I was walking home the long way around so I could stop by and take photographs of progress on the new animal dispensary currently under development. This is Chengam Road and the building at the back on the left is a Girls' Orphanage run by the State. Just another evening. It has just finished raining but definitely ready to start up again later in the evening. The milkman is on duty going from house to house and milking whatever cows are there and noting the milk quantity taken in his book.
And talking about cows here is a very nice one ambling along. She certainly seems to know where she is going; hopefully to home and some nice dinner. This is the main pradakshina road that winds it way the 14km around the base of Arunachala. The road was much better in its narrow, pot-holed condition but since they've widened and improved it unfortunately it is now wide enough to be a race circuit for crazy truck and bus drivers to play at overtaking; which may be fun for them but gives little enjoyment to everybody else!
Still on my way to the animal dispensary and here is one of the autorickshaw drivers that plies his trade from outside Ramana Ashram. Definitely one of the better drivers we have. At the back on the right is new construction being undertaken by the Municipality, which when finished will provide accommodation (a choultry) for visiting pilgrims coming to perform giripradakshina around Arunachala.
Well this is our Animal Dispensary for free animal sterilisation operations that is being set up here at Tiruvannamalai. Some Western folk got seriously upset at the way surplus dogs were regularly killed by the Municipality. They were able to persuade the local Government to stop the practice in lieu of offering free sterilisation operations for wild street dogs (90% of the animal population) and poor local folk who couldn't afford the cost of the operation. The Municipality even offered a small building on a large plot of land on a free 5 year lease to the dispensary. And this is what is being transformed and developed into the animal sterilisation hospital.
Nice painting by one of our local artists; curiously named RAMBO (I think he picked that name when the action hero Sylvester Stallone was big). It shows the affiliation of this dispensary with the Puttaparthi one; Karuna Society for Animals and Nature (outside Sai Baba Ashram in Andhra Pradesh).
On the adjacent wall another painting by our Rambo showing the famous Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi.
The builders are making holding rooms for dogs after their operations. Both male and female dogs will be allowed sufficient time to recover from their surgery before they are either returned to their families or to the neighbourhood from which they came.
Opening day is set for about a month's time but seeing the rate of progess, it may be longer. Already the waiting list for people to bring in dogs for a sterlization operation is daily growing. So will keep you informed as to progress.
3 comments:
How wonderful that the animal hospital is coming up in Tiru! It will get a lot quieter as the dogs are sterilized, and the lady dogs will finally have a happy and peaceful, unbothered life! ;-)
This post must be of particular interest to you Divyakka because the animal hospital here at Tiruvannamalai is affiliated with the Karuna Animal Hospital at Puttparthi, Andhra Pradesh - a brilliant and well run organisation that you were connected with for many years.
I will always be mightily impressed with Clementien Pauws, who runs Karuna Society in Puttaparthi. She was always ready and willing to help the animals in all places, not just in her surrounding areas. Even when we were stretched thin of manpower and resources (which was CONSTANTLY), she would extend help to anyone whom she knew would serve the animals wholeheartedly in other places. Thus, the support to the people organizing the animal hospital in Tiru.
As a side note, she also left Puttaparthi immediately after the tsunami and remained in the worst hit areas around Chennai three weeks, to selflessly help the animals there. We increased our loans by leaps and bounds during that time!
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