It was 1:35 already, and I was late for the 1:30 class. Totally engrossed in trying to chain up my bicycle as quickly as possible, i didn't notice when she appeared from virtually nowhere, and said, this is for you. I saw a bag being offered to me, and shining inside the little chain slit of the grey bag were two little but shiny eyes. And this was the first time when i saw her.It was the Valentine's Day.Hence, she was my Valentine day gift!And then the emotional threads started to entangle me. I have always feared cats. I remember my childhood days, when I used to throw my lil slippers at the cats which came to drink the milk in the kitchen, but secretly feared that they might attack and scratch me. I loved dogs... but cats? A big no, for they were wild and dangerous, or they seemed so.
Until i met this cat. A kitten to be precise. Male or female, i don't know, coz its having a lot of fur, and as its a kid, its really difficult to tell its gender by lookin at it. And moreover, that doesn't make any difference, at least to me. And just to give the benefit of doubt to the batsman, i have assumed it to be 'her'. Though it actually depends on the mood, like-
" मेरा billa कहाँ गया???"
or
"आजा मेरी billi" !!!
The cat is very cute, and does not fear the humans. In fact, it has grown a tendency to come into my room and sleep on my lap. And when i try to put it on ground, it either comes back to my lap or gets out of the room to find any other admirer of the hostel wing, or the hostel wings... People love her, and she being the only cat in the entire hostel, enjoys the privilege of enjoying undivided monopoly of cat fancy of the IITians, who are really frustrated with the mundane KGP life.
What does she eat? Very very specific things. Give her bread or any biscuits or flavoured milk, she won't even look at it. The milk should be flavour less, the biscuit should be salty, and you have to show her where the stuff has been kept. Lazy? nah, see her playing wid a stray polythene bag, a torn paper or hunting wasps and cockroaches and spiders; u'll find out why the tiger is said to belong to the cat family, and not the vice versa.
Does she bite? No. Does she scratch? Well, tease her and she will. After all, she's only an animal. But the irony is that the girl who "gave away" that cat to me herself was bitten by a cat only recently, and still now, she is going to the doctor for getting the series of Rabies injections. But fear not, this cat doesn't bite.
Is she clean? You bet! i give her a bath on every saturday, and she is actually cleaner than most of the boys of this hostel, for she licks her body parts everyday, and her fur shines brightly in daylight, though, in the night the eyes steal the show!
Weeks have passed since i took the responsibility of her. Only last thursday, i was studying on my bed, lying on my belly, engrossed deep in the structural analysis problems; she came fro m nowhere and comforted herself by sleeping beside me, just beneath my Shirt, so close that i could feel her heart beat. I was frightened; for she was a cat, and she might do me harm. But then I saw her. She was sleeping like an innocent child, with both of her paws covering her face and her body curled under my blanket.
I saw the peace of a child in the arms of its mother. I felt strange. Really strange. Allowing her to sleep there, i continued to study. About two hours later, she woke up, yawned and got off the bed to walk in the hostel wing.
Sometimes i feel that i am wasting my time on all this. But then i see the face of the cat. And i feel its soft fur; and all this fills me up with a sense of joy. It seems that i am trying to find my family love in the cat... the family where i was taken care of in the same way as i use to care for this cat.
They say that cats tend to remember their places, and not masters, unlike the dogs. But I don't care. As long as I am happy.
Are my roomies happy, well, they seem to be, after some initial aversions... Are my hostelmates happy? Yes, they got a new toy to play with. Is the cat happy? I seriously have got no clue. But i give the benefit of doubt to the batsman, as an optimist like me would always do.
Alec.
