dogs

My grandmother's courtyard in Chennai held three street dogs she named after Tamil poets. She'd photograph them daily, sharing stories of their mischief on a platform that finally paid her. From Toronto, I watched, homesick and transfixed. One video went viral: the dogs dancing during monsoon rains, the old stone walls glistening behind them. Comments flooded in from diaspora members like me, hungry for glimpses of home. When payment arrived, Amma used it to restore the heritage house's tiles. Those dogs became ambassadors, connecting scattered souls back to roots we thought we'd lost.