When I came to IMSc a few months ago, I was mildly shocked to see someone lying in wait as I opened the door to enter the new building. Elderly and dignified, she shuffled past barely noticing my presence. I was worried that she may be lost but she walked away resolutely, seeming to know where she wanted to be. Little did I know that Kiddo had spent almost seventeen long years at IMSc, seeing generations of students come and go as the emeritus pet on campus. Over the last few weeks, I spoke to some of them who recollected memories of her.
Kiddo was a pup in 2008 when she was brought to IMSc with a broken leg after a road accident outside campus. A few students got her treated by a vet who recommended that she be kept indoors till her leg healed. The students approached Nick Gill, a postdoc, and his partner since they lived in a flatlet on campus. “We were very happy to have her to stay - my partner and I both love animals. We were already friends with Butch so we were happy for Kiddo to join the family,” Nick says. Kiddo lived with them for a few days till her cast came off. “We called her "tiddles" because she was "a tiddler", a small quite scrawny pup when we first met her,” he says.
Nick Gill, a postdoc at IMSc, and his partner took Kiddo (right) in when she came to the campus with an injured leg. They called her Tiddler, who was their dog friend along with Butch. “She must have been renamed as Kiddo. I don't know how that renaming happened,” Nick says. (Photo: Nick)
“She was very loving and not at all scary,” says Madhushree Basu, who met Kiddo soon after she joined IMSc as a PhD student. “The first memory I have is of Gopala Krishna K [former IMSc student] coming from the hostel side with Kiddo.” Many students helped raise Kiddo, some of whom were Ramachandra Phawade, Rohan Poojary, Sowmyajit and Alok Laddha. “It actually took a village,” Madhushree says. “When Alok went to give a talk recently, Kiddo came into the room looking for him.” There were many dogs on campus back then, Blackie and Kiddo on either side of the campus and a couple of visiting street dogs. “She was not a very ‘happening’ dog”, Madhushree jokes. She recounts Kiddo’s brief phase of bravery when she chased crows and troublesome monkeys along with Chikku, another campus canine. But it was short-lived. Kiddo’s was a largely chill and calm life, says Madhushree.
Aaloka and Alok with Kiddo at IMSc. (Photo: Varuni)
Pinaki Banerjee remembers Kiddo being largely indifferent to his presence while he was on campus between 2011-2017. “It was my girlfriend Rusa, now my wife, who mostly took care of her,” he says. They shared this responsibility with their senior Rohan Poojary, who had been feeding Kiddo for many years. “She didn’t care much about anything, just like the research scholars at IMSc,” Pinaki laughs. But one day he twisted his ankle while playing tennis and fell on the court. “Kiddo, who never entered the tennis court, came and circled me. That was the first and last time I saw her inside the tennis court.” This made Pinaki wonder if she actually cared. After he graduated and moved out of campus, Pinaki vividly remembers her affectionately coming to him and hanging about him whenever he visited.
Pinaki and Rusa with Kiddo in the main building. “She was an institute dog so there were a lot of people who were always around her,” Pinaki says. (Photo: Pinaki)
“When I first came to IMSc in 2016, I was not very attached to dogs,” says Semanti Dutta, who started taking care of Kiddo following Pinaki and Rusa, and another student Prashanth Raman, who was very fond of animals. “She was a very well-trained dog,” but could be shrewd on occasion, like when Semanti gave her some unappealing vegetarian food and Kiddo pretended to fall terribly ill. “We got really worried, but we gave her milk and biscuits and she was fine in a moment,” Semanti laughs. She mentions how different Kiddo’s reaction was whenever Alok would visit the campus. “She looked so happy, I have never seen her like that with anyone else.” Semanti remembers bringing treats for Kiddo from her trips home. “I used to treat her like a friend,” says Semanti. “She was an integral part of my IMSc life.”
Kiddo dozing off near the canteen. (Photo: Pinaki)
Sujoy Mahato’s first memory of Kiddo was during his PhD interview at IMSc, when he saw a dog with a big belly near the guest house. “I thought she might be pregnant, but when I went back to join IMSc I realised she was like that only,” Sujoy chuckles. “The academic journey can be very stressful, you miss home and people. Whenever I felt that way I went and spent time with her, which made things better.” Sujoy recollects meeting Kiddo after many months of the COVID-19 lockdown. “For two to three minutes she didn’t recognise me, which was very heartbreaking. Then she came and sniffed me for some time and was so excited when she recognised me.” Kiddo was terrified of fireworks and Sujoy knew where to find her when they went off. “I would open the door to my office and she would be sitting outside”, he says. “She would come in and sit there for hours.”
Kiddo spent a lot of time with Sujoy, Semanti and Anupam Sarkar. “She was shy, she wouldn’t bark much,” Semanti says. (Photo: Sujoy)
For Sruthy Murali and Anupam A H, Kiddo was a much-loved companion during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. “We were staying in a flatlet on campus and Kiddo used to stay with us. Only we were there along with another family. We have very memorable moments from the time,” Sruthy says. “She was our main motivation and source of happiness during those months. She was our main entertainment,” she says. Kiddo accompanied them to the office every day, sometimes in pouring rain, giving Sruthy company as she wrote her PhD thesis isolated from the world. “I acknowledged Kiddo in my thesis,” Sruthy says warmly.
Sruthy, Anupam and Kiddo, were among the very few who stayed on campus during the pandemic. “I wrote my thesis during Covid so our full focus was on Kiddo.” Sruthy says. (Photo: Anupam)
“Kiddo was everywhere, you would always see her,” says Anupam Sarkar. While he did not have a deep affection for dogs, he felt attached to Kiddo when he started feeding her. Anupam says she didn’t need any extra care until her condition started deteriorating around 2021-22. Like many of us, when she became pudgy after the COVID lockdown, Anupam devised an ingenious exercise routine. “I would let her smell a chew stick and walk around in circles and she would follow me,” he laughs. “She is the calmest dog I have ever seen.”
Shanmuga Priya B, was not really a dog lover but took Kiddo to the hospital when she once fell ill, caring for her ever since. Kiddo was once terrified when Shanmuga Priya took her to the hospital and people struggled to hold her down when she had to be given injections. Kiddo was an octogenarian by human standards and her eyesight and sense of smell were failing. “I usually whistle a tune when I give her food. And when I did that she instantly became calm. She knew someone familiar was beside her,” Shanmuga Priya recollects. Kiddo was a regular presence at her office. “My office mates allowed her to stay there - they loved her very much.” “I didn’t see her as a dog,” Shanmuga Priya says, for whom she was more like family. “She looked so beautiful.”
Shanmuga Priya was among the last generation of students to care for Kiddo. “She couldn’t walk properly, but when she would see me in the morning she would try to run,” Shanmuga Priya says. (Photo: Shanmuga Priya)
Through Kiddo’s many health issues due to her advanced age, Shanmuga Priya was her steadfast companion. And many on campus jumped in to help. The canteen staff provided food for a couple of years, Anirban Mukhopadhyay funded her food over the last few months and the housekeeping staff cleaned up after Kiddo. Many pooled in funds for her many hospital visits.
Kiddo passed away on 5th November 2024 in front of the Ramanujan Auditorium at IMSc - the campus where she spent her entire life and was very dearly loved.
