CHENNAI: With the Chennai summer trying to beat its own record every year, people are trying their best to stay indoors and away from the wrath of the heat, often forgetting the city’s stray animals and birds. However, one man steps in, a water bowl in hand. Meet Ganapathy Subramaniam Shanmugham, a 40-year-old changemaker whose journey from a volunteer to the Chennai lead of Water for Voiceless is a testament to how compassion and action can transform lives — not just of humans, but of every thirsty creature under the sun.
Inspired by Jain Sunny Hastimal, the founder of Water for Voiceless (WfV), earlier known as the ‘Water Pot Project,’ Ganapathy has taken on the mission of ensuring that stray animals have access to water across the city.
The roots of WfV can be traced back to 2016, when Jain Sunny, haunted by the memory of accidentally killing a puppy at Tumkur in Karnataka, started offering water to strays and began distributing bowls to the public, encouraging them to place water.
A native of Chennai, Ganapathy was working in Bengaluru when he first met Sunny through a mutual friend in 2017. He started by placing two terracotta water bowls outside his apartment, which he received free of cost from Sunny. Now it has grown into a citywide initiative, with Ganapathy as the Chennai lead for WfV.
Ganapathy recalls receiving his first two terracotta bowls: “Once I started seeing how useful water bowls were for strays, especially during the summer, it stayed with me. While humans commodify water, animals suffer.”
Inspired by Sunny, Ganapathy decided to launch a similar initiative in Chennai, under ‘Water for Voiceless.’ In 2018, he and Sunny worked towards formally registering as an NGO and played a role in expanding across the country. The team also developed a website through which volunteers could register to collect terracotta bowls from a pick-up location.
WfV distributes bowls in two sizes—a small and a bigger one. These are used to feed water to dogs, cats, cattle, donkeys, and even smaller insects and birds, said Ganapathy.
In Chennai, around nine designated pick-up locations have been set up with the help of volunteers, such as in Tambaram, Chrompet, and Mogappair. At each of these points, over 200 bowls are stored. Every year, 1,500 to 2,000 water bowls are given away in Chennai alone. To ensure that the bowls are being used effectively, volunteers are encouraged to share photos via WhatsApp showing animals drinking from the bowls.
Animal welfare activists, who often care for large number of strays, are provided with more than two bowls. In case of damage or theft, WfV replaces the bowls. The initiative has also been extended to educational institutions, with bowls being distributed to schools and colleges. This not only aids in hydration for strays but fosters awareness among young minds, Ganapathy added.
WfV supplies bowls free of cost across the country, including in Delhi, Hosur, Goa, and Hyderabad, among others. The bowls are colour-coded based on the location to help the team identify the city when photos are shared, ensuring better tracking and impact assessment. In Chennai, the bowls are blue, while in Bengaluru, they are green.
Since 2018, over 10,000 pots have been distributed in Chennai, and a total of 16,000 pots have been distributed by the NGO to date.
Ganapathy’s mission did not stop with the streets of Chennai. Since 2019, WfV, in collaboration with the forest department, has established nearly 50 small ponds to ensure wild animals have access to water during summers. The team has undertaken desilting and deepening of existing ponds within forest zones.
Speaking about the challenges animal activists and feeders face, he said, “Most people do not want to entertain strays in their neighbourhood and often discourage activists from providing food or even water. There is a need to raise more awareness among them.”
With just a bowl of water, Ganapathy is rewriting the story for Chennai’s strays. From streets to forests, his mission with Water for Voiceless shows that real change doesn’t roar—it ripples. In a city that often forgets its voiceless, he’s making sure they’re seen, heard, and hydrated.
(Anyone who wishes to collect water bowls from Water for Voiceless can visit www.waterforvoiceless.com or contact WfV Chennai Lead Ganapathy Subramaniam Shanmugham at 89392 51718.)
(Edited by Meghna Murali)