‘West Coast Riders’, a cycling club in Mumbai were cycling from Bandra to Fort area on a Sunday morning.
The group took a planned halt at National Association for Blind, at Worli for the visually impaired cyclists to join the group with their tandem cycles.
A friendly dog approached the group and mixed around with them.
The canine was graced with love and affection.
Once the group started pedaling, the dog came running behind.
The cyclists kept moving and the dog followed them in excitement.
At Haji Ali, when the cyclist took a pit stop for more members to join, they barely realized what was going on.
Siba, one of cyclist observed the canine continuously following the pack. She checked with her co-riders and found no one in the group owned the dog. She was convinced that he had lost its way and would need help.
When the group took a quick snack break at Tardeo, Siba spotted a collar with a contact number and name ‘Laddu’. She immediately called the owner while the other members helped her by playing with him until the owner arrived.
As soon as ‘Aditya’ the dog’s caretaker arrived, Laddu ran unto him with excitement and jumped in his arms.
“Really grateful to Siba for noticing Laddu and contacting me. He loves running with cycling groups, its become his weekly hobby, he is a doggo from Worli Sea-face who we take care off. We are always anxious about where will he go, with whom; many people ignore thinking he is a stray and I am really thankful to the West Coast Cycling Group and Siba for waiting with him till I was able to come and get him” said Aditya, a Worli resident.
All’s well that ends well.
Expressing her sentiments on this reunion Siba said “I am so glad the dog had a collar which had two phone numbers and that helped us to get in touch with the owner. Without that little detail, this would have been another lost dog”.
A dog is a man’s best friend and the adventurous Laddu proved his unconditional love for the mankind yet again.
The Government of India is observing Road Safety Month between 18th January to 17th February 2021. This incidence very well tells us that cyclists are alert and observant of their surroundings. They are not at all a danger to anyone and rather wiling to extend help in crises.
Road safety is also about animal safety, isn’t it?
Sides notes:
Laddu is a Marathon running dog and I read his profile in the below Instagram post shard by Aditya. You too will love his story.
Cover image by Rohit Shringare
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Author: Vijay Malhotra, Mumbai
