Achtung! Darwin's Here

Here is a dog with all the right credentials. Handsome, intelligent, obedient, quite quiet, good listener, willing to travel and ever-smiling. The Fabigs are a blessed lot

- Farzana Contractor

It couldn’t have been a better time. For both, dog and master. To come into each other’s lives. Just two weeks short of the pandemic which took over the world, in a crippling storm.

"That's absolutely right. It was providence, a stroke of good luck, that took us to a breeder at that precise time, to choose a pet for ourselves..." says Achim Fabig, Consul General of Germany in Bombay.

By 'us', he means Didem, his wife and Nehi, his 12-year-old son. They were in the north of Germany, in Friesland, visiting Achim's mum, when they decided to go to the pet store. Achim tells me what happened next, "There were two purebred Welsh Terriers at the store, rather a rare thing in that part of the world. Brother and sister, the girl was a bit rough and rowdy and the boy, rather calm and quiet, seemed good-natured. Unanimously, we decided to bring home the boy!"

"We asked Nehi to select a name and promptly, he called him Darwin. This was from the animation series, Gumball, that he was watching. The goldfish in there is called Darwin," informs Didem, adding, "I must say, Darwin very much reflects Achim's personality; easy-going, calm, peaceful, patient and rock solid! All three of us are now such a happy unit, I can't even think how life was before Darwin!"

So let's trace Darwin's puppy steps which started in Berlin where the Fabigs lived two years ago. Says Achim, "Getting a dog home at some point was a given.

It was Didem who gave the thought the final push, Nehi was a single child, then 10 and yearning for a dog-friend. We did know our next posting was going to be in 2022 and getting a dog at that time would be the right thing to do." "Berlin in those days was cold, windy and rainy and really dark. Achim and I would take turns to walk him in the mornings, at 6 am!" adds Didem.