Les chats!

Two of my friends have started a blog on cats.I was asked to join their group because it's open for all cat lovers everywhere.This set me thinking.Would I go so far as to call myself a cat lover?

My first exposure to cats was at my grandmother's place.She stays in a small town called Kumbakonam,situated 1hr away from Tanjore in Tamil nadu.The house is almost more than a century old or as my uncle would say 100BC( thats hundred years before cement).The house is open in all sense.Its got thatched roofing,lots of doors connecting every room to every other,few walls and a huge garden.The doors are open from 5 in the morning till 11 at night and after a point no one monitors the traffic that passes through the house,be it humans or animals.

We've always had lots of pets.They are mostly cows but the list also includes dogs (our regular Bharat hounds,if I may say) who've found the hay stack very comfortable to sleep on,cats who've found all the nooks and corners cozy enough to litter plus they get a surplus supply of mice and rats,assorted goats who are transient but regular pets.They breeze in every morning,meander through the garden,graze to their hearts content and walk out through the back gate,unless ofcourse they are shooed midway because they have been caught chomping important plants.I could never leave out the representatives of class Insecta that inhabit our house too...but I am digressing here.Let me get back to my point.

So we were talking about cats.My first impression of a cat was that of a scrawny creature,skulking around the house suspiciously,jumping across roof tops,meowing pathetically and always littering under the cupboards beyond our reach.Ours was or rather still is a typical brahmin household.So naturally our cats are forced to have brahmin food.Just an innocent bowl of milk and some cooked rice.Eggs,fish and cat food was unheard of in our house.Now as I look back,I wonder how those poor things survived on that meagre diet,but they did and pretty decently at that.I guess they supplemented it with several mice,birds and unsuspecting lizards.

I never really liked cats back then.I found them mean,calculating,sly...well..."catty" creatures.They never came when I called.They weren't interested in playing.They weren't interested in pleasing me or showing their affection.They just skulked about all the time.This was in stark contrast to our dogs who were always hyperactive,involved in our lives and left their impression on us everyday(literally they did,you should see some of the paw prints still seen on my clothes after several washes).

This opinion stayed with me right through my Pre-university days till I met my friend's cat.Yasmin had 24 cats and 2 german sheperds when I knew her then.Going to her house and meeting so many of her pets for the first time was a great experience for me. 24 cats!!!Can you ever imagine such a huge number?!My grandmother's house is huge and sprawling but I have seen 2,maybe 3 feline members at any point.She lives in an apartment so,I had calculated 1 cat for every 10 tile or something on those lines.

When I actually saw her cats,what hit me was their size.They were gigantic and there is simply no other word to explain them.Each one was the size of a 4month old labrador pup(for those of you who are clueless...thats size XXXXXXXL for a cat).The next thing that hit me was their color.Each on of those cats had the most unique coloring I have ever seen so far.Isis the siamese had a deep grey-brown,almost metallic color with black paws and rich blue eyes.Yasmin has old,victorian,dark brown,solid mahogony furniture and I saw Isis sitting atop the chest of drawers the first time.Actually most of her was camouflaged and only her 2 blue eyes shone out radiantly amidst all that brown.I can never forget that picture even after all these years.Then I walked into the kitchen and saw Applepie.Look,if Isis was big,Applepie was a blue whale of cats.I never saw much of the kitchen beyond him that day. Cats spilt from every inch of her house.They were there on the sofas,on table tops,inside cupboards,curled up in the bathroom sink,on the terrace garden,on top of the fridge,in the verranda,on their beds.

I went back to her place again and again.To me it was a retreat,it was unbelievable.Initially most of her cats were weary of me.They glared from a distance and sniffed condescendingly. They sidled along the wall,apparently interested but way too haughty to show it.This drama continued till yasmin plucked one enroute to the kitchen and threw it on my lap.I think it was Applepie although I don't quite remember clearly.Ouch!He was heavy.Kindly recall the reference to the blue whale in the previous para,its an apt description.He was soft,fluffy and irresistable.It took him a moment to adjust to the change of terrain but he settled on my lap quickly and started to purr.Purr would be a understatement here,they were loud rumbles.I was always of this opinion that applepie could be used for those vibration therapies.Put him on the clients back,let him rumble all day and the client walks away all relaxed and cured.

Anyways,initially I only loved the tom cats because they are like pups.They are innocent,dumb,scruffy,helpless and vulnerable.They are ready to be lifted and cuddled.They don't see it as an insult to their dignity to jump on my lap or come to me when I call.Try calling a female and you will be quelled by a stony,superior look.But over time I saw them in a different light.The females are more level headed,they dont run to you on an impulse.They observe and judge you for days before they decide if you are worth their company and if you do get that ticket into her world then its a bond made for life.She dotes on you,mothers you,sleeps beside you while you are sick,sits by you when you are sad and shows her affection in a million innovative ways.

Coming back to that question which started all this narrative....would I go so far as to call myself a cat lover?Well,it really is a complex question.Cats are like a never ending lesson.Just when you have decided,this is all there is to know about them and with this knowledge you could decide if you love them or not...they exhibit another phenominal dimension that throws you off track. They are an enigma,an unsolvable mystery.I don't know if I could love all cats but I know I shall always be intrigued by them.