This portrait is of Raju. It is done in acrylics on canvas and is 10×12 inches.

The best known medicine to cure almost all ills, is love and affection.

It can make the difference between hurt and healing, between sadness and joy, between possibilities and reality.

For ‘Motu‘ the puppy in this picture, food and medicine given with a loving hand, made that difference. Today, he is  robust, healthy, and a very handsome dog.

Unconditional.

We all long for it.
Some are luckier than others when they receive it.

I have learnt in my life that one sure fire way to get it, is to love a dog.

It works every time!

Mi casa, es su casa.
My house is your house.

I don’t know of one dog that won’t share it’s home or space with you, if you just show it a little affection.

Sadly, I can’t say the same for us humans though.

Enough and more has been said about what we humans are doing to this earth and it’s many species. No point in my saying it again.
Enough has also been said about the power of many, of togetherness. That I will reiterate!

The only way to move forward in this world today, to enjoy it’s beauty and bounty, and still leave some for our future generations, is to take everyone along for the ride.

We can scale mountains in the distance if we just do it together.

Just because we walk on two legs and ‘rule’ the world does not mean that those on four don’t ‘get it’.

Life is about connections, about feelings, about joy and togetherness.
I am sure the feel of a child’s breath as he is pressed against her body in sleep or play is the same to every mother, regardless of species.
If various viruses can jump species, then why can’t loyalty, unadulterated affection and unconditional love do so too?

We could learn a thing or two from them.

Love doesn’t bite- Fear, insecurity, protective instincts…those things lead to an aggressive reaction.

An animal will bite only when it is cornered and when it fears for its own or it’s offspring’s  safety. It will fight to protect it’s own- be it a young one, it’s space or limited food resources.

Don’t we humans do the same?
You show the animal love… or leave it well alone and it will give you a wide berth too.

As I mentioned in my previous post – 50% of all profits in perpetuity from the sale of the Poonchh collection will go to support  strays dogs. Specifically from this edition of the sale, the proceeds are ear marked for the new initiative by the team at  ‘The Voice of Stray Dogs’ (VoSD) .

VoSD is a not-for-profit organization for stray dogs. It is in the process of launching India’s 1^st private ABC (Animal Birth Control) and stray dog healthcare project. Initially all ABC surgery and healthcare for street dogs will be provided through its fully equipped mobile hospital operating in Bangalore.  To read more about this initiative please click here.

Here is the mobile van in it’s delightful new avatar.

(Update- You can see pictures of the inside of the van here.)

As the project scales more vehicles and cities will get added to provide an ecosystem of world class private animal welfare.

VoSD was initially set up with the charter of investigation & reporting, analyzing data to help form legal, civic and media opinion on stray dogs. The initial goal was to keep stakeholders in the stray dog ecosystem including  municipal corporations, AWOs & NGO’s honest through correct actionable information.

Through this phase VoSD has created a large amount of freely available investigative and analytical data on stray dogs in India, including to support litigation as court evidence. Over the last 6 months VoSD has also provided significant inputs by way of donations of computers and laptops to various agencies including CUPA (Bangalore), Save Our Strays (SOS) (Mumbai), Friendicoes (New Delhi), Sarvodaya (Bangalore) and many other NGOs to aid better information capture, record keeping and sharing . So far 15 such laptops and computers have been donated.

However an acute need was felt to create an Animal Birth Control (ABC) program independent of the monetary and operational mandate of municipalities and NGO’s since neither of the 2 entities lay emphasis on operational and capital efficiency with their complete dissociation of revenue and results. It was felt that a revenue generating business model that can scale is the answer to the problem of institutionalized cruelty perpetrated on dogs by the existing ecosystem.

‘The Voice of Stray Dogs’ (VoSD) Mobile Stray Dog hospital has on board a fully equipped Operation Theater to provide ABC and other medical intervention to Stray Dogs on location in Bangalore and veterinary support. This mobile hospital will provide free ABC surgery for dogs, provide healthcare for dogs on location and will include a helpline and education on dog related issues as a free service.

