Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 5, Number 1. May 2022. ISSN: 2581-7094
Interview with Rosy Kumar – An ardent animal lover
 |
| Photo:
Rosy Kumar Courtesy: Rosy Kumar |
ABOUT ROSY KUMAR
At first glance Archana
Kumar, or Rosy as she is popularly known, is the quintessential homemaker. But she is actually a fashion designer who
makes stunning salwar suits, delicate bridal lehngas and eye-catching blouses.
Her creations hang in Cottage Industries Emporium and Jainsons, among others.
However, there is another side to her, which only the residents of Jangpura Extension
in New Delhi know about. It is her passion for animals. If she has not been in the news for the work
she has done relentlessly for animals, it is because she is neither media savvy
nor publicity seeking.
She lives in a single
storied house in Jangpura Extension. If you enter her house, you will find a
small but well-maintained garden with a wrought iron jhoola. Lying on her
doorstep there are one or two dogs. They are not her pets, they are
strays. In her house all animals are
welcome. Her house has a covered courtyard on which sits her team of tailors.
Sprawled on the floor are three to four dogs.
Rosy Bhabhi, as I call her, has been an animal lover since childhood. And here is my interview of her about her abiding passion for animals.
***
VANDANA
KUMARI JENA (VANDANA): How did you get involved with animals?
ROSY: My love for animals began in my childhood. I am told by my maternal grandmother that
when I was little, there was a storm brewing in our locality in Lucknow. While
everyone was busy shutting the doors and windows, I had rushed outside calling
out to a newly born calf to take shelter, lest the black clouds take him away!
When I moved to Jangpura Extension in New Delhi after my marriage,
I was appalled to find young boys pelting street dogs with stones. I raised my
voice against this and tried to teach the boys to be kind to animals but my
actions were not well received, either by the boys or the neighbourhood. People sniggered and taunted me, saying if I
was so concerned about animals why didn’t I clear the dog poop from the road!
But I persevered. It took years but gradually people’s attitudes changed. Now
decades later they are far more supportive and many of them contribute in this
cause.
After
a while I realized that
the stray dogs in the colony did not have coats in winter. I could not afford
to buy a coat for every stray dog, as there were many. So, I did the next best thing. I bought jute
bags and filled them with scraps from the clothes I designed. I began to gather
left-over bits of cloths from the tailor’s shops as well. I kept some bags in my own house and I
distributed the rest in dog shelters, so that the dogs had some protection from
Delhi’s severe winters. I also bought dog coats from time to time and
encouraged my neighbours to donate them too. Dogs who saw me in the
neighbourhood began to follow me home. Every animal is welcome in my house.
They come home to seek shelter from the heat in summer and from the cold in
winter.
VANDANA: How do
you take care of the dogs when they fall sick?
ROSY: The
truth is that I have to make frequent visits to the vet. Dogs have several problems, they have skin
allergies, they shed hair so they frequently need to have their hair shaved,
they need vaccinations. Some stray dogs
have maggots. They are afflicted by bugs and ticks in summers. One has to carry
the sick dogs to the vet which is a difficult task. Thankfully the rates for treating stray dogs
are significantly lower than the rates for treating pet dogs. Nowadays I am trying Ayurvedic treatment for
some simple ailments so that they can be treated at home. The medical problems
of dogs in the locality are taken care of by Friendicoes, a shelter cum
hospital and by me.
VANDANA: Do you only take care of dogs or do you take care of
other animals too?
ROSY: I have not only adopted stray dogs but also been
serving the cows. Every evening I travel by car to feed a herd of approximately
twenty cows in Sewanagar. One of the cows has begun to follow me home and now
it arrives at 5 pm every day, along with four calves, and I regularly feed her
and her entourage.
VANDANA: It must
be expensive looking after the animals, especially since you don’t run an NGO.
Approximately how much money do you require for your activities every month and
how do you raise the resources for it?
ROSY: I have never tried to quantify the amount I spend but
let me try to make a rough estimate. We use approximately 150 kgs of atta every
month, although at times we use more. I buy scraps of meat for the dogs thrice
a week. We feed gur, dana,
and vegetables the cows. The food bill
alone for both the dogs and the cows comes to approximately ₹ 25,000 of which I
meet half the cost and my friends and neighbours contribute the rest by
donating atta, jaggery, fruits and vegetables occasionally. The cost of visit to
the vet and the cost of medicines, as well as the dog coats in winter is extra.
