Music composer Vishal Chandrashekhar’s fawn Labrador Mario is his partner-in-crime and bro for life
Not only is Vishal Chandrashekhar’s fawn Labrador Retriever Mario named after the iconic video game; seems like it’s jingle would also be a perfect fit for this happy-go-lucky one year and seven-month-old goofball! “He’s got the family together, you know,” Vishal says proudly, adding with a laugh, “The first thing that people ask when they call or visit is ‘Where’s Mario?’ or ‘How’s Mario?”
The dog first came to them a wriggling pup, after Vishal and his wife Sinduri decided that the phrase ‘three’s a crowd’ never applied to them. “When we got married, it was just the two of us in the house. Since Sinduri loved Labradors, we bought Mario. Now he loves the family and when my wife’s home, he follows her around everywhere!” Vishal tells us. “I was actually scared of dogs,” he confides, “Until Mario came along. All the stress goes away you’re around him.”
So, the little one became a part and parcel of the household — even getting his own Facebook page filled with renegade adventures involving ice cream and more. In fact, one image of the duo, with Sinduri behind the camera, shows Mario in the foreground, lopsided grin on his face, with Vishal inside a dog cage trying to coax the fussy dog to come in!
Also, the word ‘walk’ is carefully used in the house because everytime he hears it, Mario becomes excited. “Recently, my wife and I were watching the film Rocky, and for some reason, every time Mario heard the name, he would start jumping and barking. We didn’t know why, until we realised that he misheard ‘Rocky’ as ‘walking’. Maybe it’s a dog thing,” Vishal quips.
One incident that still brings laughter-tears to Vishal’s eyes is of Mario and the pot. “We used to have a clay pot where we stored water. Mario loved the surface because it was cold. One day, the dog decided to stick his head into the pot and got stuck!” laughs Vishal, who adds that the pot had to be broken to free the poor dog.
Just like his dad, Mario also loves music apparently. Whenever Vishal plays a tune on the keyboard, Mario also jumps up alongside him and paws the keys, coming up with a random tune, sometimes even singing along! They’re inseparable, in fact, this Diwali became a low-key affair because Mario hated fireworks. How did they spend the day then? “I brought him inside my studio, which is sound-proofed from the noise of crackers. He loves it there and doesn’t misbehave or anything,” Vishal concludes.
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