New Delhi, Feb. 22 -- Raghu is refusing to eat his lunch-a bowl of rice mixed with boiled vegetables. He sniffs it and returns to his spot in a corner of Delhi's Khan Market. "Chicken nahi hai na aaj (there's no chicken today)," says Meenakshi Yadav, giving Raghu, a visibly overweight nine-year-old street dog, a gentle slap. A few minutes later, he's emptied the bowl.

Yadav, who works as a cleaning lady in a shop in Khan Market, travels 30km every day from the outskirts of Delhi to reach her workplace. Alongside her own lunch, she carries food for five stray dogs, including Raghu-all brothers who have lived outside the shop since they were puppies. Though Yadav is a vegetarian, she brings them chicken once a week. On some days, Rajkumar ...