To the tune of Monali Thakur’s pooch love

Monali Thakur, an Indian playback singer and actress, rose to popularity after appearing in Indian Idol 2 top 10 contestants. Her songs for the film Race in 2008 helped carving her niche in Bollywood. Recently she won Filmfare Best Female Playback singer award for the song Sawaar Loon from the film Lootera for year 2013, which further confirmed her strong foothold in the music industry. She recently made her Bollywood debut in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Lakshmi and will also be seen in Abbas Tyrewala’s multi-starrer Mango. In her life there are only two loves…one is music and the second one, no prizes for guessing…it’s our lovely furry pals.
 
Monali Thakur
Monali Thakur comes from a musical family; her father Shakti Thakur is a renowned Bengali singer. She was trained in Hindustani classical and started singing in school and college competitions and performing at local functions at a very young age. She received the Best Playback Singer award at the Anandalok Awards for the serial Sri Ramakrishna when she was 14. And in all her growing up years, she had one pet dog, who was there with her for 16 years.
“I literally grew up with my pet dog Suzie–white Spitz. She was with me for 16 years and it took me five years to recover her absence. We were inseparable; she was my best friend and a companion for all my life. And even today, I miss her so much,” she narrated.
 
Partners in crime – Suzie
Getting nostalgic about the sunny days with her, she shared an incident, which is really close to her heart, “There are so many stories about both of us…she was my partner in crime. As a young girl, I used to steal flowers from my neighbour’s house in Kolkata and she always accompanied me. The strange thing was that she sat on my bicycle back seat with complete stability. Nobody taught her how to balance herself; on a moving cycle…it was natural. And people just admired our companionship. While I was stealing flowers, she would never make any noise and moreover acted as a watch dog for me. Sometimes, she got also hurt in the process, but she never left me alone. Whenever I moved out of home, she would just follow me.”
Not only this, when Monali practiced music or singing, she would just keep looking at her admiringly. “I was amazed with her expressiveness, I wonder how without uttering a word, she could communicate so much with me. No words can describe our companionship; we were together as a child, teenager and youngsters. It was a great feeling to have a pet companion. Luckily, I grew up with lots of pets…we had 18 cats and a goat too.”
 
Dude of the millennium – Daithy
Once a pet lover, always a pet lover…she could not keep herself deprived of pooch pal for long. It was a great emotional setback for her to lose Suzie and it took her five years to accept her absence. And today, she has a powerhouse of energy at home – Daithy – a one And a half years old Beagle who is full of starry tantrums. “Suzie and me were like nice girls…growing up together, whereas Daithy is a total brat. He is my spoiled son. He has so much of energy…woof!” she shared.
Sharing more about his crazy antics, she laughed out loud for a minute, as she showed umbrella to Daithy – the super brat. “He is my cutest champ. He challenges everyone at home, and does all the things he wants to do, but the moment we will open an umbrella, he changes instantly and follows all the commands like a nice obedient chap. It’s really strange, but very funny. And whenever I am moving out of home, he will pick my things and keep it in front of him and starts giving me a look ‘If you go…I will mess up with this’ and if I try to ignore him, he will just rush to the door and sit in between my legs. After pampering him for a while and promising him a coffee and walk together, he allows me to step out of the home,” she explained.
Another interesting antic she shared, “One day my father was playing my song on YouTube, he came rushing to the living room as he recognised my voice. But I was sitting on a sofa quietly, he was amazed and nobody can imagine his confusion. He was jumping here and there as if he was asking how it is possible.”
And here comes another one, “He is a city boy, who spends most of the time in peaceful atmosphere. Even when he goes out for walks, there’s not much noise within our locality. And the moment he hears auto-rickshaw noise, he gets frozen with fright,” she added.
 
Spending time together!
Being a busy celebrity, Monali sometimes has tight schedules but still she manages to spend time with her pampered pooch. “If I am in Mumbai, we have a blast together…we play together, go on walks, and sing together…it’s a great fun.”
“Moreover, I take good care of his nutritional requirements as well. He loves to gorge on chicken rice, which I give him as a treat,” she added further.
“Like most of the moms, I too can never be harsh to him. As he is growing up, I appointed a trainer for him, and personally see to the training,” she added.
“Be nice to animals, don’t pretend love…express it. And never harm any animal, be it your pet or a stray…. they make our world beautiful… love one, love all,” she concluded