Adopt-a-Pup

The Animal Shelter at Tiruvannamalai is doing amazing work undertaking sterlisation operations on both male and female dogs and cats. The Shelter helps injured and sick animals and is also a sanctuary for animals who are unable to survive in the World by themselves.

The Shelter takes in street dogs for sterlisation operations and after convalescence from surgical procedures, dogs are released back into the same area from where they were originally taken. But sometimes young puppies end up at the Shelter.

This is a very sweet orphaned family of young pups waiting for a loving Master to come along and adopt them.

Cute just isn't a strong enough word to describe these little angels!

It's easy to see that the Shelter is well run and that all residents receive lots of loving attention from a dedicated Shelter staff.

The below blue cage is this puppy family's private residence. A Shelter worker has just let them out, in order to take out the straw bedding and replace it with fresh, clean straw (a procedure repeated daily).

A giant person looks down at one of the young puppies, who is of course, fearless in its secure and loving environment.

In the below photograph, the man holding the pup is called Iyyapan. He comes from a local farming family that has land next to Samudram Lake. I was surprised to see him looking for a dog to adopt at the Shelter because usually in the countryside there are plenty of roaming dogs to choose from. But Iyyapan was particularly interested in adopting a black coloured dog - as black dogs are regarded as lucky and auspicious. Well Iyyapan really must believe the folk lore because he ended up adopting two black puppy brothers. Excellent news for the Shelter and also good news for the two puppies as they will be ending up at a very pretty area.

The below photograph is of an Indian squirrel - of which the area abounds. This little chap got separated from his Mum and has been officially adopted by the Animal Shelter. He has a very nicely equipped cage but spends alot of his time away from his snug little home, running up and down welcoming arms.

Adult, sterlised dogs are available at the Shelter for adoption to good homes. Dogs and puppies receive all relevant innoculations and are in excellent condition. So if you live in Tiruvannamalai and want a dog, come by the Animal Shelter and check out some of the canine friends waiting for a loving Master and snug home.

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.