Inside the Menagerie of Salman and Louise Khurshid

In an opulent oasis within Delhi’s congested Jamia Nagar, live 80 cats and their kittens, 65 dogs, and numerous birds, goats and rabbits (in total over 300). The Noah who presides over this ark is former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, along with his wife Louise Fernandes Khurshid. “Once, my eldest son asked me to choose between the pets and my children,” Salman told me, while feeding mid-day treats to the cats in a dimly lit room overlooking the garden. “I told him—you know my choice.”

Louise always loved animals—right from her first pet, a Siamese cat named Boo Boo. En route from her family home in Bengaluru to Goa, Boo Boo jumped out of the car and got lost. “Ten days later, it turned up at my house in Bangalore, around 200 kilometres from where we lost it. Nobody had any clue how that happened”, Louise said. “It was a miracle.”

Louise, a former journalist, and Salman, a lawyer, married in 1984—bonding over their shared love for animals. They took a puppy on their honeymoon to Jim Corbett National Park. “We don’t give away our pets. Once we gave a cat to a friend and he slept on it,” said Louis, shielding Pippin, her Chihuahua, from Zehra, a German shepherd, as they ran around the spacious, tastefully decorated drawing room.

“We buy a pet when we are sad or when we are happy”, said Louise. After their marriage, the “explosion” started. “Two Persian cats became four. Then vets and friends also start tempting you by showing beautiful pets,” said Louise. Sometimes they take in an abandoned pet like Bruno, a black labrador who sits near the gate of the house. Notoriously, Salman was once even duped by an unscrupulous online puppy trader.

The Khurshids have their own preferences. “I am not that much into big dogs,” said Louise. “Mine are smaller, like Chihuahuas. He likes pigeons and bantams. Pheasants are mine. Both of us are into cats.”

The drawing room overlooks a lush garden filled with cages of exotic parrots, Shirazi pigeons, Japanese quails, pheasants, fantails, and peacocks. On the other side are kennels for dogs including dachshunds, miniature Pekinese, St Bernards, cocker spaniels, bhutias and apsos. Persian and Siamese cats lounge in three more rooms, some with newborn kittens. The smell is a problem, Louise admitted. “When we have a party or my mother comes, we open our windows and clean the rooms to drive away the smell of cats.”

As for humans, besides the Khurshids, there are four helpers who feed (with rice, chicken vegetables and petfood), wash, and inspect pets for any infections. “You can’t be totally dependent on the helpers though,” Salman said. “If a disease is unnoticed for a couple of days, you can lose the animal.” Louise added, “We lost a lot of little babies to an infection some time back. The vets couldn’t find out what was wrong with them.”

The bulk of household expenses goes towards food and medication. “Fortunately, Salman doesn’t smoke or drink,” said Louise. “So we don't have those expenditures.”

Besides this house, the Khurshids keep some dogs and Angora rabbits in a house near Nainital, while some live in their ancestral home in Kaimganj, a town in their political constituency in Uttar Pradesh. “We have Ajmeri goats and some buffaloes in Kaimganj. The elections are coming, so we’ll be going there often,” said Louise. They always bring back sack-fulls of wheat, barley, corn and pearl millet for the birds on these trips.

I ask about other political pet enthusiasts. Apparently Jagdish Tytler is fond of birds, while Maneka Gandhi famously likes animals. “Salman also introduced Kumari Selja to pigeons,” said Louise. “We often get medical help from Rita Singh, who runs a rescue centre for orphan dogs in Chhattarpur.”

Salman believes animals make humans (politicians included) more compassionate. “They teach us not being selfish, being happy with very little,” he said. “I think it’s more exhausting to deal with human beings.”

Louis agreed . “There is something very soothing about animals. If I fall ill, all the cats sit around like they are sick too.” She added that they are often criticised for having too many pets. “Many think it’s a mad thing to do. There are others who consider it un-Islamic.”

But, the Khurshids point out, their pets are shining a example of peaceful coexistence. “There has never been any viciousness among our cats and dogs,” said Louise. “There is inevitably some tension when grown-up dogs join, but then it sorts out.” The only little quarrels are when a female cat is on heat. “Every cat hits on the same female. Otherwise, they are not interested.”

“Even people do coexist, until they are misled by politicians for power”, said Louis. “If ever some politicians or parliamentarians come here and see how animals coexist, maybe they’d learn something.”

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