CHENNAI: Seven years ago, on Krishna Jayanthi, Sandhya Raj and her family welcomed a new member into their house — a brown-eyed puppy, whose family was horrifically run over by a truck. “He was the only one in the litter of five puppies, who was still breathing. He was grievously injured. My father and I rushed him to the hospital, got him treated and brought him back home. We didn’t have the heart to leave him out on the street, so we decided to adopt him.
Since he came into our lives on Krishna Jayanthi day, my mother (who until then was scared of dogs) quite aptly named him Krishna,” Sandhya gleefully recalls. In the next six years, Krishna became an integral part of Sandhya’s extended family and her social circle. “Everyone loved Krishna; he loved everyone back. It was nothing but unadulterated love and joy,” says the architect and animal enthusiast. This was until Krishna fell sick and succumbed to kidney-related ailments. On July 20, 2019, while being surrounded by his parents, Krishna was put down to sleep. “He was in my arms when he breathed his last. I still remember his last gasp, his tongue sticking out. Though we were struck by grief, watching him breathe his last while being surrounded by those who love him was a silver lining,” she says wearily.
Tribute to Krish
While Sandhya is ready to meet him at the rainbow bridge some day, she wanted to make the wait worthwhile and honour her dearest ‘Krish’ by lending a helping hand to his ilk and enabling them to survive — during and after the pandemic. “My father grew up in a village, where he was exposed to the joys of being surrounded by different kinds of animals. So, he has always believed that humans and animals can and should co-exist.
I was taught those values at a very young age and that shaped me into the person I am. Krish’s presence in my life only reiterated these values. After his passing, I wanted to do something in his honour. After all, every cause needs a passion and purpose, and he was mine,” says Sandhya. To mark Krishna’s first death anniversary, Sandhya launched Streetfeed.in, a communityled initiative, which aims to provide food, water, shelter and unconditional love to the strays in and around the city.
Bringing people together
In the last two weeks, thanks to friends, family, animal enthusiasts, and good Samaritans who believed in the cause, the social initiative has reached several pockets, including KK Nagar, Ramapuram, Valsarvakkam, Vadapalani, Thiruvanmiyur, Chinmaya Nagar, Chetpet and Velachery. Volunteers too have been filling the strays, in and around their neighbourhoods, with food and love. “On average, 80-odd dogs have been fed. The initiative has trickled to cities like Bengaluru and Pune too.
While the number of strays we reach out to is important, we want to focus on how consistently we can feed them and how effectively we can make more people mindful of the welfare of the voiceless,” she explains. For a city like Chennai, which houses around 1,85,000-odd stray dogs, the donations, good-will and manpower of like-minded people have always been vital in driving such social initiatives. “Our volunteers scout different locations in search of strays in need and feed them. We share these images on our social media page.
While this is not just a gesture to validate someone’s effort, it also encourages others to take up the cause. I have had volunteers who were scared of strays now become best friends with their neighbourhood puppies and dogs,” says the founder, who hopes to see happy wagging tails across the country. Currently in its nascent stages, the initiative also aims to bring together people from different walks of life and professions for the cause.
“Artists auctioning their artworks and contributing the proceeds for the initiative; people buying collars or food and providing it to us or to the dogs themselves; flagging anadhanams for dogs; creating pet portraits/family portraits along with their pets for a nominal fee and using the proceeds to procure food and other material for the drive, hosting virtual workshops — dance, music, art and whatnots for the cause have been planned. We will also be conducting stray accustomisation drives, wherein people will be taken around their neighbourhoods and taught how to treat, pet and feed the dogs; food drives, de-worming drives and animal birth control drives, will all soon be part of the initiative,” she shares. Petfriendly houses in each locality will be identified and fitted with pet shelters to weather all seasons, she adds.
“We are now in the works of creating a prototype of this shelter. Dogs are very smart and when they know that the household is petfriendly and that there is a shelter available for them, they’ll know to take refuge when there’s a need. The goal is to create a conducive environment where animals and humans can coexist,” she elaborates. The initiative will soon be registered as an NGO. “The lockdown, the pandemic and unavailability of officials have pinched the process of registering it as not for profit. But it’s a work in progress and will be done soon,” notes Sandhya. For details, and to be part of the initiative, visit Instagram page @streetfeed.in