As you all are aware, we started a ghoshala (Sri Periyava Kainkaryam Ghoshala) few years back near Kanchipuram as a result of our ongoing cow rescue operations. Unfortunately I was never able to go and see it in-person until now. I was in India until last week and went over there to see the ghomathas and spent an hour or so there.
This ghoshala is roughly 20 mts from Sri Matam in a village called Uthukadu. Located in a nice place around green fields etc. This place belongs to one person who owns about 30 cows but was having financial challenges in supporting them and got connected with Sai – they ended up partnering and expanded that place to hold more cows. In the photo, you can see the person – other person in veshti is me!
The one hour I spent there was absolutely peaceful. I encourage our readers who are in Chennai to spend extra 20 minutes detour to visit this place in your next trip to Kanchipuram.
Gosala Address: Sri Periyava Kainkaryam Gosala, No. 40, Uthukkadu-Kuppam Road, (near UGS Palgova company), Uthukkadu Village, Walajabad Via, Kanchipuram District – 631305.
So here is my first-hand observations and areas where it needs to improve.
- My first impression when I got there was that this place is over-crowded for its capacity. This place is not designed to hold as many cows as it has now. Right now they have 197 cows and calfs. Very little space within the sheds to move around and more cows standing outside etc. I had to struggle moving between cows to go and feed them. This is mostly due to the nature of this game – more emotional than anything – when someone says that five cows are going to be killed if we dont rescue, at that point you dont worry about space/money etc – you do your best to rescue them. That is how many cows are here and they will be here for a long time too. There is definitely an urgent need to expand the infrastructure
- Second observation – all cows are healthy! Yah! In most of the ghoshalas I have seen cows are undernourished – here that isn’t the case – hats off to the team who maintains this.
- Third observation – the existing infrastructure needs quite some improvements – lack of enough ventilation – the expanded area needs to be leveled and sheds require better roofing.
- Fourth observation – the staff are very kind to the animals – no abuse etc. Very heartening to see that.
- Fifth observation – This is not only a ghoshala and it has other animals too – some pigs, dogs, ducks – all of them were rescued. One dog with her puppies were rescued recently and now it has assumed as chief security officer role in that ghoshala 🙂
Here is what we need to do in order to make this place/operation more sustainable.
- Expand the facility with the baseline of 200 cows to hold. Anything less than or greater than 200 is not practical. To me this is #1 priority – estimated cost is approx Rs 50,000. pl join hands to achieve this.
- We need to quickly get individuals to adopt cows and calfs asap so that the team can start worrying about other aspects of rescue operations. Sai & I are in discussion on how to create an awareness and achieve this objective quickly. I have promised him to send my contribution soon. This could be a small amount per head and if we all do it together we can easily achieve this. Here is my simplified view for you (this includes everything – vet checkups, medicines, fodder, electricity etc etc) – Please extend your support for this asap
- One cow – Rs 3K/month
- One calf – Rs 1.5K/month
- In parallel, improve the current condition of existing infrastructure. Estimated cost is Rs 1.5 Lakhs – pl contact us if you need more details on this. We need few large donors to sponsor this part. I have definitely seen ghoshalas with better infrastructure – better air circulation etc etc.
Do you know this fact? As part of our rescue operation, so far at least 2000 cows have been given to several farmers in Tamilnadu to maintain – we are the first in the state to adopt this model and run successfully. Sai is taking enough precaution to track those cows and ensure that they are in good condition. Sai & I are in discussion in creating better awareness of all these activities as part of KGF. Please stay tuned for more updates soon.
Sai & Team – hats off to you and your team for doing this wonderful kainkaryam. It is easy to write and donate but it is so hard to roll up the sleeves and get things done on the ground. I pray Mahaperiyava to bless you and your family with everything!
Sai – Needless to say, please do the following (1) Share the timeline when these activities would begin/end and regular progress updates (clearer quantifiable metrics) for the readers/donors to get full transparency as you always do.
All – Pl do us a favor – forward this post to your friends who probably dont follow our blog etc – spread the word!
Account Details for Contribution:
Indian Donors:
Dharma Sanjeevinee Bhavanam, SBI Savings A/c. No. 32626335713 & IFSC Code – SBIN0002233, State Bank of India, CPCL Branch, Manali, Chennai-600 068. In the memo, please mention ‘Gho Samrakshanam’.
US & other foreign Donors:
