Habib Rehman's just-published book “A Home for Gori” stands out in more ways than one. It is not so unusual to come across people who adore their pets no end, but not too many would pen a book on them. Stranger still, rarely would you chance upon someone who decides to move into a house simply because his pet is buried close by. Rehman, a well-known name in the Indian hospitality industry, is happily responsible for doing both.
At his Panchsheel Park bungalow — just a stone's throw from the grave of his pet dog Gori – Rehman is all geared up to muse over “A Home for Gori”, his wordy tribute to the canine friend, released by Roli to coincide with her fifth death anniversary. He begins from where the idea for the book began. “After retirement, I had the plan to settle down in a farmhouse somewhere. Instead, I decided to buy a house in Panchsheel Park as my pet Gori lies buried there. Pramod (Kapoor of Roli) by chance had asked me about my change of plans and I told him why. He was very moved by it and prodded me to write about Gori.”
Rehman eagerly clutched on to the idea, the only clause was it should coincide with Gori's fifth death anniversary. “To achieve that, Pramod put together a couple of people with me to meet the deadline.” Quickly came in travel writer Kishore Singh along with Roli editor Swati Chopra and team to lend him a hand. And what gets crafted is a 116-pager in first person, each leaf sketching a sensitive portrait of Rehman's unrelenting love for canine beings, the centre stage however, given to his super soft spot for Gori, whom, he adds with a grin, “I hated at the first meeting.” He explains why. “Unconsciously, I had a fixation for big dogs, perhaps because I felt it is macho to have big dogs around you. Be it Bullet with whom I had my first canine friendship during my days in the Indian Army, or Kaka, and later Rocco and Laila, they were all big dogs. Gori didn't fit into this and it rankled.” It needed an earth shattering storm for Rehman to let Gori come near him. “That night she slept on my pillow and then for all the nights over the next ten years, Gori and I would share a pillow.”
A gentle nudge and out rolls his memories about petite Gori. “You have to understand dogs, they are very playful and they like to win.” Once, while taking out the plastic cover under the collar of a new shirt, he accidentally dropped it. “Gori immediately bit into it but I pulled it away. She didn't like to lose. Realising it, I dropped it intentionally. She lunged at it, I let her win this time. This soon became a ritual. Every time I wear a new shirt I would drop it on the floor only to be grabbed by Gori. O how happy she would then be!”
A dog house
Rehman today has 14 canine pals, for whom he is not only building separate kennels for each in his house but a kitchenette too to cook their meals. At least four people are employed full time to take care of them. “In a poor country like India, it is not easy to justify such an act. But I look at it differently. I am giving employment to people through this.” He also points out a truth. “We Indians can't seem to live together with animals. If we see a rat or a cockroach, our first instinct is to kill them. Notice how people behave when they see a lizard in the room. On spotting a stray dog, the first thing many people do is to stone it.” He is keen on building a dog dispensary but says, “Land is very expensive now.”
Yet another weakness of Rehman is his fondness for horses to whom has dedicated a room in his house.
Alongside his Gori tale also flows the story of Rehman's life, particularly his rise in the hospitality industry. He, however, makes it clear that there are still many written chapters left in him to rustle up an autobiography. And now that he has the first taste of authoring a book, he might jolly well take up the task.
