by Rudolph.A.Furtado
(Mumbai, India)
Mr Atam Wadhwani, the cat philanthropist with lucky survivor cat Rajesh in the Worli fish market of Mumbai.
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
Hello Amita.Mr Atam.Wadhwani is well known amongst the fisherwoman in “Worli Fish Market” situated near Adarsh Nagar. If you go to the market just inquire with any fisherwoman and they could guide you.He visits the market regularly in the morning.
Hi Amita. I’ll ask Rudolph Furtado to contact you as he lives in Mumbai and told me about this cat.
Lovely article! My hubby & me are inspired to meet Mr Wadhwani Is there any way we could contact him We live in Pune & visit mumbai sometimes
The answer depends a lot on (A) the local laws where you are and (B) the attitude of the local administrators (do they appreciate TNR programs – most do these days).
The people of course are mistaken because what you’re doing in the long-term reduces the cat population. What they might see is when you feed the cats, cats are attracted to the area and so the population might be increased initially but over the long term as stated it will reduce because the cats are being sterilised.
It depends as well on how effective your TNR program is. There was a well-known case in California which highlights the problem that you are going through. The problems you are encountering are very common across the country. The problem goes to the argument as to how best to deal with feral cats and how effective trap-neuter-release is considered to be. You might like to read this page:
https://pictures-of-cats.org/help-fight-beverly-hills-municipal-code.html
What I would do is to check the local law about feeding animals and about nuisance etc.. You can even phoned up the local authority and ask their advice. There are also many people involved with the kind of program you are involved with. You might find some organisation near you who can provide advice as to how best to avoid complaints. People complain because they don’t understand and they don’t like cats a lot of them. Good luck.
Pascal. Did you try and upload a picture?
Shelter provided for three kittens and image of tomcat injured in cat fight