Dec 22 | By Punam Dharkar
Where love knows no boundaries
"No matter how few possessions you own or how little money you have, loving animals and nature will make you rich beyond measure" - Paul Oxtan
The love of an animal changes people forever. I know this because I've experienced it as a child and teenager and later, seen friends changing almost overnight as the uninhibited love for their pets oozes out like molten chocolate. Most of us who bring home pets are indulging our fancy for possessing a cute pet. However, what would you call a young woman, also a new mom, barely managing to make ends meet, who rents out the neighbouring house exclusively, to keep 40 stray and injured cats well-fed and comfortable? Insane, for sure. Meet Naina More. An animal rights activist, a crusader for equal rights for all living creatures, especially the 4-legged helpless variety.
Naina believes cats and dogs are the easiest prey of violence and neglect by humans and she will do all it takes to speak up for these angels who are speechless. Day or night, Naina will either be rushing a little 4-legged baby to the hospital, or to the police station to file a complaint against a heartless human who in a tearing hurry may have run over a cat or a dog with his rickshaw. When most of us are in deep sleep, it's not uncommon to find Naina at the police station at 3 am filing an FIR against a violent cat or dog attacker or a careless vehicle driver.
Naina's commitment to her community of cats and dogs must be seen to be believed. Once, unknown to her, a cat lay in a pool of blood outside her house, after being hit by a rickshaw, and was left to die. When the neighbours informed her of the incident, she rushed to the spot, picked up the injured cat and drove in the rickshaw to the police station, to file an FIR about the incident. To drive home the point that humans shouldn't consider the lives of animals any less important than their own lives, she insisted that the FIR be filed with all the accurate details. This carried on till 3 am. The cat who had breathed her last on the way to the police station was sent for a post-mortem at the animal hospital in Parel, in the morning. Despite a long sleepless night spent in getting the FIR filed, Naina was at the hospital for the post-mortem ensuring she got the report, which she used to file a case of rash and negligent driving against the rickshaw driver. The result was that his license was revoked for a few years. The driver was disbarred from his source of income and would have learnt a good lesson the really hard way.
Naina in the room she specially rented for her rescued animals
Feeding stray animals during lock down
While an activist is required to set right the wrongs in society, a warm and caring heart too is required to heal the body, mind and spirit of the injured and helpless, especially the ones who don't express themselves with words - animals. While Naina is a hardcore activist by temperament, she has an extremely soft spot for injured animals. A cat with her lower jaw broken was found by Naina. Animal hospitals couldn't fix her jaw and they said her life was a matter of days. Naina wouldn't give up and she kept the cat alive by making a paste of food and feeding her with a syringe. This continued for over three months. The injured cat and Naina, the caregiver, grew deeply attached to each other. However, in a few days, Naina would be married
and she'd go to live at her husband's home. The unspoken bond with her cat was so deep that when Naina was getting married to go away to her husband's home, the cat let go of her struggle with life and she passed away. The loss of this cat has been unbearable for Naina and she misses her even after all these years. She prioritises the care and well-being of all the animals in her care.
The Persian Cat that was abandoned in lock down. Now in Naina’s care.
Since she was a child, Naina has been very fond of dogs and cats and had wanted to keep one at home. As fate would have it, Naina turned her love for animals to embrace a career where she can care for them by working in a hospital for animals that's attached to the organisation IDA - In Defence of Animals, at the Chembur centre. She met her husband there who equally shares her love of animals and is her strong support at home, too. Before their marriage, Naina made it clear to him that there was no need to spend the money on a honeymoon, instead, they spent the amount for the betterment of the animals they cared for. Her three-month-old daughter Durva, is growing up amidst 40 odd cats next-door and we wonder how beautiful this little girl will grow up to be, caring for these speechless, sensitive living beings.
It's rather odd for the uninitiated to hear Naina speak of her daughter and her cats in the same breath, as though there's no difference between the two. If she spends time with her daughter, she spends equal time with her cats, feeding, grooming, nursing and cleaning up after them. In a place like Mumbai where real estate is at a premium, Naina decided to rent out a place for her homeless and infirm cats next-door to her own home. She pays a rent of ₹3500 per month and an electricity bill of ₹800. The expense of feeding these 40 cats and a few dogs, the petrol that goes into her scooter while she runs errands for these animals - all, come at an extra cost. She says she's been lucky to have been able to feed them and 300 dogs during the lockdown because the government gave them free ration throughout the period. She would receive a small share of the ration from her kind neighbours who shared some of what they received. She shared the excess ration with like-minded friends lugging over 50kgs on her scooter, never expecting to be compensated for the fuel she spent. She says the neighbours would also tolerate the smoke from cooking in the open for these animals. One can't miss her frequent expressions of gratitude to all those who've been kind and helpful. Yet, her almost Durga-like stance to bring perpetrators to justice is as much part of her persona as is her deep sense of compassion.
For a city that's all about self-fulfillment, it's lovely to know people like Naina and her husband thrive with compassion in their hearts - a sentiment that usually gets lost in the din and chaos of Mumbai where earning a living is all that matters to most. If cats have nine lives, I'm quite sure they'd want Naina with them, in each one of those lives.
Naina and her husband
Listen to Naina discuss her life and her passion for animal rescue.