75 cats. 20 years. 1 man.

CHENNAI : I could hear a song of faint ‘meows’ while walking past the Luz Church road on a Sunday morning. Curiosity drove me toward the small crowd of cats, all feeding on the best diet a cat could hope for — colourful plastic cups filled with oats porridge and cat food. A never-before-seen royal treatment meted out to stray cats, which are under the care of Mylapore’s ‘Cat Man’. In the era of matha, pitha, Google and deivam, finding a pet lover offline is a rarity.

“Rescuing and nurturing the stray animals, especially cats, is my passion,” says Prakash, who voluntarily retired from the Indian Railways  to spend a majority of his time with homeless animals. “It would be appropriate to say that these cats have adopted me,” he continues,  his eyes on the look out for the hungriest cat. Located opposite the bus stand, the spot is very safe for the cats, having a decent three-tier security set-up — the autodrivers at the stand, watchmen of the nearby shops and a friendly dog, whom the cats detest, he adds. 

Prakash supervises almost 70-75 felines twice a day in and around Mylapore. “Cats are superior beings. Their independence and cleanliness allures me,” says Prakash. Recounting Prakash’s soujourn in the area, an auto driver says, “For the last 19 years, I have seen this spirited man moving around with milk bottles. He doesn’t seem to mind shelling out his monthly pension in its entirety.” 

Prakash also takes care of another set of cats in the Kapaleeshwar Temple, Mylapore. “My friend Shankar Narayan assists me in attending these cats on the temple premises. He knows where to look for each cat,” says this proud owner of the “heaviest cat in Mylapore”— a 13-year-old Tyson, which weighs 7.5kg. Sadhasivam, Bharathi, Ardhanari alias Sridevi and Pulipandi are the pet names of a few cats in the temple. 

“My association with Prakash is more than five years long. It all started with a cat, Kutty, in the temple. Saving Kutty from being thrown out changed me for life,” mentions Shankar Narayan, highlighting how people should get over the belief that the crossing of the cats is a bad omen. 

Prakash’s two decades of service to stray cats is not without any troubles. “There were several instances when I had to stand up for myself and these homeless animals. Right from the police to politicos, I had to face several difficulties,” he says.Prakash’s son Arvind Akshay (33), an animal lover himself, explains how his dad provides an end-to-end service- right from rescuing cats to finding adopters, without any expectations. “Unmindful of his health issues, my father vanishes from the house to check on his stray animal friends.

He is incredible,” says Arvind, who is doing his part to help the animals in Bengaluru by being active on online forums like Bombat dawgz, the Pound and Pet Parents India. For Aishwarya Prakash, her father has always been a source of inspiration. “Tyson is the first child for my dad,” she says, explaining how rescuing stray cats and dogs has become a part of her life by now. Speaking about his friend, Dr Nagaraj of Ballow Multispeciality Pet clinic, Mylapore, says, “I have seen Prakash take Tyson on walks with a sash on. His nursing of stray cats will help protect fleece from attacking dogs and human beings.”With a smile on his face, Prakash continues moving around Mylapore looking for stray cats. “Service to stray animals is service to God,” he believes.