My article which appeared in The Hindu's OPEN PAGE today.(Page 11) dated 11-01-2015
"Meow" a voice soft as air would call me sharp at five thirty every morning. No, I'm not referring to the voice alarm of my cell. I'm referring to a live cat who used to call at my window in the cold misty mornings at Kotagiri, a hill station on the Nilgiris somewhat near to the windy peak, Dhodabetta.
That was in 1991 when I worked as a residential teacher at a private school. "Coming," I'd whisper and tiptoe to the front door to invite her in. And like long lost friends we'd chat and chat till my roommate got up and yelled at me that it was time to get ready for school.
"What do you have to tell that 'ugly cat' so urgently so early in the morning?"she'd wonder ...And how do you two use the same tone?... And how does her voice get softer in the mornings?"...
And I'd wonder how my roommate woke up so early because both of us (the cat and I) were very careful not to disturb her.
"Don't feed that cat anything. It's a thief." The maids who ran the show there warned me on the first day of my joining. "If you do, we'll have to chase her away. You want to pet a cute cat? See this one. Pet her all you want." They said, showing me a black and orange fluffy beauty. Many children ran and surrounded it and my cat friend was chased away.
Somehow my instinct made me search for the vagabond and so we met each day. Just a "Hi, How are you?" and she'd relate to me all her adventures of the day, it seemed. In order to let our relationship continue, I stuck to the rules of not feeding her. Soon every child on the campus got accustomed to seeing a grey cat following me on the small grass between the classrooms.
It nearly used to break my heart to find her waiting outside a single classroom for forty minutes. Just for the 2-minute chat we could have till we reached the main school building.Then she'd disappear into the bush till the evening.
One day she walked into my bathroom and strode across busily, continuously, across and back.
"No, puss, No.You can't do that," I said, chasing her. From what I knew of my cats at home, she was searching for a place to deliver kittens. My roommate would simply not stand it.
When I confided in another teacher friend, she wouldn't believe it. "I agree that you have some extraordinary understanding. But to say that this cat told you she's pregnant is pure rubbish. Look at her sides. Absolutely flat with both sides touching each other."
Within two weeks she delivered three kittens in a locked room, jumping in through the ventilator.
After they grew up and were given away, we continued our friendship as before.
But then the Principal found out she had fleas that could spread to the children. I didn't know how to curb that. The children also pleaded separately for me. Twice my friend was taken in the school bus and left in the wild and twice she came back. The third time she was left farther away and I never saw her after that.
Thirty years we've had cats at home: generation after generation. But those were pets. This memory is of my friend and the pain that I didn't feed her even when she was pregnant."
