Santosh Kumar and his family, along with Mr Tommy, on their way home to Bundelkhand | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
Santosh Kumar and his family, along with Mr Tommy, on their way home to Bundelkhand | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
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New Delhi: The Yamuna expressway is full of various makeshift vehicles, rickshaws and trucks, as several migrant workers continue their journey home due to the nationwide lockdown.

One among them is Santosh Kumar and his family, which comprises his wife, brother, two sons and his nephew. However, what marks this family apart is the seventh member — two-year-old ‘Mr Tommy’.

Kumar was a street vendor in Panipat in Haryana and sold golgappas and tikkis for a living. However, his business came to a halt due to the nationwide lockdown announced on 24 March.

With no means of survival, his family decided to undertake a 700-km journey from Panipat back to their native village in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh.

It was in Panipat that Kumar and his family adopted Mr Tommy, a street dog, in 2018, when he was 40 days old.

The family stopped regularly on the way to ensure ‘Mr Tommy’ stayed hydrated | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

“His mother had delivered a litter of puppies and he (Mr Tommy) used to keep coming to our house and nibbled on food and drank water. Since then he has become part of our family and we adopted him,” explained Kumar, who specifically mentioned the dog’s name was Mr Tommy and “not just Tommy”.

A greyish brown dog — resembling an Alsatian — Mr Tommy is fairly large for a two-year-old mongrel. Extremely protective of his family members, he barks at anyone who comes close or speaks to Kumar and the rest of his family.

“There was no way I could leave him behind in Panipat, if I did he would start biting people there,” said Kumar.

Mr Tommy’s journey to Bundelkhand

In a cart attached to a motorbike, Kumar and his family left for Bundelkhand from Panipat Friday evening at 11 pm.

“We hope to reach Bundelkhand by 3-4 am Sunday morning,” said Kumar. ThePrint followed up with them and learnt that the family had reached Bundelkhand Sunday morning.

Kumar was driving the motorbike-cart, his brother and nephew were sitting on the cart with Mr Tommy, while his wife and sons drove ahead on another bike.

Mr Tommy on his way to Bundelkhand | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

“Someone gave us food on the way so we are managing. We had also packed rotis for Mr Tommy and will see if we can find milk or curd on the way for him,” he said.

They also stopped every hour and poured water into a utensil for Mr Tommy to drink.

Kumar had left Bundelkhand, along with his family, in 2015. Now, five years later — they are returning with a new family member.