VoSD will generate revenue internally to fund this venture and will not engage in revenue activity with the present ‘ecosystem’ i.e. municipal corporations, government or donations etc. VoSD will also hire the best available legal, management, journalistic, veterinary and other talent over time.

Services delivered by the VoSD mobile hospital include-

Free services for Stray Dogs: All services provided FREE and on location across Bangalore, including:

• ABC surgery
• Road hit and accident attention
• Recuperating kennels for up-to 8 dogs initially

Allied services for Stray Dogs:

• 24 hr on road assistance for stray dogs (initially this will be an 8 hour service)
• Counseling/ Helpline on dogs for citizens
• The Voice of Stray Dogs legal team support

Revenue generation for operational expenses of Free Services:

• Paid services for pets
• Vet, dog food delivery, grooming, kennel- housing pick & drop etc. Doorstep delivery of service to customers
• Merchandize to be sold to fund stray dog services

How’s this service different: • No government money • No ‘donations’ accepted • Designed ground up to be transparent & participative including operations • Will allow us to hire the best talent • Designed for a quality of service delivery not as a ‘best effort’ service

How can a citizen participate: • Use VoSD paid services • Buy ‘VoSD Exclusive’ merchandise • Buy a ‘nominal’ shareholding and have access to accounts & operational details (this will be available in due course).

This last year has been tumultuous on many levels…

So much has happened both personally and professionally. Many new ideas have formed, some got rejected along the way and some others got further crystallized.  One of the things I want to focus on over and above my usual work, is to do something where I give back. I am all for helping out and paying it forward. I don’t have money lying around to give away but I do have some skill that can be used to generate funds to help those less fortunate (at this moment in time) but more in need.

I am happy to announce the launch of a brand new collection – an effort to help out and not give a hand out.

It will go on sale on the 10, 11 and 12 of Feb, 2012 at the

100 Ft Boutique Bar Restaurant

777/i, Near Satyapaul, Opp New Horizon School,
HAL 2nd Stage, 100 Ft Road, Bangalore, Karnataka 560 038

Why stray dogs?

I love dogs. Given how difficult it is for me to keep a dog right now, I do the next best thing. I live vicariously through the lives of other friends who have dogs. One such friend who in fact inspired this collection and brought to my notice the plight of the stray dog is Rakesh Shukla.
Please read about the wonderful work that he is doing on www.strays.in. I have painted his portrait before here and here. My interaction with him led me to do a little active study online and try an better understand the situation of the Indian stray dog… and I don’t like what I see.

I learnt about the many tales of hardship a stray dog goes through with life on the street, apathy from organizations and general lack of awareness to their needs. And I feel that a more comprehensive program for spaying and neutering will go a long way in helping a stray dogs life on the street. So, I decided to start doing my part to help out by collecting funds towards the cause of the stray dog.

I have had the opportunity to extend support to others earlier. Those endeavors I am happy to say were successful. You can read about them here, here and here .

Please bear with me while I take you through an interesting journey over the next few weeks. I hope to engage you, educate you, thrill you, in some cases make you smile and in others say ‘ awww’.

Oh! and at the end of it- I hope some of you also say” I just have to buy that…..”
50% of all profits in perpetuity from the sale of this collection will go to support the stray dogs.

I will give you sneak peaks into this collection for dogs and the details on the exhibition to come over the next few weeks. I will also put up a catalog online closer to the date of the exhibition.

(Update- You can see the collection here).

I leave you with the first clue… but be warned – Blink and you’ll miss it!

I love dogs. It’s no secret. And I love painting. Combine the two and what do you get?

Dog Portraits of course!!

All these four paintings are done in acrylics on canvas and are 10×12 inches each.

Lucky	Kajal
Sita	Sita