Chasing squirrels and daydreaming came easily to Pluto, an adorable Golden Retriever with soulful, dreamy eyes and an ever-friendly, cheerful attitude. His pet parents were a busy doctor couple who hardly had any time for him, but he knew he was the centre of their universe. They took him everywhere they went and didn’t leave him alone when they were together - it showed him what his presence meant to them. He wished they had more time together, but life didn’t really hand out everything on a perfect platter, and he was wise enough to treasure what he had: a family that loved and cared for him deeply.
Darjeeling nights had a fairy-tale vibe, and they filled Pluto with cosmic dreams. When his friends in the neighbourhood barked at the moon, Pluto had silent conversations with it and gazed longingly, as though they were old friends. In his dreams, he traversed its dusty craters as giant chew toys and the inky blackness beyond as an endless playground.
His favourite spot in the Darjeeling home was the old, slightly rusted telescope in the attic. They say it belonged to Grandmother - she had wanted to be an astrophysicist, but life in those days placed social barriers for women, particularly those from privileged homes.
Even though Pluto couldn’t peer through the telescope, just being near it sparked his imagination. His favourite dream was that of discovering a soft pea-green planet in space, which he could nudge with his wet nose, picturing himself soaring through the Milky Way, a furry super astronaut marvelling at the swirling nebula that tempted his taste buds like giant cotton candy. He dreamt of planets - the swirling hoops of Saturn’s rings, which he could jump through, and Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a colossal, swirling orb to chase.
Sometimes, in his dreams, Pluto would hold up his paws, as though he could feel the gentle tug of zero gravity spanning asteroid fields that shimmered like cherry blossoms in sunshine. Darjeeling, in its own picturesque way, held the spell of enchanting stories and quiet spaces. Every nook and corner held Nature’s secrets, far from the cacophony of metro towns where car horns and blaring sounds trespassed into homes.
When Pluto went into his dream state, he took Darjeeling’s green spell along, and imagined the breathtaking view of Earth, a vibrant bluish-green landscape that beckoned to him. Pursuing the vast space, Pluto carried his favourite toy with him on his space journey - Green Pixie, the soft pea-green and white handcrafted orb toy, shaped with meticulous care to embody a perfect earth-shaped sphere. Together, they explored the vast Milky Way and clusters of shining stars that awaited their adventures.
In his dream state, Pluto probably didn’t know of the pet babies that had explored space - but clearly, his yearning wasn’t just a fanciful canine notion. It was a deep recognition of what he was capable of: a deep connection to the cosmos, an urge to explore the unknown, and perhaps an echo of ancient stardust within him.
Laika, the famous Soviet dog, scripted history in space as the first living creature to orbit Earth, launched aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957. In 1960, Belka and Strelka became the first dogs to go into orbit and return safely to Earth, which paved the way for human spaceflight. When Strelka had puppies, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev gifted one of them to Caroline Kennedy, bringing instant trust and warmth to the otherwise cold US-Soviet ties. In 1966, Veterok and Ugolyok created history yet again by flying for a record-breaking 22 days in orbit. The valuable data from their flight enabled prolonged space travel for astronauts.
With a dog’s unwavering faith, Pluto sensed that one day, he too would dance among the stars. Till that became a reality, he savoured moments of playful abandon with his whimsical, sphere-shaped toy, which reminded him of his favourite dream sojourn among the planets.
Perhaps, somewhere in the vast expanse of the cosmos, the spirits of Laika, Belka, Strelka and several brave canine cosmonauts are gazing over bold and playful dreamers like Pluto, their pet baby brother, with his gaze on the shining stars and his paws cuddling his favourite soft plush earth-shaped toy.
