City children today would be freaked out but I was comfortable sharing my room with a little mouse. At our home in Delhi we were surrounded by a lot of guests like lizards and mice. The first connection I had with an animal was with a little mouse that lived in my bedroom. She recalls spending a lot of time in the wild in jungles with her family. “I understood animals weren’t there to play with, they just existed and we didn’t need to interact excessively with them.
On World animal day, in a chat with us Soha Ali Khan says she has always had an instinctive connection with animals. She says, “As a child I grew up spending a lot of time in Bhopal and Pataudi surrounded by farm animals . I was curious but respected that there could be distance between us and animals,” says Soha.
Because you will inevitably outlive your pet and have to deal with that grief as a child, it teaches you to deal with grief. Because she was his baby and a tattoo is permanent, she says, “I knew Kunal was going to get Masti tattooed on his body and it was touching. The actor recalls her father (Tiger Pataudi) telling her it’s important for every child to grow up with a pet. “That’s why we always had dogs growing up. That is an important life lesson. When Masti (Kunal Kemmu’s dog) passed away it was difficult for Kunal and me but also for Inaaya, it was the first time she had encountered loss and the finality of death. Kunal went on to get a tattoo of Masti. It’s beautiful to carry a memory of an animal on your body, he had an incredibly deep bond with Masti, so it was only right she should be with him forever.”
