They claim to communicate telepathically with animals, and will trace your missing dogs and cats. Unfortunately, this city has enough takers
In a city of pedigreed pets and indie strays, there are always enough people who will be conned by pet whisperers. illustration by C Y Gopinath using Ai
My friend the Fish thinks I question nothing and believe whatever I’m told. Unlike me, he is an unapologetic sceptic, cynical and sarcastic to the bitter end. I should not have been surprised by his reaction when I told him that there were certain gifted people in Mumbai who could telepathically locate lost cats, dogs and even parrots.
“Can they talk to mosquitoes?” he asked. “I’m getting bitten to death here.”
“Seriously,” I said. “I think there’s something here. I actually met a woman who does this for a living.”
“And had a telepathic interview, I’m sure,” he said snarkily. “What’s her name?”
“Let’s say — well, Whisperia D’Souza,” I said, making it up on the spot. “She’s an animal whisperer.”
“You actually met her physical body? Or did she contact you telepathically? After all, some would say you are a bit of an animal yourself.”
Whisperia is one of Mumbai’s community of self-proclaimed pet whisperers. Needless to say, in a city of cherished, pedigreed pets and thousands of indie strays, there are always enough people desperate enough to try something foolish and costly to get their lost pets back.
Sitting in a park, I listened to Whisperia’s wonderful animal stories, and it was not just dogs and cats. She once requested a gekko — with the utmost politeness — to kindly step aside.
Let’s talk about Bombai. Click the QR code above to join my WhatsApp group to share your Bombai stories for my book—and perhaps answer some of my Bombai questions.
“I know my mum is being silly,” Whisperia telepathised to the gekko, “but she’s petrified of you. I’m not really asking you to leave. I’m just asking you to hang around in a different spot.”
“That worked beautifully,” Whisperia told me. “The gekko was doing his own thing, but was nowhere near my mum.”
The Fish snorted. “Gekkos always do their own thing.”
Whisperia has an Instagram account where she conducts online workshops in telepathising with your household pets, and also offers to locate your lost pets telepathically.
She does not promise to bring your pet home because the pet may not be interested. However, Whisperia and her “small team” of zero people will channel messages between the pet and you.
A Lhasa Apso that had been refusing food told her clearly, ‘They keep serving me the same thing, a monotonous mash of boiled meat and rice. Sometimes it’s just curd and rice, and I do not really appreciate it.”
“I asked the dog what it would like,” she said, “and it was quite specific. It required the meat to be stewed with vegetables in coconut milk, with certain specific spices.” The family, overjoyed, sent her a video later of the Apso lapping it up.
The Fish stared at me open-mouthed. “You idiot,” he said. “Dogs are engineered descendants of wolves, Canis lupus. They’re not into fine dining.”
Even insects listen to Whisperia, according to her. Pet-sitting a Doberman called Bongo that had already been stung twice by honey bees, she decided to address the hive as a collective.
“I said to them, ‘I understand that, you know, sometimes he’s huge and maybe you get angry or irritated at him when he comes nipping at the flower pots, but can you pretty please not bite him?’ ”
Voilà! Not a single bite during the few hours she was there.
An Asiatic lion at the Byculla zoo she had ‘befriended’ and was chatting regularly with took a swipe at Whisperia once, nearly taking her arm off. Fortunately, no one was watching.
“So she could make up the rest of the story too,” said the Fish.
“I heard someone say clearly Sorry,” Whisperia told me. “It was the lion. Looking at me pensively and saying again, in my mind, It was because of that firecracker. I just got startled. I’m sorry.”
“You’re the one who should be sorry,” said the Fish. “There are enough animal lovers in Mumbai who will gobble up the nonsense you write and get conned by these Whisperias. Do you have any idea what lost cats and dogs actually do when they’re lost?”
According to guides on lost cat and dog behaviour, both species have exceptional magnetic geolocation instincts and usually carry superb mental maps of the areas they patrol or have marked with urine. When lost, cats will typically hide and go silent, but stay within a 300-500-metre radius of their homes, under cars, porches, in garages and so on.
Dogs, depending on temperament, will panic and run first, but eventually begin retracing their paths using familiar landmarks and scent trails. They will hide behind dumpsters, markets, or parking lots close to food waste but stay 3-5 km from home. A Whisperia who tells you to look under a car or in a wooded area does not have to be a telepath to know this.
Whisperia doesn’t care. To her, human beings are the beasts, and animals are sages. In 2018, when Avni, the supposed man-eating tiger of Yavatmal, was being hunted, Whisperia was in constant telepathic contact with it. It told her one day, “I don’t see why I should move. This is my land too. They are the encroachers, but when I attack, they have a problem.” After a pause, it added, “You humans have no idea what’s in store for you.”
“Do you remember what happened next year?” Whisperia asked me, eyes shining. “The pandemic came.”
You can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopi@gmail.com
Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
