I am someone who runs for cover at the sight of any breed of pet dogs , but will warm up to them once we both get familiar and then I cant stop my oohs and aahs admiring and petting them. And in this case , my exclamations were even more pronounced ; you will see why.

My husband and I were visiting my cousin Anil and his wife Preeti in Mumbai ( Bombay ) , India. They , along with their son Shourya , stay in a lovely suburb of the city , called Powai. We were on a super high after taking in the beauty of Powai on a pleasantly chilly winter evening. Undulating streets lined by high fashion stores lit aesthetically would suddenly pave the way for stretches of quiet strolling parks and quaint bistros. Enticing coming together of glamour and quiet beauty , if you know what I mean.

We looked forward to a lovely evening of conversations spiced by either Jack Daniels or wine. The mood was such ! But our bubble burst when Turbo , their dog flew at my cousin on entering the house to give him his welcome hug and I froze ! The rest of the evening looked dubious. Turbo , I knew would hover around me and I would have to learn to get comfortable with him. I wasn’t quite looking forward to the task , but had no heart to ask them to lock him up either.

Soon enough glasses of drinks clinked , Turbo did his rounds of sniffing and snuggling amidst our cheery , loud conversations and laughter till that singing moment and mood came in. Turbo had tired of us by then and prepared himself to shut us all out and snooze on the soft sofa. I sang a peppy number to some appreciation. My husband , who is gifted with the talent but at most times makes a fuss when asked to sing , surprised us when he took up next.

I am a big fan of his singing and he started with this Hindi melody “Rim jhim gire saavan” , sung enchantingly by Kishore Kumar. Hardly was he into the second line of the song , when Turbo , who had all along tucked his face into his forepaws and was probably entering dream world , looked up and around and fixed his gaze soulfully on my husband.

The soulful looking up

In the next instant , he got out of the sofa , walked towards my husband gently , licked his elbows and snuggled even closer to him. I worried at that moment that the singing would stop , because my husband is not particularly accommodative with pets in general. But no , to my surprise , he even started stroking Turbo gently on his neck. I sat there transfixed , watching both. Turbo then nestled himself on my husbands foot peacefully , turning to look up at him every few seconds. The song got over and as we all cheered , Turbo got up from where he was sitting , walked across the room , climbed the sofa and curled himself once again to sleep.

It amazed me and amused me no end. I even forgot to take pictures of the –man-and-the-animal-bonding-over-music-moment ! That was my first taste of such cute animal behavior. And at that moment I didn’t think I would be writing about Turbo in my blog , so it is going without pictures.

I did google on ‘do dogs love music’ after that and yes , read lots about how dogs and cats and some other animals calm down to soothing , gentle classical music.and how music is being used at vet clinics and hospitals to treat animals of some ailments. But dogs seem to be very sure of what music they like and want , no pop or rock genres for them ! No wonder Turbo ignored my singing !

While its one thing to see them enjoying music and calm down , it’s quite another to see this dog walking that extra mile in quiet appreciation. Not much of an animal person , but truly delighted to discover their sensitivity and in that dear Turbo has been my teacher.