Life today is so busy and we often discuss that none know thy neighbours thesedays.
But, I say hello to my neighbour pretty often. He stays with his mom at the ground floor of my building and plays near the dumped garbage. His daddy is mostly away and pays occassional visits. This mama's boy is a handsome yet demure, affable little (I dare call him little) CAT who loves to poise on the cars and bikes in the garage!
I have been an animal lover since childhood, but selective in being so! Somewhat like the views of some on being an animal lover yet a voracious non vegetarian as being a hypocritical!
So, if you are an animal lover but are afraid of snakes and cats; well that's what I was and rather am still to a great extent barring cats. After my friend~dog~Jojo's death after a happy life of 11 years , nothing could replace him, but some not exactly pets have filled the void in these 5 years since his demise.
The cats in my life Kalli and Goldie have brought a new side to me.
My husband and mother in law (hereinafter referred as MIL)have played an important part in getting me closer to these creatures whom I always feared. This post is about Goldie but since Kalli was my first backyard cat at Siliguri, a special mention for her.
Kalli- green startled eyes; not just eyes but "cat eyes"; black shiny coat. She was a perfect selection for a horror film! Every afternoon, post lunch she would wait for the fish bones and cheese slices when we were observing a no non veg day. Wait would be accompanied by constant meowing in chorus with two other pals.
Her meoooooww would rise higher and higher in pitch as the moment of the 'touch down' of the fish be closer and there you go! lo and behold! As soon as the fish would be on the ground, she would flash her sharp white feline set of teeth!
This diabolical turn of events never deterred my mom, dad and me from loving Kalli. It became just a part of the general procedure of the lunch hour! When we left the house at Siliguri, it was painful to leave Kalli behind. But, there is this annoyance in the mind of a dog lover , that why won't the cat miss him as much as he does...
Goldie- is over a year old. His description is evident from his name - golden coat and yes ,even patches of white. He boasts with the title of the thickest tailed cat in the vicinity and also that I have ever seen in my life. His personality as I wrote earlier is quite diametrically opposite to the usual feline fraternity. He is the kinds who would respond to your love. Who would wait for the fish and spare you the flash of feline set of teeth. He is the kinds who would not spend hours together on his narcissism and self grooming and rather just sun bathe!
So, Goldie vanishes for a week and we(my MIL& myself) were worried that he was involved in some sort of cat-gang-war with his daddy on the other side. We thanked our stars that we finally had a sighting! He was more amiable than ever. It was as if he was a dog like cat minus the tail wagging! He acknowledged every stroke and every caress. To our surprise , our neighbourhood cat first meowed too!! We had our rendezvous and walked towards the elevator. To our utter surprise, Goldie followed us. He also seemed eager to see the world beyond the ground floor garage-e-garbage.
So, my MIL who has a knack for picking up cats without threatening them or bothering them, did just that and we hopped into the elevator with Goldie in arm.
When the lift moved up ,he felt uneasy, his claws stuck out in anxiety, but he did not attack either of us. The lift happened to stop at the 4th floor beforehand and Goldie escaped!
He meowed so loud that the corridor echoed with this outcry of our lost kitty. He was up at this floor for the first time, but it did not seem so, the way he smartly took the stairs. His meowing was sad but his steady walk, jauntily down the flight of stairs belied his outcry!
We followed him till his reunion with dear mommy. However, he turned back disheartened and dejected, yet not indignant for what we had done. We thought we had lost Goldie's trust and friendship, something that was a rare phenomenon between cats and humans.
BUT, ten minutes of tete-a-tete with his mom and a bowl of milk with two large tablespoons of apology from MIL & me has brought our almost kidnapped kitty back!
