Page 23 - Eloquence 2017

My Passions (Part-1)

TM Anitha Sam

Meow…………..Meow…....…… Meow………… would go again! I had him for 10 long years
“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little and he was the first cat I had as my own pet.
by little, they become its visible soul.” Then I moved to Dubai, one day I was out for
my grocery shopping and it was at that propi-
My strong bond with cats started from a very tious time that this beautiful half grown Abnysi-
young age. We didn’t have any pets while an mix kitten bounded up to me and started
growing up but there was something about mewing and rubbing itself on my legs! He was
these mystical creatures that I was besotted so gorgeously coloured pure black and pure
with. Maybe it was growing up with cartoons of white. I carried him in my arms and brought
Tom and Jerry or Sylvester the cat – whatever him home. I called him Zorro because he
be the reason, I loved them! To call them one looked just like the mask of Zorro.
of my passions is as befitting as my story will Again a great bondage grew between us and
reveal. I remember following cats and kittens even brought him to Bahrain on the flight. He
around the place we lived in and would wait for was more human than any cat can be because
a propitious moment to carry them to the front both of us would play hide and seek and he
of my flat and when my mum used to open the would always be on my lap and sleep with me
door, I would say, “See Mummy, there is a cute as a child in my arms. I had bought him 2 toy
kitten here! Can we please keep it?” And my rats which he would throw up in the air and
mom who is also a pet lover would feel sorry then catch it as it fell. He would surprise me
and we would feed it and play with it, left to my every day when I came home as the 2 rats
hearts content. Then later in the day, my dad would be neatly kept side by side his food
would come home and say those dreaded bowl! Almost as if a human being had kept
words: “The cat will have to go.” And then them there but there was no one except Zorro
would start my tears and tantrums but my dad’s and me in that house.
stance was firm. I would plead with him again One day, when I was dressing up for one of my
and again – one reason my dad always wanted trips, I accidentally stamped his tail and he bit
me to be a lawyer! By night fall, with the kitten’s me on my leg. I bled profusely but I dressed
mewing and my crying, my dad would propi- the wound and continued my trip to Abu Dhabi.
tiously come to me and say:” If that kitten does By noon, my legs were swollen and red and
not go out, you will! With a heavy and sad went to a nearby clinic and the doctor asked
heart, I would take the kitten back to its rightful me if I was sure it was a cat coz the wounds
owners. This bitter sweet events went on for looked more like I was attacked by a tiger! With
several years but with the same outcome. antibiotics, she told me to go back to Bahrain

Life went on and we settled down in Bangalore as I needed care before it turned septic. So the
and one day found a stray kitten who I saved next day, I returned but by this time, the bacte-
from some boys who were ill-treating it. I ria from Zorro’s teeth had gone to my blood. I
named him Tommy. A relationship formed and had to take a sabbatical for 2 and half months
we were inseparable. From a small kitten to a on antibiotics and bed rest before it healed. In
large grown Tabby, I carried him with me eve- the meantime, Zorro died of a kidney failure
rywhere I went! When he matured, he would be which explained the chemical reaction that
gone for days and guess what happened to me must have messed up with his head to bite me.
during that time? Stand by the window and cry Rest in Peace Zorro! You were such an im-
propitiously waiting for him to come home. portant part of my life when I needed you the
Since he was a TOM cat, he would get into cat most.
fights which would leave him all wounded and
scratched. My maternal instincts would make
me tender to him till he recovered but off he

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