Indian Woman, 76, Spends Pension Feeding Hundreds of Monkeys for Over a Decade
For more than ten years, 76-year-old Malathi has turned a significant part of her monthly pension into meals for monkeys living around the Tirupparankundram area, in a quiet but extraordinary display of devotion to animal welfare.
Since 2015, Malathi has made it a ritual to visit several spots around Tirupparankundram every Saturday, calling out to the monkeys that gather there. According to ANI, her calls draw an astonishing crowd, between 350 and 400 monkeys converge at her arrival, evidently accustomed to her weekly visits and the food she brings.
What makes her commitment more remarkable is that she continues this routine despite her advancing age and accompanying health challenges. Neither has deterred her from showing up week after week to care for the animals she has come to think of as her responsibility.
Malathi’s life before this chapter was itself marked by service. She held the position of Director of Physical Education at Gandhigram University and later worked at an international school in Kodaikanal. Before that, she spent 33 years in the Tamil Nadu Police Department, retiring from service in 2010.
Friends and locals describe her post-retirement years as simply an extension of a life built around service, only now her attention has turned to the monkeys of Tirupparankundram, who have, in turn, come to depend on her.
Malathi’s story is a reminder that compassion doesn’t retire, even after decades in public service, she has found a new way to keep giving, one Saturday at a time.
