Chennai: In an act of affection and love towards his pet, a man from Tamil Nadu has built a temple for his late dog named Tom.
The man identified as Muthu is an 82-year-old retired government employee and a resident of Manamadurai in the Sivaganga area of Tamil Nadu.
Muthu's son said that their dog Tom lived with his father for more than ten years and in January last year the dog passed away due to a certain disease without responding to treatment.
Following this in the memory of his pet dog, the man has built the temple at his farm.
''Tom was not a dog for me he was like my son,'' said Muthu.
Muthu was totally devastated after the death of his beloved dog and after some time he had decided to make a statue of Tom on his farm.
He then issued an amount of Rs 80,000 from his savings and ordered a marble statue of the late dog.
On being asked about the temple, Muthu said that it is for his late friend and he prays there regularly for two days of the week i.e. on Tuesday and Friday.
Muthu further said that this is also an initiative to teach the future generation about the strong and affectionate bond between a man and his pet.
Notably, Muthu was living with the dog since the year 2010 and has developed a strong bond but unfortunately, his pet died in 2021, therefore he made an idol in the name of the dog.
Muthu also opened up about the connection of families with dogs as he says that for the past three generations there has been no one in his family without a dog.
He added his father and grandparents were dog lovers who used to spend most of their time with dogs and treated them like family members.
Such an act by Muthu has drawn attraction from the villagers of the area and many passing by started to stop at the statue to pray.
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