He was a brown indie pup who leaped from the bushes, and narrowly missed the road. It was not love at first sight. “Four years ago, I was riding pillion on a bike and a dog almost got run over. We tumbled; I was hurt and filled with rage. My reaction was that strays should stay away from residential areas,” recalls Abhijit Dowarah, 32. A month later, Dowarah’s younger brother bought him the most unexpected birthday gift—a dog. “I don’t think I have ever been fond of canines, until I got one of my own. I would bathe him, feed him, play with him—it was a riot. He is the greatest gift I could ask for!”

The newfound love turned into concern when the lockdown left strays out in the cold. He found the answer to alleviate their helplessness in the scrap piling up in the backyard of his Phukon Nagar home in Sivasagar district. “I don’t have the means to feed the strays every day. I can barely provide for my brothers, mother and our dog. But I had a dozen discarded TV sets, which neighbours had left for me to tinker with. I am the crazy science guy. I recycle and innovate,” he adds.