Lunacy or sainthood ?

India has tens of millions of stray dogs. Life for most of them is brutish, violent and short. A daily battle for survival on the hectic streets. Most are thought to be rabid.  Across the country some 20,000 people are estimated to die from rabies bites every year. Frightened dogs lunge out when cornered, attacked or taunted.  Packs form. In the last few years the population of street dogs has been further swollen by middle class families abandoning their pedigree pooches when they tire of looking after them. Nothing sadder than the sight of an abandoned labrador wandering the streets, head down. Nobility brought low. Better never to have known love.

The saintly little Jain lady who runs the animal hospital is undaunted by all this. Barely five feet tall and wrapped in layers of clothing that keep out the early morning cold she patrols the streets.This is when the traffic is lightest and the dogs are at their most active. Broken glass removed from a paw here, an eye cleaned there, Frontline applied to a coat teeming with fleas, a puppy taken back to have its broken leg set, a runover dog in the gutter feeling human warmth for what will be the first - and last - time . The government helps pay for sterilizations but in a country this size it's hardly a priority for funding.

The wildest of dogs look calmly into her eyes. A form of communication that defies western verities. The Jain lady claims that souls talk through the eyes.  Love for the unloved and unlovable.

Angus , Presbyterian through and through, wants her to set up a registered charity so that she can receive donations and employ more staff. '' The way things are at the moment you're only scratching the surface ". The little lady looks back uncomprehendingly.  ' Ah ! But at least the surface is being scratched '.

Lunacy or sainthood ?