Keep an eye out if you find yourself strolling the streets of Mahim on a breezy evening. If luck favors you, you’ll be rewarded with the sight of a man walking more than a dozen dogs all at once. Ravi is always running, only allowing himself early noon and midnight to rest. His journey as a professional dog walker began 14 years ago. He moved from Satara to Mumbai as a teenager in 2008 looking to support his family back home. His first job was washing cars outside large Mumbai buildings. Suresh, whom he met there, was one of the first dog walkers in the city and his first introduction to the curious world of dog walking. Detached from the idea that he could do this job as well, Ravi would find himself only petting and playing with the dogs that Suresh would walk around and nothing more. Suresh, though, recognized the care with which Ravi treated their canine companions. It wasn’t long before Ravi was offered a job he could not have conceived of before he met Suresh. 

While I had an instinct for it, dog walking was not easy at first. A nasty dog bite from a young Rottweiler nearly ended Ravi’s new career as soon as it began. His mother pleaded with him to leave such a dangerous job when he returned to his hometown to recuperate. He stuck to his decision even though others did not share his confidence in the kind of future this line of work could give him. Today, he and his pack of 15 dogs cut a path from Mahim to Prabhadevi daily. 

It is a painful job. Seasons allow for no breaks. He has to walk dogs in Mumbai’s violent monsoon and the burning summers. “I am fully drenched within an hour of walking with the dogs, I sweat so much that I have to wrap my mobile phone in a plastic bag,'' he laughs. There are no breaks except for an annual visit to his hometown as a treat to himself. 

Despite the 12-hour shift all days of the week, Ravi never quite imagined quitting, even in the face of grief. He turns his phone towards me to show me a photo of Prince, a young Labrador. Ravi speaks of Prince like his baby and remembers him as the most obedient and loving of all his wards. Prince was two when he welcomed Ravi into his life. Ravi traces the footpaths where he first encountered Prince for me. He was a patient pup. Prince was also good at keeping himself safe for the little while that Ravi would absent himself to pick up other dogs. He grew familiar with the sound of Ravi’s whistle. With a growing sorrow in his throat, he spoke of the night he died, ‘Prince breathed his last on my feet’,.  It was just the two of us at the hospital.’ Prince’s death still weighs heavy on his heart. Even so, he did not quit. Ravi did not allow himself to dwell on his grief for Prince for the sake of the other dogs, whom he also thinks of as his children now. Despite the massive pain that weighs on his heart till today, he did not quit and according to him the strategy to move on was not to grieve too much. ‘I could not grieve too much or I would find it difficult to do my job’, he says of the matter. 

‘The people I meet in Mumbai are my school’, he says. It is not easy to walk 15 dogs at once.. Building a sense of safety is paramount. He teaches the biggest dogs the value of respecting diversity in the pack, and the smaller ones in turn learn through example, ‘They are attached to me, and I am attached to them. When we walk, the smallest dogs follow the bigger ones and they follow me without batting their eyes or caring for the world.’, he says. Ravi and the dogs find novelty and excitement on their walks even though they take more or less the same routes every day.

He credits it to the people he meets every day on the streets. Some come to pet dogs and strike up a conversation with him, others talk to him about their life. All this while Ravi leads his pack.

Ravi’s life revolves around dogs which leaves very little room for others. He's been finding work-life balance difficult since recently getting married. His wife, also very fond of dogs, has been supporting him through it. He tells me of her desire to adopt a dog while showing me a photo of her holding a Shih Tzu. It hasn’t been easy saying no to her. The tenancy has meant they cannot do exactly as they wish. He tells me, ‘‘We stay in a rented apartment so there are plenty of reservations from permanent tenants to entertain our desires’. He includes her by taking the dogs for Sunday visits to her. While he is learning to share his space with his wife, one space where he cannot exist is one with stray dogs, ‘I can’t be around them for longer, I love them but they can smell me, and I smell of dog scents which is very threatening to them unfortunately’.

Ravi has built a life in the heart of a notoriously busy city. He runs to keep pace with it. The city adopted him and let him dream. Dreams that he nursed in secret corners of his heart, dreams that came true, dreams that have led him to aspire to others. Ravi refuses to be anything but himself in the ever-changing landscape of Mumbai, he takes in the city, to exuberates kindness to young men he is training, and to strangers like me on busy evenings, He slows down for his dogs.

Look closer when you find yourself looking at a large pack of dogs on your evening walk. It takes a moment for Ravi’s figure to emerge as a separate entity. He is one with the dogs when walking them. He carries nothing with him when walking the streets of Mumbai save for some leashes. Everything else is left behind, stored somewhere. That time is for him to be one with his dogs, basking in joy and community.