Droplets of kindness

To beat the heat, we try everything from sitting in the shade, to chilling in air conditioned rooms, or sipping cool drinks. Yet, as the mercury soars, the ability to manage the heat dips!

Ever wondered how stray animals may deal with the such temperatures? The Animal Water Bowl Project India, headed by software engineer Lakshman Molleti has given this a thought and phase one of the projects will be launched this month. “I have been doing my bit for animals for seven years now and one thing that I have noticed is that while many decide to place bowls of water for animals in summer, there are not many who do so throughout the year. Even though we are starting our project in the peak of this season, our idea is to make sure that at least a few animals get fresh water supply every day,” says Lakshman, talking about the project. The idea of the project is simple — people register with the group and once the initial checks are done, these bowls will be provided free of cost. “We (Molleti and a couple of  volunteers) have been making sure that the strays near our homes are provided fresh water. Now, we want people to get involved in this too. We have a small group of volunteers and placing water bowls in every street and taking care of them is next to impossible, so by giving away these bowls for free, our idea is to make people responsible,” explains Lakshman, while adding that the only condition is that people should monitor these bowls and make sure that there is enough water for the animals to drink. Should a bowl get stolen, the organisation will replace it. In event of anyone misusing these bowls, there will be a small fine attached.

As part of the project, Lakshman currently has help from 14 volunteers who come from different walks of life. “When we put out the call for help, we received a good response. Housewives, IT professionals and even children turned up to help us. The organisation has partnered with a potter near Madhapur and though Hyderabad is the first place we are starting the project, we plan to go national soon,” he says, adding that the team can be contacted through their Facebook page.