Dhola the dog, Dhaka and Dhakaites

Last week I was heading home after office along with two of my colleagues. Sitting in the Uber cab, the Banglamotor roundabout was static, while the three of us were cursing the Dhaka traffic.

When the traffic started to crawl forward, we noticed a bunch of stray dogs barking in the middle of the street, blocking all vehicles. Something didn't seem right. We got out of the car. 

A wounded puppy sprawled on the street, whimpering in pain. We found out that a motorcycle had hit the puppy's leg. At that time, a kind soul — a man — came out of the crowd and picked him without any fear of getting bitten or scratched. We requested him to put the puppy in the car. Another colleague was in the crowd and joined us to help.

We immediately needed a veterinarian.

Four of us were trying to get to every vet clinic in Dhaka. Sadly, most veterinary clinics were closed by 8 pm. The wounded puppy burrowed down in the car seat. We ended up finding a kind vet, Nazmul Alam Khan, who agreed to see the puppy. After reaching the vet at Kalabagan, we told the cab driver Majnu Bhai to leave, but he decided to stay with us for the puppy.

First aid was administered. The puppy had eight stitches and still needed an X-ray from an equipped veterinary clinic, which was not possible until the next morning.

We realized that none of us could look after an injured puppy as the vet advised us to look for a professional intensive care environment. So, we decided to find the right shelter through the communities of pet lovers.

The next mission for the four of us was to reach out to every animal activist on the network who could have had enough experience to handle the puppy in the night. Proving the phrase "all for one" right, we found Adi Bhai's shelter in a few minutes.

We started moving to the shelter address when it was 11 p.m. Majnu Bhai was still with us. And the puppy was asleep, given a small dose of sedative.

We were worried that the shelter would be closed before we could get there. But Adi bhai kept calling, trying to help out with the directions.  He also assured us that he would be waiting for us.

It was midnight. By then, our phones were almost dead. Google Maps had stopped guiding us on an empty highway. Thanks to Majnu Bhai, who kept asking any passerby he saw to get to the location.

After driving around the road for about two hours, we finally found the shelter in Baroikhali, on the other side of the Beribadh.

Adi bhai's shelter may not look like a perfect and ideal shelter that you can imagine, but you will love it. A few dozen dogs and cats were divided into two zones, in which two things were common: they were all wounded in some way and wrapped up safely on the night of the cold winter.

We felt that the puppy, later named Dhola by Adi bhai, was actually in good hands.

In the early evening, we were a group of young people complaining about the uninhabitable Dhaka. But saving Dhola that night made us realize, that all it takes is a kind man, an Uber driver, a vet, a caregiver of the shelter — they're the unnoticed heroes who can make Dhaka magically hopeful in the crisis.