When we sit in our courtyards on a sunny winter morning with some delightful books, Cute and Cola suddenly appeared with their mother from nowhere and started demanding milk. They kept mewing till one of us finally left to fetch their supply. We kept complaining that they disturbed us but if, on a rare day, they fail to appear, we start missing them terribly!
Once Cola did not appear for the entire day, and we spent the time full of apprehension of what disasters may have struck the kitten. We kept making rounds of the surroundings to be able to spot him in some corner. Then as darkness began to descend our tiny friend walked in casually to say hello, as if nothing had happened. This experience taught us much about the value of our relationship.
The great thing about most cats in the Sanawar school campus(Himachal Pradesh) is that they live in the wild and yet can be very affectionate pets at the same time. What is more, they can be pets of not one but two, three or more families at the same time. It is actually more profitable and a good strategy of food security for them to have more than one family as their friends and benefactors.If one family goes away on leave, they still have an alternative source of milk supply.
This winter other friends went away for longer periods but we went for only three days. In our absence our friend Yash fed them.So they remained well-fed all through the long winter break.
This convenient arrangement probably evolved over the experience of several generations of cats in the campus. It is very nice to see cats and kittens who still retain the vigour and the freshness which only living in the wild can bring. Their swift runs and tree climbing are a delight to watch. Cute became an expert tree climber soon enough, but Cola is physically weak and still trying.
At the same time as retaining their links with the wild, they can be very affectionate with human beings. One healthy way of showing this affection is to roll over in the dust as they approach you, just near your feet. At one stage they tried to jump into our laps, but when we avoided this, they understood and returned to safer ways of showing their affections.
As for their mutual affections, they lick each other a lot, often even while drinking milk. Once when Cute was drinking milk with his Mom, Cola came and started licking both of them instead of drinking milk. It is a very happy experience to sit and watch when they are being very affectionate towards each other. They also do a lot of self-licking to keep clean, it appears. They are also most hygienic in terms of sanitation, digging a small hole, never littering our verandah or courtyard.
It is truly a delight to see them basking in the sun. When we are sitting near them, they tend to sleep more comfortably, probably realizing they are safer near our chairs than in the wild. Cute likes to peep a lot into our home, trying to discover some hidden mysteries.
When they are hungry but not getting milk, they cuddle near the door and start mewing more constantly and loudly, also by rubbing themselves against the door occasionally. On a few occasions they upturned the shoe polish box and some shoes, but have not caused any real harm. On stormy cold days they particularly like to take shelter in the shoe-rack and mew for their milk.
Fond as we are of them, we maintain some distance. But we know neighbors in whose home cats find easy entrance. One of them told us that a cat became so comfortable with her that she would often come to take a nap in her home. One day she had to finish important sewing work and as she rattled on vigorously at her sewing machine, the cat got up and gestured to her to stop making the noise with her sewing! The lady was both amused and a little angry too. She took a short break, but when she returned to continue her work, she says the cat came nearer this time and, a bit more angrily than before, gesturedto her to stop.
Cats are supposed to be always afraid of dogs, but once when Cola and Mom were sitting near us and a dog appeared, Mom deposited Cola under my chair and ventured a step ahead to actually growl at the dog—a very angry meow! The dog it was who retreated meekly!
Bharat Dogra is a writer. Srishti Priya is a student at the Lawrence School Sanawar.
