Calcutta Canine Clinic

Our clinic sits on Raja Basanta Roy Road, right in the heart of the Rash Behari Avenue area. It’s an old part of Kolkata, and you can feel it in the narrowness of the streets and the way the buildings lean into each other. Every morning, there’s usually a dog or two already waiting outside the door with their owners. Some are barking at the street cats, and others are just sitting quietly on the pavement. The space inside isn't huge, so it gets crowded pretty fast when a few large breeds come in at the same time. You can smell the antiseptic mixed with the general scent of wet fur on rainy days. We have a heavy wooden desk where we keep the ledger for appointments. Sometimes the doorbell rings constantly, and other times it’s strangely silent for an hour. The fans spin fast to keep the humidity down, but it’s still Kolkata, so we all sweat a bit. The neighbors know us well, and sometimes they just pop their heads in to say hello while they’re out getting groceries. We don’t have a big staff, just a few of us who know the regulars by name—mostly the dogs' names, to be honest. It’s a lot of mopping floors and handling leashes. We keep things moving as best as we can until the sun goes down over Rash Behari. It’s noisy and messy work, but it’s what we do every day on this street.