We as a family have always had an affinity with cats. As far as I can recall, it dates back to the late seventies in our days in Cochin (now Kochi). She was a marmalade cat with pale eyes, and was ever so cautious. But we encouraged her with some milk and some curd rice, that she came to love, as the days passed. We named her Penelope. She soon became a part of our family and she introduced her family, a litter of kittens into our home. Since then there was never a dull moment. The kittens were lovable and active. They had all our garden to run around and play their games.
This proximity to cats has always inspired me to write my thoughts on cats in general. They are fascinating creatures and make great pets upclose, if only you let them. Cats are independent creatures and unlike dogs don't need looking after. They are attached not to you as a person but more to the house that they find themselves in. However, they can also be affectionate towards their owners and people whom they trust. There is more to these feline friends than what meets the eye. You can even say that they are mystical creatures. Records and advances in archaelogy and genetics have shown that the domestic cat has been around since 7500 BC in the Near East. The house is their territory and cats mark you as their territory. Their survival skills help them tide over problems that they may face. They spend major part of the day in grooming and taking catnaps. Hunting comes naturally to them as is the case with all belonging to the cat family. They are basically nocturnal and have excellent vision and hearing. You have different varieties of cats, if you are planning to adopt them as pets, like, Siamese, Persian, British short-hair, Maine Coon, to name a few. They can also be fastidious regarding their toilet needs. If you have more than one cat, you should have more than one litter box, as they are averse to sharing it. Also, cats are known to have behavioural and physical quirks. Here, I would like to mention a cat that my grandma had as a pet. She would like Ovaltine over everything else and so they christened her Ovaltine. At some point of time, we had a cat as a pet. She preferred to have yellow crispies followed by a bowl of milk, strictly in that order. The yellow crispies or more familiarly papad, had to be crisp. Otherwise, she would just ignore or reject it. Also, she would sit expectantly in the kitchen on getting the scent of the papad being fried. Another incident that I would like to share here is about a monkey menace that we had to face while in an apartment in Chennai. Everything at home went topsy-turvy. But throughout the time our pet cat was deep in sleep, curled up on top of the refrigerator. She was dead to the world and knew nothing about the monkey going on the rampage. A cat can also be a star. 1963 will go down in the annals of cat history as in that year a cat was sent to space! Cats are also supposed to have a healing effect on humans. Stroking a cat can calm the nervous system and they provide an outlet for fun and play. But not everybody take to cats or dogs. Their proximity itself may cause negative vibes and some people maybe literally allergic to cats. They are also considered both as bad and good omens. In France for instance, there is a saying, that dogs maybe wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry. In India they are considered to bring good luck, but variously to bring bad luck too. In the final analysis, they are mysterious and yet they carry on with life in their own terms, independently. In whichever way you look at them, they evoke interest and cannot be ignored.
