This puppy very nearly made it into my backpack when I was visiting India last year. If I thought I could smuggle her onto the plane and then make it through Australian customs without getting caught by the sniffer dogs, I would have done it.

The last time I re-entered Australia I got pulled up by the Labrador for smelling like my dog, Zoe. The entire plane-load of people behind me had to wait patiently while the lab circled me a few times and had a really good sniff. Then while waiting for my luggage to come off the carousel, the customs beagle discovered a whiff of three day old banana in my carry-on, so I had another long discussion with customs officials. As you can imagine, bringing a flea infested (although very cute) puppy from India was impossible.

However, for the couple of days I was in Orchha I kept an eye out for this little one. This photo was taken at the top of the town’s holy temple and it’s almost as if the puppy is presiding over her subjects. I have another great shot of this one with a holy cow, which I’m sure will make it onto the blog one of these days.