The Adventures Of Rani​​​​​​​

The Mumbai Stray Who Found a Loving Family in France.

The 28-year-old French artist, Lucie Lefevre, travelled from the beautiful coastal city of Marseille in South of France to India, five years ago, to work with her close friend Karan Talwar, who runs the Harkat art studio in Versova. Over the years, she continued to visit India to work on projects. But never did Lucie think India would gift her a cherished lifelong companionship. When Lucie visited India in January 2017, to work on a three-month long art residency. It was at the time she first met Rani.

Lucie & Rani

The pavement outside Harkat studio was Rani’s home. It was love, at first sight, says Lucie speaking to The Better India.

“Words cannot explain our first meeting. Right from the first look, it was magic. It wasn’t just I who was the one who adopted Rani, she adopted me too,” says Lucie.

Lucie was always an animal lover. Looking at the sheer number of strays on Mumbai roads, she always carried some Parle G biscuit packets in her bag to feed them. This was how Lucie started interacting with Rani too.

“Even though Rani was already familiar with people working at Harkat studio, she became close to me. I would pet and feed her every day. I remember how she would curl under my feet while I worked,” Lucie recalls. Soon Lucie started taking Rani back home to where she lived in Mumbai, at Madh Island.

They lived together for almost two weeks at Lucie’s Madh home. But sadness about the more long-term separation they would have once Lucie went back to France was already sinking in.