A LIFE SPENT IN ANIMAL WELFARE: EDNA SIMMONS

New Delhi, February 27, 2003: A few years ago, a 70-year-old woman was hit by an errant cyclist on the streets. To this day, she cannot walk properly; the knees refuse to cooperate. But that does not stop Edna Simmons from climbing down four floors and a hundred-odd rickety stairs, day in and day out, to feed them – the stray dogs and cats.

Her very life revolves around them – the stray dogs and cats of Mumbai’s Colaba area. And the children of a lesser god (babies, as she calls them) look up to her, literally. Their day just as well starts with landing up at her house, and looking upwards at the fourth floor. It was this devotion to animal welfare that received a standing ovation when she walked up to former President KR Narayanan to collect the Jury’s Special Award.

The Jury’s Special Award is one among those given away at the Venu Menon Animal Awards in New Delhi every year. The awards have been instituted by the Venu Menon Animal Allies Foundation (VMAAF).

Edna Simmons, herself, is unassuming; she is not well-off either. She is just “happy” at being given an award. And the cash prize is most likely to be channeled into animal welfare again.

So what is a typical day like for Ms Simmons?

Wake up, freshen up, and climb down four floors. That is how the day unfolds for her. She drags herself to the market – not for herself, but for her pets. These are not pets who stay in her house, but 30-40 of them of the locality who look forward to her returning from the marketplace. By 7.30am her cooking is over, and soon it is time to feed them. She does not tire out, but she needs some rest in the afternoon before she heads for the kitchen once again. It is time for her to prepare dinner for them pets. The day ends in the same vein as it begins – spending time with the dogs and the cats.

For someone whose very existence centres around her pets, it was with some apprehension that Ms Simmons took a train to New Delhi. Not that she needed to worry much about who would take care of them in her absence. The household is a joint family, consisting of eight members. “They will be looked after, just as I am,” she asserted the morning after being bestowed with the award.

Her own needs are taken care of by her daughter-in-law. “She is very caring. I take care of my pets and she takes care of me,” Ms Simmons says of the wife of her garrulous engineer son, Ronald, who accompanied her to New Delhi for the VMAAF awards ceremony. Caring for animals runs in the family. None rues her spending time or money on animal welfare. “Whenever we see an animal being ill-treated, we point it out to them,” asserts Ronald. “We can’t bear any cruelty to animals.”

Life itself is routine for her. Thorns in her flesh do crop up once in a blue moon – hostile neighbours, for instance. Two or three years back, some started poisoning her cats. The resentment was about Ms Simmons laying out the food for her pets in front of their doors. Someone let the cat out of the bag, and put her on the guard. “I don’t cross swords with them. I am more careful now about spreading out the food packets,” she says. Antagonistic neighbours, thankfully, are few and far between. Most people in the area flock to her if and when they need advice for their own pets.

The awards ceremony over, as she heads back to Mumbai, life would, happily, be the same again for her and her pets.