Aloka was a pariah dog surviving on the streets of Kolkata, India, until one day he crossed paths with a group of Buddhist monks on pilgrimage. Many dogs followed them for a while and then fell behind. Aloka was the only one who did not give up: when another stray dog got hurt and the monks put him in a truck, he jumped in so he would not be left alone.
From then on, he never left the group. The monks adopted him and took him to the United States, where he lives alongside 19 Vietnamese-American monks in Fort Worth, Texas. That is where his greatest challenge began: the Walk for peace, a 2.300-mile walk to Washington D.C. that began on October 26, 2025.
In January 2026, he had to undergo surgery for a knee injury, and the monk Bhikkhu Pannakara spoke to him before the operation to explain that the separation would be brief. They were reunited soon and together completed the journey on February 10. Today, Aloka has more than 1.2 million followers and a foundation bearing his name that helps other animals find the same second chance he had.