People of Madras
Ep. 02

Radhika has been taking care of dogs in Gandhi Nagar for the past 17 years or so. She’d always had a soft spot for animals and had a dog growing up, as did her children.

An incident involving a mother dog and her 8 pups being fed and taken care of by the next-door security pushed her to send them to Blue Cross. The mother was then relocated to an isolated house. But because she was so young, she got confused as to where her pups went. Radhika got her spayed and neutered, and her pups adopted.

Post this incident, she was on the lookout for any dogs and puppies. Perhaps after seeing the dog and her pups being fed, two other dogs from the same street started following her and she took care of them as well. And that’s how she began feeding dogs around the area.

“What I’ve noticed is people become very unfriendly after they notice these dogs being cared for. They ask me questions like, ‘Why are you feeding them here?’ or, ‘Why not at your house?’. So now I feed them either early morning between 04:30 - 05:00 am or at night between 09:30 - 10:00 pm. The entire process takes me 4 and a half hours, where I cook for 2 hours and the remaining 2 and a half hours are spent distributing the food. It’s quite peaceful before daylight and I find all the dogs waiting for me.”

She says she can’t take too many leaves, because “who will care for them?” It’s also difficult to find help to take them to the vet. But she says that she is selfish in a way, that there are 90-100 dogs for herself in Gandhi Nagar!

Radhika’s only request - “Just feed the dog outside your apartment. It will make a difference and also help us in taking care of these dogs.”