Jara has become a good friend. Why wouldn't he? I am always generous with him. I feed him well and even spare my bourbon biscuits for him.

The continuous bribing has shown its effect. Now whenever he sees me, he doesn't bark, or try chasing me like before. Instead he wags its tail, welcoming me.

Don't mistake him for an ordinary dog. He is a celebrity in his own right. His master is a shining star of Indian cricket - Mahendra Singh Dhoni. As Jara is my new found friend, I also can claim to be close to Dhoni.

It's not that I'm a frantic pet lover. Striking friendship with Jara was a compulsion for me. At least he ensures me an entry to the hottest spot in Ranchi - the MECON colony bungalow of MS Dhoni, Jharkhand's first family of sorts.

His friendship has made my life easier in Ranchi, a sleepy city that's known as Dhoni's hometown today. Out of every 10 trips I make there, eight are to chase Dhoni.

Trust me, the moment Indian team returns to India from its foreign tours, my heart starts pounding. The next thing I expect is a call from boss outlining an assignment on D in Ranchi. "He will be there for two days, visiting his family", so the message would say, "Pack your luggage boys, aur OB van bhi le lena. Dhoni Ranchi ane wala hai is the scariest call I ever get from my assignment desk. It means three days of star chasing, and the office expects us to catch each pulsating movement, read his lips and tell, if he is afar or caught in a crowd and even If I can only see him gesticulating. His eager viewers, the beavers that they are, would never allow me "up and close or thereabouts."

OB has to get there before our competitors, outside Dhoni's hair saloon, outside the temples he visits, outside his friends houses, where he may drop in for dinner and worst of all, chasing and trying to beat his Pajero or that John Abraham style Yamaha which never allows one up close.

On Ranchi's mean streets, you far knocking down someone and have an Adivasi uprising on your hands - all the time.

You see, they have special privileges. You miss one action of his and your happiness is taken.

Ask me, and I'll let u every detail of Dhoni's house, at least the exteriors and I can easily claim to knowing it. More than Danadan Dhoni himself. It's primarily because I have spent more time outside Dhoni's house than Dhoni could ever do in his lifetime.

My concerned friends in Ranchi, don't forget to warn me that Dhoni is a morning walker or sometime loves to jog , leaving u with no option but to setup your dukaan (Read OB Van) outside his house before the early birds are out.

But there's no guarantee that I'd be the first to catch the worm. Then the frantic calls from assignment, eager to put you on air and let the viewers know, how excited his neighbours are, just blazes through your ears as if like a hyper-heated barrel of hot oil.

And, your heart is pounding, leaving you breathless and gasping for air like a dog, which had just had its over the quota drill.

Hell! No one is excited here, poor chaps are sleeping! But sorry we can't let them sleep. We need guests for our morning OBs, so we knock on the doors.

Äunty Namaste, hum CNN-IBN se aayen hani, Dhoni ane wala hai. usi silsile main apse baat karni hai. And before you could request her to change her night dress and be your esteemed morning OB guest, she quips "Maine pahle hi XYZ aur ABC channel ko mana kaar diya hai, phir aap aa gaye?.

Don't blame them for this. Poor chaps were ordinary government workers till yesterday but today they are also celebrities.

After all, they are Dhoni's neighbours and can give you some insight on likes and dislikes of Dhoni and how sober and sweet he is. "He calls me aunty and touches my feet. Just Imagine! How deep rooted his values are," quips Aunty jee.

I can figure out the values Dhoni has inherited. My interaction over the years with Pan Singh jee, Dhoni's dad, has proved the family values have changed. I still cherish my first meeting with him when Dhoni made it to the Indian cricket team for the first time.

The story in my hand was "how small town boys are making big". I was welcomed with sweets and gracious Pan Singh jee took the pain of showing me around his house, his garden and even Dhoni's bedroom.

He posed for the camera and gave the sound bytes we wanted. Welcoming visitors with sweets and water is what I call "values". I was highly impressed. We exchanged numbers and I kept the promise of calling him and letting him know when we were airing the story on Dhoni.

But since that day I have seen the values changing, changing so slowly like a much used, wrecked cart on a Jharkhand village dirt road, making an effort to move up the gradient.

First the ladoos disappeared, then the water then Pan Singh jee started talking to us through his drawing room window and today, he has Sam and Jara - two labradors in the campus just to ensure no journalist dares to come near his house.

As Dhoni kept climbing up the success ladder, I saw the "values" falling as much in Ranchi.

And how can I forget Dhoni's elder brother. Every time I see him, he reminds me of princess Diana. It's because he runs away from cameras the way Diana and Dodi did from the paparazzi.

But then have the "values" changed by themselves or have we forced it to change? Partly yes, we are responsible. The more we have tried to explore the family side of this cricketing sensation, Pan Singh jee and his team have proved elusive. The shell now is too strong for us to break.

We have found two solutions to this problem. First: we journalists, covering Dhoni in Bihar and Jharkhand have agreed among ourselves that Dhoni has grown too big for a city like Ranchi.

Let's float an idea that he should settle down in Mumbai or Amritsar or Chennai.

At least, he will be out of our territory and that will save us from the pain of striking friendship with Sam and Jara.

We are even willing to contribute to buy him a house there.

Or the second way out could be convince our bosses to stop forcing us to act the hapless paparazzi so we are not reduced to the level of being Sam's pal.