What had begun as an
impromptu effort, has become a bit organized over the years. I was able to
convince the fruit juice sellers in Jangpura to send leftover fruit pulp from the
juice shops to my house. I feed this to the cows. I also collect left over
vegetables and vegetable peels from the vegetable vendors. All this is also
fodder for the cows.
VANDANA: You have been carrying on your activities for decades.
Just how supportive have your son, daughter and husband been about your passion
for animals?
ROSY: My
children were supportive when they were living here with us. Now they have
grown up and moved abroad. My daughter is in the US and my son is in Australia.
Now that my daughter is a mother with a young daughter of her own, she is wary
of the stray dogs in the house whenever she visits me, but she is becoming
reconciled to it. My husband has been supportive as otherwise I would not have
been able to follow my passion. He is the one who takes me by car to feed the
cows.
VANDANA: Being
with animals can be dangerous. Have you ever suffered any injuries?
ROSY: Oh yes, several times. Many years
ago, a cat had given birth to a litter in my house. One day I saw a tomcat
trying to steal a new born kitten from the litter so I began to chase him. The
cat, which entered just then lunged at the tomcat who vanished. Instead, she
began to scratch me all over my arms and neck.
Once she realized her mistake, she actually shrank in size and tried to
lick me, an uncharacteristic gesture for a cat. I was taken to the hospital and
was administered anti-rabies injections.
Five
years ago, I met with a major accident. I was late while bringing food for the
cows in Sewanagar and they were getting restive. When I was trying to remove
the bucket of food from the car’s trunk, the hungry cows, who had been waiting
for long, began to nudge me. In the melee that followed, my foot slipped and I
fell. This time my injuries were very serious. My hand was fractured, the
radial bone jutted out and the blood and marrow spilled out. My fingers too
were crushed. I was in absolute agony when I was rushed to the Moolchand
Hospital in Lajpat Nagar. The young doctor who treated me in in the Emergency
was godsent. While other doctors shook
their heads and seeing that the bones in the last three fingers were completely
crushed, prophesized that I would never be able to use them again, he promised
that he would do his best to save my fingers. The next day when I visited the
hospital, the senior doctor admitted that the doctor in the Emergency had done
a first-rate job.
It
took six months for my hand and fingers to heal. I exercised them every day,
stretching them and bending them forward and backward, till I was able to use
my hand. Otherwise, my career as a fashion designer would have been over.
VANDANA: What other animal welfare related activities do you
undertake? Do you try to find homes for strays?
ROSY: We
have a WhatsApp group of 15-20 members who are actively involved in the
treatment and placement of stray dogs. The members make monetary contributions
as well. We try to place dogs in good homes by word of mouth and through
WhatsApp messages. If we find any atrocities being committed against them, we
try to involve NGOs for support.
VANDANA: Are you
a member of any NGO?
ROSY: I
am not directly associated with any NGO. There are many NGOs looking after the
dogs and cows. My experience with NGOs has been rather mixed. Some of them like
Friendicoes are performing well. Some so-called NGOs torture these animals.
Very recently an NGO started rounding off all the cows, both stray and
domesticated, from Kotla, Sewa Nagar, and sending them away to Madanpur, a place
filled with dirt and sacks of rag pickers.
I am afraid that the cows will fall ill in such surroundings. I
earnestly wish that some individuals take up their cause and ensure that they
return to Sewanagar in Kotla, which is their home.
A
few years ago, I saw a staff of an NGO pick up a perfectly healthy dog from
Hauz Khas Village, tie a chain tightly around his neck, and drag him, all the
while thrashing him with the same chain.
It was a terrible sight to watch. I saw the dog being pushed into a van
and tried to stop them but could not succeed.
When I think of these helpless animals my heart breaks. These animals
cannot speak, it is up to us to treat them with humanity.
VANDANA: Have you ever thought of engaging dog walkers to walk
the dogs of the neighbours or to provide kennel facilities for
dogs when their owners go on vacation?
ROSY: These
are commercial activities and I do not wish to engage in them. I endeavour to undertake animal
welfare activities only.
******
While
we were talking Rosy’s domestic help informed her that the cow and calves had
come to be fed. She headed towards the back of the house, to feed them. I was fascinated to see her break the
chapatis into pieces, place pieces of jaggery into it, and feed it to the cow
and calves. After a while I realized that it was time for me to leave.
For me, talking to Rosy Kumar was inspiring. I have seldom met someone so committed to animal welfare and yet so self-effacing about her efforts. For most people, making a living out of fashion designing is in itself a challenging as well as lucrative proposition, but for Rosy Kumar, while designing clothes is an occupation, taking care of animals is a passion.