Picture a 66 year-old woman actively driving her car around Chennai filled with 350 food packets for the stray and the unattended dogs in the city. Yagnna Prabha is the daughter of veteran actress Sowcar Janaki. Married at a young age of 16, she finally found her passion when she returned to Chennai years later from Gujarat. Expecting nothing in return, she feeds an infinite number of dogs in the city every single day. A proud daughter, a doting grandmother, a bold woman and a strong individual, Prabha aunty, as she likes to be called, is an epitome of selfless love. This inspirational woman talks to Varsha Abhay about her shelter, Sri Sathya Sai Prani Seva and the activities that she is part of as a dog lover.
Why do you love dogs so much and how did you finally end up adopting the numerous ones at your ECR shelter?
A philosopher, friend and guide told me that I was cut out to do something different. It so happened that on that particular day, we were driving down T Nagar where I saw this stray pup on the street. From the nearby tea shop, I bought her a packet of milk. The second day too I did the same. The third day, when I reached the place, there was a road being laid. The workers assumed that since she was not to be seen that she would have been dead. But I wasn’t prepared to believe that she is no more, hence I looked for her. Suddenly I heard a noise and then I stopped to see her covered in an inch of tar, crying for help. We rushed her to the nearby veterinary hospital and saved the poor soul. We named her Manasa and she was the first pup that I adopted. And since then I have adopted 112 dogs in my shelter at ECR.
What went behind setting up the dog shelter home at ECR?
So, when I started with my real estate work, I had some 14 dogs in my T Nagar apartment. I received quite a few complaints from the residents because of that. Once while I was going about my business, I came across a piece of land on the East Coast Road. Those two grounds were always in the back of my mind. When I cracked a deal and got enough earnings, I finally bought the plot and began planning the setup. Once I bought the land, I started setting the shelter up. Dr Ambaji Rao, a veterinary hospital’s Dean helped me draft all the paper work for the shelter. Then we applied for a grant to Maneka Gandhi. As soon as she heard about me and the idea, she was generous enough to send two people from Delhi to work with us. Apart from that she gave us a lump sum to set up and run the shelter home and also a Maruti Omni ambulance van with a blue light. I would drive the ambulance myself. We rescued many dogs from the ECR itself. A lot of people would just give away the dog to the watchmen of their locality and ask him to just get rid of the pet for them. So those days I had Terriers, Pomeranians, Great Danes, a lot of fancy dogs that the owners had simply let go of.
Tell us more about the Sri SathyaSaiPraniSeva shelters.
The shelter has 40 rooms, 100 square feet each and none of my pets are tied. They are all vaccinated and dewormed. The veterinary doctors that come there to treat the pets give me a discount on their fee, the food and the medicines.I have two maids who are working there since 1998; they come in the morning and are there till evening every day.
Next to my shelter, there is also a burial ground. I don’t like throwing away dead pets, like most people conveniently just do. I give them a proper burial. Even pet owners who don’t know what to do with their dogs that passed away, I get them buried near the shelter. I am comfortable knowing that my babies are there.
What’s your daily routine? How do you go about a typical day?
My day starts early in the morning. I cook for my husband and myself and then for my dogs. Since we are all strict vegetarians, I have a separate fridge and utensils for the dog feed. After finishing my household chores, I head out.From my home at Thoraipakkam to Perungudi and T Nagar to Adyar, I drive nothing less than 70 kilometers each day feeding my children on the road. I get the food packed in small packets and then go around feeding dogs.
Since 1994 till today, you have selflessly fed the dogs in the city. So what do you feed them?
I am feeding 350 dogs in the city today. 40 kilos of food is made every day. There are three places where we cook the food – 8 kilos at the shelter, 12 kilos at my residence and 20 kilos at a rented place in T Nagar. The food is rice with liver, for weaker dogs we increase the portion of liver for their betterment. A distributor now delivers the liver to all three locations. Every day, the food is prepared and distributed by lunch time.