Four-legged smoke detector
People generally keep dogs for how emotionally enriching they can be in life. But pets often fulfill other roles, too — they make the best exercise mates and, if required, double up as security guards. This diarist recently had the chance to see yet another admirable side of our four-legged friends. A couple of days ago, while on his way to the office, this diarist got a call from a worried neighbour. The lady had called to inform me that my dog had been barking incessantly for a while. On investigating, she detected a strong odour emnating from his home, which was most likely smoke. This diarist rushed back home and found that a minor fire had erupted at the house, which was thankfully contained without much trouble. While he did thank his neighbour, he expressed special thanks to his four-legged smoke detector, whose alertness saved the day. What would we ever do without them?

Gotta hand it to him
He may have lost the match, but for us, table tennis player, Om Lotlikar is the ultimate winner in the game of life. The city boy lost his hand when a cement slab crashed onto it as he was playing marbles at the age of eight. Not one to accept a setback, he decided to pursue his dream no matter what and today, at the age of 20, he is a TT player of note.