A small group of people have congregated outside Mumbai’s Joggers Park on Indian independence day. Monsoon rains that have hit swathes of the country have drenched them to their skin, but they have not been deterred.

There’s no count and there’s no end,” she said as the pack of “Indies,” as Indian strays are affectionately known, play in the nearby grass. For a period, a quiet desperation cast a shadow on Varma’s daily act of compassion.

The countless stray dogs that wander India’s capital and environs have been granted a reprieve, after outcry over a court order to round them up.