I was brooding about cats the other day. Yes, cats, those
that meow, you know four legged creatures with extra large size whiskers on
them. Why cats, you would say because I
see them everyday – loitering around on the staircase, outside the kitchen, on
the landing, inside the kitchen sometimes, trying to reach the top of the waste
bin on their two hind legs stretched as far as possible – they are one elastic
being for sure. They would fall off from the top of buildings during their jump
yet would spring up and run off in a jiffy – that’s how they are made up – like
rubber balls. They are so capable of bouncing back – unlike a deer with those stiff and clumsy,
uncomfortable and brittle looking antlers. I bumped into an an article
yesterday about glowing green cats – during a research on AIDS. Well the
article went on to say that apart from humans and chimpanzees, cats were the
only other animal that had the potential to take on an AIDS virus on them –
cats all around the world. Well, that’s a fact for sure. It was an
uncomfortable fact there, given that we have so many stray cats scattered all
around the place.
Cats are not a domesticated keep where I live. They are a
sign of bad omen traditionally so nobody would touch them or would like to have
them around, forget about letting them in the kitchen or in your living room,
near the fire, comfy together – like a scene from one of those Blyton novels. Cats
are related to death, somehow. By this standard, no cats are welcome around our
neighbourhood. Earlier they used to sneak into kitchens from here and there and
everywhere given the old structures with lots of (loop) holes. But given all
new constructions these days, all houses have been replaced or refurbished with
new ones taking particular care that all sides are sealed with no openings
whatsoever even for the mosquitoes that are so rampant in their right season,
breeding on the stagnant pools of water along the Bagmati river and entering
homes in scores even if slightest hole is left unattended . So cats around the
place started with their long forced fasting
- no food led to no energy, lean cats, with ever more sad eyes.
Mom has her own theory, so she feeds them everyday with
whatever leftover comes around the kitchen, which she makes sure it does to the
liking of these feline creatures – some
meat maybe, some milk and rice, curd etc. etc. So the mother cat along with her
kittens – four, sometimes five wait for the feast. So much for feline grace!
