Ankit Bathla adopts a stray pup

Ankit Bathla is very happy these days; but don’t get any wrong ideas about his happiness. Apparently, the actor who was last seen in Hamari Saas Leela, adopted a street dog on 8 January 2012. The little pup is just 30 days old, and has become Ankit’s bundle of joy. But before this puppy landed in Ankit’s life, he went through many hands. Incidentally, the puppy was in the custody of a drunkard, who used to bet the canine. Some kids saw this happening and wanted to rescue it from him. The drunkard, however, saw it as an opportunity to make money and demanded a hundred rupees to hand the dog over to them. The kids had just ten rupees but they managed to bargain with the drunken man and handed over the little tyke over an NGO called Love for all. It then posted a picture of the canine, which was named Gypsy by them, on their facebook page for adoption and Ankit happened to see it and wanted to help. Hence, he went ahead and adopted the pup and named him Elmo, which means ‘to love’ in Italian. And though Ankit has bought Elmo a bed, he loves to sleep on the actor’s bed. As the actor tells us, “He loves to sleep and play so I thought of getting the things he’d require, but he still sleeps on my bed. And he loves being lifted up and does not like being put of the floor.” But given that the television industry is known for its elongated working hours, will Ankit be able to give Elmo time? “I share an apartment with my friends, and we adjust our timings accordingly. But having said that, we have also checked if Elmo can stay at home alone and he does manage to stay alone for two to three hours,” smiles the actor.