Since all have been asking, here goes…
Popcorn, an english cocker spaniel, was on his evening walk in the Odyssey 1 garden around 9pm on 11th Jan, 2016, with a dog walker. His parents/owners were informed by the dog walker about half hour later that Popcorn is missing. The walker claims that Pop ran through the gaps between the bars of the closed, iron gate, on to the footpath. On calling out to him, he turned and looked at the walker, but continued to sniff the pavement and walk ahead. The walker ran and came out through the main, open gate. But by then Pop was no where to be seen!
The parents/owners frantically searched for him and immediately rushed to the police, who provided two constables to them to search the vicinity and also to request for the cctv footage from the cameras installed at the Odyssey 1 building, which till present has been refused to be shared, even to the cops after a formal complaint and a written request letter. If the footage would have been shared then,Popcorn could have been back home that very night!
The next day the parents/owners informed me. Firstly, I posted on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter about Popcorn missing.Then we literally scourged the entire of Powai, slums.. chawls.. gardens.. crawled below parked cars, etc. Finally a proper written entry was made at the police station. Then we made posters of a photo of Pop with contact details and a mention of a reward of Rs. 10,000 Rs.
As we were pasting the posters, we received a call from a boy who claimed to have Pop. We verified if it was indeed him by asking the boy to send immediate photos of the dog he claims to have. And to our joy and immense relief, it was Popcorn!!! He was in Bhandup! We rushed there immediately. Of course the traffic didnt make it more easy. The house was in some remote, interiors of Bhandup. To our shock, Popcorn was like a celebrity in the ground floor based chawl! He was well taken care of and fed with good portions of chicken and water. He did not look stressed whatsoever! He licked and wagged and hugged us! And of course his usual growling on being picked up.
The family, of a father , mother and school/ college going kids informed us that Pop would have been crushed under the rick had the rickshawala not braked on time. He is an older person, who did try to find who Pop belonged to, but did not get any positive feedback from any of the security of the Hiranandani buildings. So, instead of leaving Pop on the road, he took him along to his house at Bhandup. But being a vegetarian and knowing that dogs need to eat meat, he asked another friend if he or anyone else would want to adopt Pop. Thus, Popcorn was taken in by this kind family.
Popcorn had his name on the front & number etched on the behind of a tag, in his collar. Unfortunately, the family had no idea about what tags are. Yesterday, the daughter happened to see my post on facebook which went viral thanks to all of you and many many others, and could contact us.
Popcorn & his family, the Merchants & me are immensely grateful to all those who shared the FB and whatsapp posts, offered help, prayed, really appreciate it.
P.S: The family absolutely refused to receive the monetary reward of 10000!
-As reported by Shvetz Mulik