30 April,2023 07:14 AM IST | Mumbai | Jane Borges
Sai Bharathan checks on a dog who moved inside the construction site of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project in Worli. Pics/Sarika Nerurkar
In the pandemic-induced lockdowns, where life turned on its head for everyone, it also did for Mumbai's stray dogs and cats, also called streeties. Santa Cruz East resident Sarika Nerurkar, who until then had barely paid attention to the animals in her neighbourhood, remembers noticing a few roaming around emaciated. The "hotel uncle" in her gully, who used to feed the strays with the kitchen leftovers, including a diet of rice and chicken bones, had shuttered temporarily. "The dogs were going hungry," she recalls. On a whim, she began feeding them rice and eggs, at 10 every night. "There were seven of them, so it seemed doable," says Nerurkar. "Within a week, I was feeding 27 dogs and 45 cats, covering a kilometre-radius around my home." This went on for a year, until the lockdown rules were eased, and the eatery resumed business.
But this sparked within her an affection for feeders and rescuers. "I had encountered callous behaviour. I was being told off by residents in the society... they suggested that I feed poor people instead. They saw both, strays and feeders as a menace."
Around then, Nerurkar, who is a cinematographer and documentary photographer by profession, was looking for a project to invest her time in. "My dad in jest, suggested that I do something around cats and dogs, since I was spending so much time with them. He passed away last year, but it was he who encouraged me to pursue this." With guidance from her mentor, photographer Sudharak Olwe, Nerurkar began to shoot first in Mumbai, before travelling across the country.
A year-and-a-half on, the 27-year-old has taken over 10,000 photos which spotlight the efforts of eight feeders and rescuers, from Chandigarh, Ranikhet and Dehradun in the North to Bengaluru and Chennai in the south. She decided to steer clear of NGOs because she was keen on understanding an individual's motivation to take up a cause often without societal support.
She took a sabbatical from work and travelled over the next six months, often staying with the feeders or rescuers, tracking their routine and freezing glimpses of their work on a DSLR.
In Dehradun, she says, residents are welcoming of animals, placing rotis and water outside their homes, which is why you see few feeders. Here, she met Abhishek Giri and Anjali Mehta, students in their 20s. "They'd get on their scooty and rush to rescue any bird or dog they'd hear of. They didn't have the funds, but they are hopeful. They'd say, âWe will figure it out'. Then, there is Manjari Colaco, who feeds 300 stray dogs in Lalbagh Botanical Garden of Bengaluru every day. "That's a lot of responsibility. She takes her seven-year-old son with her because she can't leave him alone at home. It was interesting to see the relationship the child had developed with the dogs." Another senior citizen from Bengaluru Anjali Nanavati, who is neither a feeder or rescuer, was also documented for the project. "She is in her 60s, but is quite determined. She educates villagers in and around Nandi Hills on the importance of neutering dogs, the nutrition they need, and how to administer medical aid." Nanavati also encourages them to adopt strays, and often pays for their bills, through the help of NGOs. "It has taken her long to gain the trust of villagers," says Nerurkar.
What this project has done, she thinks, is restore her faith in humanity. "You'd not expect people to go out of their way, considering the hate they could encounter. Malan Sonawane [from Mumbai], for instance, prepares dog meals only post midnight because the neighbours find the odour of chicken repulsive."
The goal of the project is to get feeders and rescuers "recognition for the work they do and making people aware that coexistence is a community responsibility."
Malan Sonawane and her husband take out their rickshaw to go about feeding 300 dogs in Mumbai every day
To support the project https://www.sarikanerurkar.com/feeder-rescuer-project
