The Stray Cats of Worli Fish Market Mumbai

by Rudolph.A.Furtado
(Mumbai, India)

The Worli fish-market in Mumbai is almost a bi-weekly regular visit by me for purchase of fresh fish products. This market has a lot of stray cats feeding on the fish left-overs and I also happened to notice a gentleman who regularly fed these cats with fresh fish.

I have previously posted a video on YouTube about this particular group of Worli market stray cats...

In Mumbai, feeding stray dogs with left-over or throw-away food is not uncommon but feeding cats with one's own personal money is a rare sight.

Recently I happened to notice one of the fattest and largest cats sitting like absolute royalty at a shop's doorstep in the fish market.

The next day I again happened to see this same cat in the group of cats being fed by cat philanthropist Mr Atam Wadhwani, an elderly gentleman.

On inquiring I was surprised to hear that this fat cat was just a few months back almost on deaths door, severely infected with maggots due to either "Cat-Fights" or other injury.

Mr A. Wadhwani got this cat admitted into the "S.P.C.A" hospital at Parel at his own expense and its complete recovery took 2 1/2 months at an astronomical cost, same paid by Mr Atam Wadhwani.

This cat named Rajesh or Radhe is very popular amongst all the fisher-women and shop owners in the market and is absolutely docile, almost like a personal house-hold pet.

Another strange aspect of this cat is his abnormal size. He towers amongst the other stray cats, both in weight and height, a rare freak tabby and white stray cat.

On the arrival of Mr A. Wadhwani all the market stray cats rush towards him for their daily fish food and cat Rajesh holds pride of place, rubbing himself against his human patron akin to a domestic house cat greeting its master on arrival.

I was surprised at the familiarity of these stray cats to their human patron, especially cat Rajesh who loves being petted. Having visited and photographed London's largest municipal market, "Burroughs Market" in May 2010, viewers in Western Countries would be surprised at seeing numerous stray cats in a Mumbai fish market, that are also being regularly cared for and fed by a local Mumbai cat enthusiast.

Mr Atam Wadhwani has four pet cats at home and besides feeding and caring for them he spends his personal income on a bit of cat philanthropy, very uncommon in Mumbai city.

I personally thought that I was one of the rare Mumbai freaks devoted to "cat journalism" and was surprised to find a common Mumbaikar Mr Atam Wadhwani finding personal pleasure and relief by providing medical care and food to stray cats of a Mumbai fish-market.

Hence I decided to write this article and portray the rare cat philanthropist of Mumbai city Mr Atam Wadhwani as well as the luckiest stray cat of Mumbai, cat Rajesh.

Rudolph.A.Furtado