A MOTHER TO HUNDREDS: KALAWATI SHARMA
Kalawati Sharma isn’t a doctor or a front-line worker but she has saved multiple lives over the past seven years. In her own way, she has made the lives of helpless strays around her a little better. Feeding over 650 strays, diligently and daily, she is the real-life superhero we all need.
Once a regular Indian mom with an aversion towards pets, everything changed when they adopted Glency, their first pet, albeit reluctantly. “It was like realising the dream I never knew I had, I did not know I was capable of this degree of fondness for animals”, she says in a gusto, love and nostalgia evident in her eyes. Kindness and altruism take many forms and agents but with Kalawati Sharma, it is simple. “We help those in need, we help animals who do not have the power of speech”.
Today what is a daily occurrence, carrying buckets of cooked food and barrels of water to nearby areas for the “feeding” started with packing a few extra rotis for puppies on her daughter, Princy’s daily commute route.
The story of a mother to hundreds started seven years back as a beautiful “bacha”, as Kalawati calls them, stole her heart and she could not bear the thought of another similar baby going hungry or being dealt with cruelly, ever. Over the years she visited areas, religiously, serving food, filling water pitchers and cleaning up in every nearby locality. “Animals have marked territories you see; I have to wait for them to finish before I can visit other areas for the feeding session or else, they would fight like petulant children”, she explains. “Farishtey” (literal translation being: angels) came into being to make the initiative of feeding strays nearby, religiously and providing healthcare facilities official.
Initially unaware of the legal terms and consequences, Kalawati faced harsh criticism from people around, including threats and physical altercations. The fight she put up is a lesson to all, the value of advocating for good in the face of all obstacles, the value of not taking no for an answer. Today she fearlessly travels to feed her animals, every day with the support of her younger son, Karanveer and other BMC officials who have come up to support her dream of cruelty-free Mumbai. Talking more about the initial years of agony, she tells me about the incidents of rescue and why she continues to be “daring” every day, thinking she would have lost the opportunity to protect her stray babies and to stand up for them. Working in close quarters with animals for almost a decade now, she understands their patterns of behaviour, their ordeals and little moments of happiness more than anyone. “It physically hurts me to see the animals being ill-treated and I cannot bear to be a bystander to cruelty”, Kalawati tells me, with evident rage in her voice.
The recent case of an illegal shelter being functional under the dilapidated roof of an old building caught the organisation’s attention and it was decided that action would be taken. Inspecting the grounds, it was found that dogs and cats would be ruthlessly starved to death regularly as the woman running the shelter cheated the people who trusted her with their pets. Matters took a turn when the shelter refused to take responsibility and incessantly threatened Kalawati and her son, Karanveer (a singer with an avid interest in politics). Being the force that she is, Kalawati Sharma did not back down, the local authorities were involved and it was made sure that the owner of the shelter would not commit any further cases of cruelty upon helpless animals.
She also talks about the unwavering support of MLA Mrs Geeta Jain & the district magistrate (DM) — Mr Uday Parsekar with immense pride and gratuity.
This tale of immense courage and perseverance perhaps is my favourite real-life story in a long time, I tell her. “I am doing what everyone should, it is nothing other than my humanly duty”, she tells me. Kalawati Sharma is a woman of principles and ideals I realise; she is indeed the “Farishtey”. Naming a few people who have helped her with her selfless initiative and she mentions her family. The immense love and support in sustaining the feed has been incalculable. A proud mother of three & A MOTHER TO HUNDREDS: KALAWATI SHARMA thriving and professionally successful kids, she is thankful to God for the constant support she receives from her kids. Especially Rahul, whose constant support with her daily feeds has made Farishtey what it is today. The whole family has ample emotional investment in the organisation and friends too, help out as volunteers. Bit by bit Farishtey aims to build a family, all over Mumbai who join hands to work towards the cause. Others who have made Farishtey’s dream a little closer to reality are Durga Rai, a close consort of Kalawati Sharma and owner of her very own shelter (she has helped rescue many wounded animals) and Dr Lata, a practising doctor with her heart in Farishtey’s initiative.
The aim of the organisation remains spreading love among the neglected strays. Rahul, an active advocate for the noble cause aims to recruit more people with the organisation and dreams of a 24/7 ambulance service for medical emergencies. “I have been associated with the cause since its onset and funds and support have been scarce, I have to say.” But things are starting to look up since an official website came into being, it encouraged multiple food donations in the past few months. Even volunteers have shown an avid interest in conducting locality-wise feeds. It fills me with great hope to tell a tale of such resilience and kindness, the story of Kalawati Sharma, the mother to hundreds, a real saviour to the helpless.
