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Radha Rajan Finds Contentment By Saving Stray Dogs in India

By Hema Vijay

When they see Radha Rajan's car coming down their street in South Chennai, young Chitti and six others run forward joyously to meet her. She greets each of them personally, calling them by their names, and offers them a nutritious meal. Chennai-based Rajan, 54, has been bringing them bucket loads of rice and boiled eggs - laced with milk and butter - for the past 14 years now. And she does this twice a day.

This philanthropy may not seem so very outstanding until you come to know that Chitti and friends happen to be canine strays. And this generous delivery is not limited to one street alone. Street-by-street, Rajan covers a good portion of South Chennai and, by the time the job is done, she has already been on the road for two hours.

Rajan is passionate, empathetic and a very busy woman. Feeding the strays aside Rajan is also a political commentator, founder editor of Vigilonline.com, joint secretary of Vigil Public Opinion Forum between 1995-2006, and author of the 'Eclipse of the Hindu Nation'.

Leave alone the expense that she has been incurring on this venture, doesn't she ever think of outsourcing the service to someone, considering how much time she spends on it? "Tell me, don't you get tired of feeding or raising your kids, or do you? And I believe that when somebody sets out to feed the needy, money will somehow come," she says. Over the last 14 years, Rajan has never left town for more than two days at a stretch, with the exception of a 40-day European tour she took some years back. But even then her daughter had stepped in to keep home and take care of the "kids."

Rajan picked up Kumbakarna from the streets. "She was so thin and weak that crows were turning her over," she recalls. Down the years, more dogs found a home with her.

Rajan's neighbours and others who encounter her on the streets when she delivers food to street dogs are mixed in their reactions to her unusual vocation. Some raise their eyebrows in displeasure while others do so in awe. But Ranjan couldn't care less either way.

Analysing the issue of animal abuse, she observes in her online forum, "The basis of all abuse and exploitation is in making 'objects' of the abused. When I acknowledge the subjectivity of others besides my own, I consciously reject any subjective hierarchy in nature and Creation... If before eating the chicken flesh or the flesh of the lamb or the cow or other cattle, humans would bring before their eyes the picture of the mother hen and the chicks pecking grain together, the mother hen herding her chicks protectively under her wing, if humans can bring before their eyes the innocent and tender eyes of goats and lambs and if they made an attempt to visit the slaughter houses that kill these animals or the manner by which hens and chicks get their necks wrung to kill them and then plucked of all their feathers to get them ironically 'dressed' for human consumption, perhaps, just perhaps they may begin to comprehend the abuse that we practice in our arrogance."

She also finds it appalling that some humans consider that animals are meant to be used for entertainment. She elaborates, "Breeding dogs and horses for races, breeding pedigree dogs for shows, using cocks in cock fights, the horrifying bull fights in which the bulls are subjected to slow and painful death by the matador, circuses which teach animals unnatural tricks and feats, I find it as appalling as women being used for prostitution, as dancing girls, as strip-tease artistes."

Giving refuge to dogs has been a family decision, because Rajan's husband and daughter completely supported her in the venture. Her concern also extends to cats, crows and the like, and the lady wields enormous influence among animal welfare organisations in the city.

Interestingly, besides her friends on the street, there are the 14 stray dogs who, Rajan says, have adopted her. These dogs enjoy the good life. They have the run of the Rajan home, wandering happily through the bedrooms, library, and just about everywhere. They settle down on the cushions on the beds and the rugs on the floor.

Rajan does let them out of the house for a bit, "but they always get back home in a few hours," she smiles. Home is where the heart - and the bark - is!

Womens Feature Service covers developmental, political, social and economic issues in India and around the globe. To get these articles for your publication, contact WFS at the www.wfsnews.org website.