Disha Patani lost two of them on the same day. Her dog Bella. Her cat Jasmine. Gone together, June 25th. She wrote about Bella. You taught me what love is. I saw an entire universe within your eyes. You are my soulmate. About Jasmine, your paws touching my hands and you purring was the most beautiful feeling I ever felt. My princess forever.
The whole country paused. And then somewhere in the comments, someone typed it.
"It's just a pet. Why is she so dramatic?"
Three months before that, something happened in Hyderabad. A 20-year-old BSc student named Himabindu. Quiet girl. Always seen caring for her cat. That cat was her constant companion for two years together. One night the cat died suddenly. By morning Himabindu was gone too.
We don't know what she was carrying inside. We never got to ask.
But the question stays what if just one person had told her what you're feeling is real. You are not weak. This pain is valid.
What Nobody Tells You
There's a moment after a pet dies that nobody warns you about. You're making chai and you automatically look down expecting them at your feet. You come home and wait for the sound that doesn't come. You find their hair on your kurta a week later. And you just stand there. In the middle of the kitchen. Completely gone.
Nobody comes, Nobody calls, Nobody thinks to check. Because it was a pet. Not a person.
But your body didn't get that memo. The 3am wake-ups didn't get that memo. That empty corner of the house didn't get that memo. The grief is real. The only thing that isn't is anyone telling you it's okay to have it.
The Indian Family Version
"Arre, get another one."
"Why are you crying, it was just a dog."
"Don't be so attached."
Said with love. Always said with love.
But love or not those words take the grief and push it down deeper. Seal it in. And it just sits there with nowhere to go. Disha Patani cried in front of the whole country and still someone called her dramatic. Himabindu had nobody watching. Just a quiet house and an empty spot on the floor where her cat used to sleep. What she was carrying inside that room we'll never know.
The Lesson
We teach kids to feed them. Play with them. Love them. Nobody ever teaches them what to do when they're gone. That's it. That one thing nobody says. And people carry that grief alone for years, some for a lifetime because nobody told them it was okay to put it down for a minute and just cry. Himabindu was 20. Still learning how to hold pain. Nobody told her this kind of grief was real. Nobody sat with her in it. Check on your people. The ones who lost a pet last week, The ones who seem fine. The ones who say they're okay. They're probably not okay. Just show up. Say I get it. That's the whole lesson.
