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How Facebook Helped This Delhi Photographer Find His Lost Dog Over A Month Later

Delhi Photographer Reunited With Lost Dog After 33 Days, Thanks To Facebook
Dinesh Khanna/ Facebook

If you don't believe in miracles, you need to hear about Dinesh Khanna and his pet dog Thumki. Khanna, one of India's premier photographers and co-founder of the acclaimed Delhi Photo Festival, lost Thumki on 25 April.

He immediately took to Facebook and posted Thumki's photo, asking his neighbours, friends and well-wishers living in Gurgaon's DLF Phase 1 area to keep an eye out for the dog. The Khanna family also put up posters in DLF Phase 1.

2-year-old Thumki, an off-white desi breed, was without a collar when she was last spotted in Khanna's locality. An anxious Khanna also announced a Rs 10,000-reward for finding her.

The post received close to 300 Facebook shares. Khanna's neighbours pitched in too, sharing the post on WhatsApp groups. However, days went by and there was no news of Thumki.

Until 28 May.

Thumki was spotted beyond the fence ringing the sprawling Central Park apartment complex in Gurgaon, a half-hour drive from where Khanna lives. "She probably finally settled here as there are very few houses so less stray dogs to fight or chase her," says Khanna's Facebook post.

Pranav, a dog lover, who had come to Central Park to drop off his parents, spotted Thumki through the fence. As luck would have it, Pranav had been following Khanna's Facebook posts and had seen the posters. He recognised Thumki right away, took a photo and sent it to Khanna.

Khanna, arrived shortly with his daughter, to find Thumki sitting on the other side of the fence.

But, there was a problem.

"She was outside the fence, which was impossible to climb over and so I had to walk more than a kilometre along the length of it and then back on the outside. Praying that she does not run again in the meantime as it was already dark by then. Mahi kept talking to her and fortunately she stayed right there. When I got to her, her first instinct was to run as a nearby dog had started barking at me and I was using the phone light to get through the foliage. But I sat down and called her softly and she came back to me," wrote Khanna, explaining how he found his pet.

Khanna credits the phenomenal network on Facebook with his dog getting found.

"We've witnessed a miracle. But also realised that miracles take concerted and relentless effort to happen," he said.

The dog has lost weight but things are "coming back to normal" for her, according to Khanna.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.