“Imperfect is good,” smiles Purab Kohli, actor, referring to his two dogs, Tony and Belle, first found in near-abandoned state in his Mumbai neighbourhood.

Belle says Kohli was the runt of the litter, with both being near-death at the time they were taken in by him.

“Dog breeders tell me these aren’t perfect dogs, as they and their mother were unhealthy. But I say, they may be imperfect, and that’s good,” he says.

Days after 18 dogs were found poisoned in Nizamuddin East, Kohli ran a “never-before attempted kilometres” stretch in the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon for the neglected animals — Delhi’s stray animals.

“I can’t believe people would poison animals like that. Animals need our help,” he says. Kohli ran as part of the Dream Team (those who raised above Rs 1 lakh for a cause), for animal shelter Friendicoes.

“I’ve run in a marathon before, but I’ve never attempted 21 kilometres earlier. I did that today,” Kohli says.

The actor has his Mumbai dog-experience to share with Delhi. “My dog Bella has eyes of different colours. She was the runt of the litter. We thought she wouldn’t make it when we found her in a near-death state near my house. But she’s a happy dog today. She does cartwheels in the air. Eventually, we took in the whole family. The stories from Mumbai and Delhi are similar. People buy dogs and dump them. But you know in terms of displaced animals, one difference between Mumbai and Delhi is that Delhi does have monkeys. I used to see monkeys in Mumbai earlier but no more,” he says.

... contd.