Garden City seemed a convenient option.

Pet relocations are cumbersome and expensive, with extensive paperwork, quarantines, health checks, climatic conditions and above all, a suitable crate to carry the animal. Since Smurf was travelling unaccompanied as manifest cargo, the transportation costs were steeper. What would have been less than AED 5000 for a toy breed like Smurf instead came to over AED 8000. In contrast, bigger dogs like Labradors will be charged the equivalent of a business class ticket to the destination.

The company then arranged for a pet handler and driver to ferry him by road to the Kurians family home in Puthupally near Kottayam, with ample stops for the four-legged passenger to stretch his legs outside. The trauma and jetlag caused by his first flight journey however made the furry traveller skip food until he was united with his family.

Though Smurf did not attend the wedding in Changanassery on December 31, he was at home and enjoying the fuss as the bride got ready for the church ceremony. He had a great time with all the children who came for the wedding.

Roopa recounted that Smurf was at the door to welcome them when they returned after the wedding but upon seeing that the bride and her groom Dhruv were not back yet – they had to stay back at the venue for a photo session – he went back and sat under their bed. He did not come out until the newlyweds reached home.

“He was a little jealous of Dhruv at first, but Dhruv seems to have charmed him,” Malavika notes. Dhruv practises as a lawyer in Delhi, while Malavika has finished a course in culinary arts in the U.S.

Smurf has now become everyone’s favourite back home. Roopa avers that all those who were scared of dogs now love him. After spending the first seven years of his life in the UAE, the toy dog will now keep Roopa company at her Puthupally residence once Malavika and Dhruv depart for New Delhi. Roopa’s husband Cherian Kurian passed away four years back.

And for Smurf, each video call will be something to look forward to then.