Ramblings    
In Feline Company
by Bijoyeta Das

Love begets love. So an alien fur ball of a cat or dog who receives even an iota of our endearments and care bond with us as their own. In an affair sans vocal commitment they grow dependent on us. The pet owners call them kin. Christen them with saccharine names. Mollycoddle them to the point of spoiling their habits. The pets are to amuse, to snuggle, go together for a leisurely walk and to be the owner’s pride.

Cosset them with processed food, comfy blankets and scores of multihued superfluities.

That’s the trendy image of a house cat or a dog we garner.

But I was greeted with rude surprises when I saw the countless number of pedigree cats and dogs in an animal welfare Ngo’s city shelter for abandoned and injured animals.

Most of them were abandoned by their owners for motley of reasons.

There are sizeable numbers of pet owners who swear ever lasting allegiance to their beloved. They stand by their pets in all weathers. Yet the malevolent virus seems to strike some not so humane pet owners. We still can’t discount the verity that the often eulogized human-pet tie seems to be divorced at the first sight of infirmity, old age, or injury.

The reasons of forsaking a pet may vary. Some owe it to shifting, diseases, most common being skin, wounds, accidents, vacations, the bird flu scare, aberrant behavior, pregnancy, trying work schedules et al.

There are so many cases in point when the considerate masters have found new dwellings for the animals, or prearranged them for adoption in shelter homes. At the same time a lot of these poor animals that were like members of the family unit find their way in gutters, dark alleys, on the threshold of shelter homes and some unfeelingly butchered or euthanized.

The fate that awaits the discarded mortals is piteous. The majority of them ends up run over by cars, maltreated or beaten to death or 'put to sleep' in the dog pounds. The proportion of forsaken pets that are providential enough to find a new abode is almost trivial. They are exposed to starvation and dehydration. They are unable to fend for themselves on being suddenly thrown to an independent subsistence system. Its anarchy for the poor animals for the charm of an unobstructed survival eludes them.

Few fluky ones are salvaged and are taken in by the shelter homes. They might have survived but it is no less harrowing for an animal to be dislodged. Though the kittens and puppies get adopted soon it is the older or handicapped ones who have to be given permanent refuge.

The pet is thus reduced to a consumer good or a plaything; whose user value determines the love it is bestowed with. The sense of liability and empathy is shoved aside by forces of expediency. Is the duty to care for the animals only a prerogative of animal activists, enthusiast or the conscientious citizenry?

In the autumn of an animal’s life or in moments of pathos and ache the most intelligent of all beings dump their loved one. The very darling they cuddled and whispered sweet nothings, and called family and this little creature who in response pledged its silent loyalty.

Well for some it is the season of gay abandon.

Whatever happened to the miracle of love?

~*~

As part of my involvement with an animal welfare Ngo I visited their city shelter. The daylong stay helped me gather my thoughts and pen at leisure. Among the new friends that I had made there was this bulky black cat. This pretty lady had not by then named but there was one thing about her that the in-house staff and the intermittent callers had not failed to notice. She had this quaint green pendant tied to her neck. She moved around in frenzied circles inside her cute but constricted cubbyhole often striking deliberate postures. Every once in a while she paid avid attention to her dainty sparkler as if to admire its luster.

Back in the confines of my room as I sat to inscribe my diary with the atypical experiences of feline company I was assailed by thoughts of the myths that endure in various societies regarding cats especially black ones.

Since the days of yore black cats have been the subject of urban legends, myths, and folklore. The Halloween promotions and old wives tales had their share in making the black fur of the cat a stigma and something to be dreaded. In time endless myths were spun around them.

A couple of raps on the tail of a black cat will heal a sty in the eye. The assembly of thirteen cats in a theater is an ill omen. If a black cat were to suddenly desert the house of its masters, catastrophe would strike the household.

However different communities consider the black cats differently, in fear or in favor, according to the prevalent culture and mythology that typify their society. In Britain and Australia black cats are considered auspicious, and in some places white cats are correspondingly star-crossed. In many parts of Europe and in the United States, however, it is the black cat that is considered to be unlucky.

