Karuna Society for Animals and Nature

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Hi All

Finally left Hyderabad on the Thursday night in the midst of a tremendous downpour. The streets were even more alive than during the day and even the shop fronts which looked empty and boarded up during the day were brightly lit up and full of people. There were thousands of abandoned motorbikes and scooters with people sheltering in the doorways, under bridges and even in derelict buildings trying to escape the deluge. Huge parts of the road were completely flooded and the journey took a lot longer than normal. The train station was extremely busy but I found the platform easily and sat and waited patiently on the train. When it arrived I was amazed at the length of it, about 20 carriages long. There was plenty of time to board and find my berth which I shared with a lovely family from Bangalore and a young American boy. The berths have four beds two lower tiers and two upper tiers which are separated from the main corridor by just a curtain. Thankfully I was on the lower berth, I wouldn't have been able to get me and my rucksack up there lol!. With the lovely rocking of the train I managed to sleep for few hours and woke up to a beautiful view, lots of open space, cultivated fields and hills, bliss! I had arrived in Prashanti Niyalam ( abode of the highest peace) I took an auto rickshaw to Puttaparthi straight to the center to meet Clementien who showed me around and then took me to the little flat where I' be staying for the next while.



The center is the Karuna Society for Animals and Nature. They care for all sick and injured animals in the area and run a sterilisation program too for the dogs. The also have cattle, water buffalo and perform operations on cows which are feeding on foodstuffs disposed of in plastic bags which they are eating too and causing all sorts of problems. They also have several monkeys,most of whom have lost limbs due to electrocution, a camel which they have rescued from illegal slaughter, some deer, horses, donkeys, two bears and several cats. The society also has a huge organic vegetable garden and also produces several other items, spirulina, peanut butter, mint tea to name a few and also some ayuverdic medicines. Please check out the website for more information on all their projects if you are interested. The vet only visits one day a week but there are several young boys and Clementien who carry out most of the procedures using a combination of traditional and ayuverdic medicine. The work is not too taxing, I'm helping with the treatments, bandaging and administering love and affection in large quantities lol! Heartbreaking at times too and I've only been here a few days. The shifts are from 8 till 12 and then back again at 3.30 till 6 with one day off a week (today). Been exploring the town which is relatively small and cannot find wi fi anywhere (yet) which creates a problem, it means I can't upload photos to the blog or use whats app and my time is limited adding to the blog because I have to visit the internet cafe to do so. Hopefully once I get into a routine it will be regularly. So please bear with me if I don't reply to messages right away.

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Comments

[sinead]

hi nanna I love all of the pictures you put on you blog xx