After Hours: Priti Nair and her furry friends

From spending her pocket money to care for injured animals to working with NGOs to help animals that need the attention, Priti Nair, Director, Curry Nation, has always found ways to help her four-legged friends. She speaks to BestMediaInfo.com about pet dog Rani and why she thinks it is important to do a little good every day

Roshni Nair | Mumbai | March 9, 2017

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“My mother once ordered a monkey. My father gave her an ultimatum and told her that she would have to choose between the monkey and him. My mother still feels that she should have chosen the monkey.”

Born to a mother who would bring every stray animal, right from a puppy to a squirrel, home, Priti Nair, Director, Curry Nation, came to love god's furry creations right when she was a little girl.

Priti Nair

“My mother is very fond of animals and I think I got my love for animals from her. I started bringing in strays when I was in school. Those days BMC used to kill dogs. It was horrible, they would take these stray dogs and electrocute them and do all these crazy things. So, my whole agenda was to save these animals.”

Nair used to spend her pocket money and the money she used to get from scholarships to rescue the animals and get them help.

“I have often ended up bringing puppies home when people threatened to have them picked up by the BMC. We had a small house but we managed. At one point in time we had six cats and three dogs in our 600 square foot house.”

While Nair's mother and she were big animal lovers, her father and sister weren't as crazy about animals. In fact, her father, who worked aboard a ship, often threatened not to come home if she brought one more stray animal.

Today, Nair is proud that she and her mother have managed to turn both her father and sister into avid animal lovers.

“My two nieces are just like me, they love animals a lot and so my sister today is as much involved with animals as I am. They have taken in a stray cat that was kicked by someone and was suffering convulsions. We adopted another stray dog but he needed constant attention so he lives with my parents in their house. My father has grown very fond of him.”

Nair too has a new friend at home. Speaking about how she took Rani, Nair said, “She used to be there in the building next to ours and I used to feed her every day. But she was hit by a taxi and fractured her leg. Somebody took her to the hospital and she was there for about a month. There were five of us who would go visit her and take care of her. The day she was to be discharged I was home, they were initially going to just drop her back in the building but she had a plate in her leg so I called up my husband and asked him if we could take her in. He was too sweet and agreed. We have had her since December 26, 2016.”

Nair and her husband, KS Chakravarthy, COO, Tidal7 Brand and Digital, also own a holiday home in Pawna, which is an hour away from Lonavala, where they have kept two more stray dogs.

“We have a caretaker there to take care of the dogs. We order Pedigree and have arranged for a vet to come and check on them when needed.”

Nair believes sterilisation is a big problem but also appreciates the effort of NGOs like The Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) to tackle the matter.

“I am happy that NGOs are doing a good job of sterilisation. In fact, WSD opened in Mahalaxmi exactly where they used to kill the dogs. But in smaller towns like Pawna I have to constantly look for someone who would sterilise the dogs. In fact, the vet who checks my dogs comes from Kamshet.”

From having had to smuggle injured cats in baskets so people would give her a lift to the vet to meeting with disproval from the residents of her housing society for feeding strays, Nair agrees that it is difficult to keep doing what she does.

“Today I have a car so I don't have to worry about taking injured animals to the hospital but back when I was in school and college it was difficult to convince people to let the injured animals in their vehicles. I have also had to take a lot from the people in my building for feeding the dogs there. But thankfully, the Animal Welfare Board has passed a ruling saying that you can feed strays and that nobody can stop you as long as you clean up the place afterwards.”

Apart from taking in strays, Nair works with several NGOs for animal welfare. She has been associated with WSD for a long time now and she gives them money for the sterilisation drive that they conduct. She has adopted a few animals at The Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) and makes yearly contributions to Animals Matter To Me. But Nair believes it is not enough.

“I wish I had more time to go volunteer somewhere. I want to dedicate more time to taking care of stray animals. The plan is to build a kennel later when I have more time at our holiday home.”

Nair believes in doing a little good every day and caring for animals is her way of giving thanks for everything she has been blessed with.

“I strongly believe that every day you must do good, it is very important. God has given us so many things and we should give back to the world. You must always invest some time to make someone else's life better.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com