If a person were to see a number of cats in his or her dream then surely the spouse must be necessarily adulterous. Dreaming of a two-colored cat implies a passionate disposition.

Stories such as these have tainted the image of cats often times ensuring that they are subjected to abuse. For instance, during the month of October, around Halloween the black cat invariably gets the wrong end of the stick. Again when it comes to adoption intending households seldom take in the black cats.

Cats have been associated with divinity, witchcraft and magic- both white and black- for centuries.

Even in this age of rocket science and digital technology, primordial superstitions have survived in some form or the other. The absurdity of it defies all logic. Their variance across societies reinforces the truth that they are nothing but culture dominated truisms.

Yet, how clichéd it is to say that a deeper probe will enlighten any depraved soul that these are figments of imagination; but the irony lies in the fact that its all illusions of the minds eye of those who distrust or are in trepidation of cats. Man governed by his self ordained role of being the master of the animal kingdom has given recourse to such irrationality. Savoring his elevated existence he perceives cats as the sign of sinister intentions, vice or ill fate. Asinine beliefs have paved the way for cats to be worshipped, damned and persecuted as per ones predilection.

To cut a long story short it is worthwhile in pondering over the following poser. With whom does one associate the qualities of grace, independence, and nimbleness of stance, disguised haughtiness and daring do? All of these coupled with supplication to get what one wants, willful disregard of ones benefactor when ones goals are achieved and all such trappings worn by the successful. If beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, no marks for hitting at the right answer. Down the ages Man has sworn by the nature of the dog and aspired to what he sees in the cat. Strange though it may seem this is not so. Otherwise it would have been difficult to explain away our comfortable perch at the apex of the food chain both metaphorically and literally.

And yet too much of a good thing never ever lasts. When one goes overboard to flaunt ones success nature has its way of bringing to heel its errant creation. And the moderation of the cat has always stood it in good stead. No such luck for the aspiring feline though.    

September 17, 2006

Bijoyeta Das is a student of St. Stephens College, Delhi.

Top | Ramblings    

The Week of September 17, 2006      
Fighting Terror: Musharraf's Offer Too Little, Too Late! by Rajinder Puri 
Clash of 'Words' not 'Civilizations' by Col. Rahul K. Bhonsle 
The Last "J" that Broke Bush's Back by Gaurang Bhatt, MD  
Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Havana, Sept 06 by Dr. Subhash Kapila
Social Rocketry by J. Ajithkumar 
Are China's Rulers Illegal? by William R. Stimson
Empires and Dust: Travels in Modern India II by Ashish Nangia 
Dating the Dunes at Sam a Photo Essay by Sutapa Chaudhuri 
The World is One Family by TA Ramesh 
Arguments for including Bhoti Language
    in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution by Stanzin Dawa
Understanding Mahabharata: A Woman's Fury, Soft Skills and a Hero by Satya Chaitanya
And, the Clock Stopped ! by VK Joshi
Ustad Bismillah Khan: The Shehnai Maestro by Yamini Ayyagari  
Search Engines: Technology Behind Searching by Ruchi Gupta 
In Feline Company by Bijoyeta Das   
Friendship Never Ends by Wazhma Frogh   
The Night of Ten – La Noche del 10 by Dibyendu Ghoshal
The Coast of Mendocino by Walter Durk
A Hope by Arya Bhushan 
Ganga's Daughters by Julia Dutta  
Investing in Women by Stephanie Hiller 
Insurgency: The Long Way Down by Nava Thakuria
The Dark Side of Media Hype by Anuja Agrawal  
On the Fast Track to Growth? by Usha Kakkar
Struggling to Make It: A Mother's Dilemma by Rajesh Talwar
Arun Kumar Das: A Beam of Hope by Amarendra Kishore
Pune: Down Memory Lane by Vikram Karve 
  

 
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