People who have pets especially dogs have a strong emotional bond with them and consider them as one of their family members. There are a lot of heartwarming tales all over social media of people taking or adopting animals and taking them home as a gesture of compassion and love. One such story came from the lanes of Varanasi where a street dog named Jaya was adopted by a kindhearted foreigner from the Netherlands. The woman developed a strong connection during her trip to India. Meral Bontenbel was travelling from the Netherlands to visit the holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
Meral who has assumed the custodianship of Jaya, said she had always wanted a pet, and after seeing her she fell helplessly in love with her during the visit. The dog is set to fly out of the country with a passport and visa, along with her new owner.
“I travelled to Varanasi as I wanted to explore the city. As I was walking around idly one day (along with her co-travellers), Jaya walked up to us. She was very sweet and I fell for her. I cuddled her and she tagged along with us thereafter. She started following us around. Then, one day, she was attacked by another dog on the street,” Meral recalled.
However, Jaya was rescued by a security guard present at the spot. To arrange for a visa and passport for Jaya, Meral had to extend her stay for six months in India.
“A guard came forward and saved her. I hadn’t initially planned to adopt her. I simply wanted to get her off the streets,” she added.
“I’m really happy to finally be able to take her along with me. It was a long-drawn process. I had to wait six months to get her to this point. I have always wanted to have a dog and I fell in love with her the first time she walked up to me,” Meral said to ANI.
