Former Miss India finalist, Bengaluru girl Niharika plays saviour to animals in Houston

The showbiz circuit in Bengaluru will remember Niharika Nag as one of the city’s most popular models and for her cameo in Lifeu Ishtene. The former Miss India finalist is now an RJ and entertainment professional in Houston, after her marriage. She was there during when Hurricane Harvey struck the city and she was part of a team that rescued animals there.
Niharika says, “This was the worst hurricane/natural disasters to have ever hit Houston, the city I have come to love and has become a second home. We were stuck at home the first two days, the roads were flooded knee deep in water. Everything was shut. No one knew till it hit how bad it was going to be. After the second day, it was declared as a major natural disaster, which was followed by hysteria and paranoia. Luckily for us the power and water supply was still on in our neighborhood unlike 1,000s of homes across Houston. Watching the news was like a horror movie. I was increasingly restless sitting home and I decided to venture out the third day morning.”
She further adds, “I posted on our neighbourhood page that I will be heading to George R Brown (GRB) convention center, which was now a shelter where eventually 8,000 refugees and animals, whose homes were flooded, took refuge. It was scary to get to GRB Shelter, which was six miles away, but took us 40 minutes to get there since we avoided the majorly flooded roads that had more than 12 feet of water. My expertise lies in taking care of animals, especially dogs and cats. So, I volunteered in the hall where there were families with their pets. Hall A had over 1,500 people and 100s of pets. Many of them were lifted by helicopters and bought to the centre having lost everything.”
Niharika then spent there nights there as the team lead for animal dorm from 3 pm to 7 am in the morning. “I had a great team of volunteers including vets. We worked non-stop to make every single animal and their family comfortable. We were attending to small needs as well as medical emergencies for both pets and people. Unfortunately, many pets were misplaced from their owners and some had medical emergencies. My main focus was to get each of these dogs that had no owner claiming them out of there and into good temporary foster homes, which I was able to do successfully. I worked at GRB shelter till every one of the pets had left safely,” she recounts.
Niharika says that this is going to be an experience that she will remember and cherish all her life. “After a week, there are so many invaluable lessons learnt and some amazing similar thinking people that I have met. We are still putting together resources to go to smaller towns around Houston and help where there are lesser people and resources. I feel I have just started. Work is there to be done and I want to commit my time and life to social causes and to work for the voiceless animals. My goal is to see a more sustainable world where humans live in harmony with all animals. I could still be modeling but I have learnt that time spent volunteering and working for the voiceless is far more fulfilling. It helps me sleep well at night,” she signs off.