Our Heroes

You can read a report from our local Animal Shelters' vets (from Holland), Rogier van Leeuwen and Kim Schriek, at this link. In the link, Rogier, in his own words, tells the story of how they came to Tiruvannamalai to work at the town's new shelter. Sadly Kim and Rogier will be leaving Tiruvannamalai and India in 2-3 weeks and returning back to work assignments at their native place.

In a very short time both Kim and Rogier have made many friends; both animal and people and both varieties will be sad to see them go. They have also contributed to the quality of life and joy of many creatures they have met through their work and time here.

The monkeys in the below photograph have everything to be thankful for to our young vets. Kim and Rogier, tired and exhausted on a hot summer's day were returning to their humble country cottage after a morning's busy and hectic surgery at the Animal Shelter, when they noticed a commotion at the side of the road. As Kim thought she saw a monkey's head peeping amongst the legs of the crowd she and Rogier stopped to look. Lo and behold there were three captured young bonnet macaque monkeys imprisoned in a makeshift cage.

Quickly the crowd around the monkey's cage grew bigger and rowdier. Rogier had the presence of mind to understand that he needed allies that could speak Tamil and help him deal with the situation. He called the Forest Department and asked them to send a representative to help in the situation. The Forest Department, concerned at the illegal capture and imprisonment of the monkeys sent two burly fellows to assist our two vets from Holland.

The man responsible for the monkey capture told the Forest Department officials that he had been told that the monkeys were becoming a nuisance in town and he had been called to capture and release them into a decent, deserted forest. No-one in authority believed his story, and even if they did, his act was completely illegal and all four of the monkeys' saviours were determined to ensure their liberation.

Kim and Rogier recount that the crowd number grew to nearly 50 people and started to get increasingly rowdy and ugly. In the interests of the immediate safety for both monkeys and vets, the Forest Department quickly released the monkeys, who immediately scampered away. Our two heroes from Holland, taking the suggestion from the Forest Department representatives, also quickly departed. Our heroes jumped on their bike and returned home to their country cottage for a much deserved rest. And a very successful morning it was too!

In the below photograph Kim is hand feeding some young puppies. Thankfully a more peaceful and less threatening chore than rescuing monkeys from an unruly mob!

Below is Rogier, Kim's significant other. He definitely seems to have captured a puppy's heart. Its so nice to have such dedicated veterinarians working here at our new Animal Shelter. The Tiruvannamalai Shelter is under the aegis of: http://www.karunasociety.org/ A brilliant society contributing much to the improved quality of life and welfare of many creatures.

Below we seem to have a shy Mum who seems more interested in having a chat with Kim rather than taking care of her young pup. But the distraction was only momentary and dog Mum turned out to be a dedicated and loving care giver to her young pup.

In the below photograph we seem to have a young dog that certainly seems to understand that he is under a considerable protective field. Oh yes! No-one can get me here; safe at last!

Even though the care, attention, and medical expertise exhibited by our young heroes at the Tiruvannamalai Animal Shelter, is exemplary; their attention to detail could sometimes be considered 'unstructured'. And in the below photograph we seem to be witnessing a true 'dog fight' between dogs and various items of clothing and bath towels. Whoops!

So its sleepy time and here is a lucky dog, loved, warm, protected with tummy full, having a nice nap. Its so nice to witness the beginning of a shift in consciousness towards the welfare and care of animals in Tiruvannamalai. Previously there was no where dogs and domestic animals could be awarded sanctuary and/or receive medical treatment. Times are certainly getting better.

Good night sleepy head; you can finish off your rice pudding when you wake up. All that remains for you to do is have your sweet dreams of chasing cats!

Shanmurgan

Now this is a very familiar face sitting on the side of Chengam Road, near the entrance of Sri Ramana Ashram. His name is Shanmurgan and he carves statues of Arunachala, Gods and Saints for sale to pilgrims and visitors. He is 52 years old and has been carving for the last 40 years. He is local to Tiruvannamalai, and was born near the Big Temple in town. Years back he set up a stall near Skandashram but slowly competitors moved in, sales went down and so did Shanmurgan who decided to move back to Ramana Nagar. Shanmurgan comes from a family of sculptors and his Father used to carve and then sell his statues near the Big Temple in town.

When I took this photograph of Shanmurgan I didn't notice the plastic bags in the background. We are becoming so inured to seeing trashy plastic lying all over the place, that sometimes one doesn't even notice anymore. Shame! AEED, a comparatively new organisation in Tiruvannamalai is currently doing alot of work in the fields of noise and plastic pollution. You can view them at this link.

Shanmurgan is concentrating on a statue of the God Nataraja and in the below photograph he is lining up the base with the God form.

Below is Shanmurgan's stall and portable showroom. At one corner of the stall is his own private puja area with a nice assortment of various Gods and Saints. Undoubtedly Shanmurgan performs a puja at his altar each morning before starting his day of carving.

He told me that many of the stones they use for the statues come from a place near Sathanur Dam, some 25 kms distance. He also mentioned that this is the third day of his working on the Nataraja statue and he doesn't expect to finish it for another couple of days.

The below represent some of his finished statues and artifacts. Some of the stones come from some distance away. In the case or the red marble Hanuman (on the left), the stone comes from near Gujarat in North India.

The young lad's name is Shiva, Shanmurgan's 16 year old son and apprentice who is currently learning sculpting from his father as his father learnt it from his own father, so many years previously.

So, I left town, on my daily walking exercise and took a photograph of a choultry (rest area for pilgrims) currently being built by the local Municipality. The view is certainly spectacular!





The resthouse (choultry) in more closeup. Its in a perfect position with Arunachala to its right and the outer pradakshina road to its left. the great open space in front of it is part of the temporary bus and coach carpark which is packed during the time of Full Moon.

Off I go home. Maybe I will stop at the nearby Animal Shelter to talk to our wonderful vets from Holland, Kim and Rogier, who sadly will be leaving for their native place in a few weeks. But happily for the very deserving animals of Tiruvannamalai, a lady vet (also from Holland) will be coming from Puttaparthi (Andhra Pradesh) to take over at the shelter.