The search of Raghu’s beloved pet Thunti struck a cord. The well-known folklore musician and the face of Indian contemporary music, Raghu Dixit, recently created Melo romantic tunes as a symphony of love for his pooch. His desperate wait to find Thunti transported him from his regular peppy music to a relatively soft melody love song genre, creating the Tsunami – the music track.
Tsunami, he says, is the perfect word to describe his little four-legged friend. Be it Thunti’s shower of love or the way she could take his problems away, a powerful Tsunami of love is how he describes her to be. In conversation with DesiWoof, Raghu opens up about his feelings for Thunti, expresses his excitement for his new music release, Tsunami, shares his journey as a pet parent, discusses the perks of having an indie, and more.
Raghu found his spiritual guru
The role of a pet parent changed Raghu Dixit. Speaking of which, he shares, “It will be wrong to call Thunti as just a pet; she was more like my spiritual guru, constantly giving me life lessons.” Excited to share a few incidents, Raghu added, “Every once in a while, when Thunti did something notorious, and I scolded her or spanked her, she would come back to me within a couple of minutes, with the same love and admiration wagging her tail. Teaching me that we just have the present and there is no meaning in carrying the baggage of the past, that the best way to live is to be happy in the present.”
“Another important life lesson Thunti enlightened me with was to be satisfied with how much I have. The excitement and joy she had from the tiny things taught me to be satisfied and happy.” reminisces Raghu.
The making of a Tsunami
Losing Thunti from a foster friend’s home while he was away has left a void in Raghu’s life. His tireless search continues with the hope of being united with her again. The longing and love steered up an emotional side of Raghu to put together some soft Melo tunes. Thunti’s love and affection inspired him to make a song dedicated to all the loved and lost fur-friends. Coincidentally, It was the same time Raghu’s friend and actress, Samyukta Hornad, was celebrating a month of Gundagiri, in memory of her first late fur-friend. This initiated their collaboration, to sum up, a bilingual duet of a heartfelt song for all those who have loved, lost, and miss having their furr buddies.
Nurturing an Indie
Encouraging people to adopt indies, Raghu says, “I don’t understand the obsession around having a foreign breed dog or a pet. It is painful to witness them suffer in a climate they aren’t born to live in. Indies are beautiful; they also have a great immune system. They have wonderful adaptable qualities, are friendly, and are very low subsistence even to take care of. I urge people to adopt, so they gift a better life to the homeless dogs in India, which will also reduce the number of dogs wandering on the streets.”
Struggles of animal welfare workers
Discussing the situation of Street Dog’s in the country, Raghu points out the lack of compassion as the key problem. Speaking of which he says, “The value of life has deteriorated, people aren’t compassionate anymore. This is the very problem. When they don’t care for the other species, no one comes forward to help. “He hoped that the people trying to create a better world for the strays get ample funding and space to be able to achieve and help as many animals as possible.
Need for platforms like DesiWoof
Appreciating the initiative taken by DesiWoof Raghu Dixit explains, “It is amazing coming up with a platform to collectively help the pool of NGOs trying to create a better life for our strays. This way, there will be no competition, and each of them can help one and other in need. People working in animal welfare will be able to focus strongly on the cause rather than the competition.”
Pinning his hopes, he said, “I hope DesiWoof will be able to create a network across the country to facilitate better working and easy funding for all the rescue animals in need. Through this animal adoption and care can be a smoother and quicker process.” Signing off, Raghu Dixit urged each of us to adopt a pet.
You can listen to Kannada track here
Adopt, don’t stop!