A fan following as long as the Irish greyhound’s tail

Radhika Kasturi Rangan’s day begins on a positive note: Barks of delight and gratitude. Meet the dog mom with around 150 canine children

Whenever she takes a stroll down any of the streets in Gandhi Nagar, Radhika Kasturi Rangan is assured of a train of admirers — a whopping 150 of them, that is, if you take a street-to-street “census”.

Her presence is acknowledged with swishing of tails and whoops of delight.

Radhika has earned this canine fan-following, having stuck to a routine with the single-mindedness of a ritualist, for 17 whole years. Every day, she beats about the streets of Gandhi Nagar to feed strays. The list of canine beneficiaries is as long as the Irish wolfhound’s tail, and shows signs of growing longer. At last count, it was 150.

Radhika's life is inextricably tied with each of the strays she feeds. Just as Alice enters multiple worlds in the Lewis Carrol classic, she enters these canines’ stories. She tries to shape their stories for the better. She has, from the beginning, which was when she shook paws with a weeny little dog outside her apartment.

“I noticed that the watchman was feeding the dog every day, packing food for her. I thought to myself ‘Why not I feed her?'. When I began feeding her, I discovered that despite her being so young, she had babies. I shifted her little ones from the parking lot to an old building and started feeding them as well. Then I got the puppies adopted and their mother sterilised. Whenever I fed them, two other dogs would follow me. And I started feeding them as well."

There were more "followers" and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Initially, I would offer them packaged pet food, rice and eggs. But street dogs being accustomed to scavenging and eating a variety of food outside, their enthusiasm for this diet waned. That was when I made the acquaintance of a resident in Gandhi Nagar -- the lady had just moved into the neighbourhood. While walking her dog, she watched me feed my street dogs. She offered to help me: Kausalya and I are now good friends. Since I am a vegetarian, she cooks the meat, I store it in a separate fridge on my balcony, and feed it to my dogs the next day.”