A few laughs ’n’ wagging tails

Vasudev Murthy is a management consultant and serious writer of fiction. He is also the human pet of six Noble prize-winning dogs.

May 18, 2015 07:40 pm | Updated 08:40 pm IST

THE JOKE IS ON ME Vasudev believes in a positive attitude.

THE JOKE IS ON ME Vasudev believes in a positive attitude.

In his world of subverted reality, author Vasudev Murthy is the human pet of one-eyed, four-legged, world domination aspiring pug, Chunnudev Murthy and male Boxer Raja Murthy – vanquisher of evil and Professor of Mismanagement. He sometimes receives a doggy bag if his canine masters are flying business class. Thanks to his furry master, he has also developed a fine ear for classical music.

Chunnu, the violin virtuoso, has taken a personal and strict interest in Murthy’s lessons. In a fairly “large-ish” home in Thippasandra, near Kanakapura Road, Vasudev Murthy lives with his six dogs. Among other benefits, he counts not having complaining neighbours as an advantage of living away from the city. The air, of course, is purer too and the pack of six have the time and space to indulge their mixed interests, including writing award-winning books and giving interviews to Arnab Goswami.

“I see each of my dogs as having a different personality. I may be guilty of ascribing human emotions to them, but I would like to believe that animals have their own sense of society, history and culture too,” says Vasudev, who is also a management consultant and a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Vasudev’s brood consists mostly of rescues. Chunnu, the most vociferous of the lot, is a blind pug, who is also lame in one leg. Raja, a white Boxer, was found in the most deplorable condition with maggots pouring out of his body. Ruby, another white Boxer and Vasudev’s most recent rescue, is suspected to have been abused by breeders before being abandoned on the roads.

Yet, Vasudev maintains a positive approach to caring for his canine companions, refusing to become mawkish about them. “I like humour and enjoy having a good laugh. I suppose this is my way of being happy for their sake. This doesn’t mean I’m not capable of wailing,” he warns.

A humorist, Vasudev has taken to doodling with Murthy’s Tailz, where Murthy and other humans live in servitude to their canine masters, who fear failing their MBA programs and becoming HR professionals instead. “I’ve seen the inside of the software world and corporate world. MBA professionals are my easy targets and I hate HR professionals with a passion. I’d do anything to throw a bard at them,” he laughs.

Vasudev has used his vast corporate experience to pen books such as Effective Proposal Writing and How Organisations Really Work . “In How Organisations Really Work , I explore theory and practise in the work place and take the reader through the functioning of an organisation.” Vasudev uses wit and humour to expose the gaps in practise and ends every chapter with exaggerated tales from the corporate space.

In Murthy’s Tailz, Vasudev takes pot-shots at H1B visa-hankering, MBA-lusting IT employees from India. The canine masters, if not Harvard graduates, are in the very least obese VPs of technology companies, trotting trophy wives interested in human welfare. Murthy, the scrawny, under-fed human pet, is seen escaping neutering procedures or making puppy faces for masala dosa.

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