In our family We were three My parents and me Till one day He came suddenly As if from nowhere Nobody knew Who his parents were Nor where was his home My parents were reluctant to accept him Thought he was a nuisance But as a companion He was welcome to me Chased by mother this compulsive thief Would hide either under the cot Or in the attic He loved to play with me Hide and seek In summer He cuddled in a cool corner In winter he sought warmth He stole into my mother's quilt Gradually he supplanted me From my mother's lap.
For his coat's color I called him Ginger Slowly he grew up And by and by Became a tiger in a miniature Grew long whiskers His growling became guttural And his prowling more extensive Beyond the confines of our modest home He mewed around my mother the whole day But at night began to go out Now a shining youth He seems to have felt A strange stirring in his blood He seems to have heard The call of the wild And sought adventures Both amorous and territorial Invaded others' territories Fought pitched battles with his rivals After each fight Our hero needed medication and cleaning up from me He had great aversion to being bathed And he fought wildly with me I still bear the marks of his desperate claws.
His absence on adventures Grew in duration First it was for a day or two Till at last He didn't return in a whole week Father was asked to find him out Yesterday I was told My Ginger has been run over by a car Now he is beyond all my medication and care.
Our neighbor has a brilliant son He is a chemical engineer Working in a private firm in Mumbai On a fat salary He was his parents' old age insurance He was about to get married When one day words came He had lost one leg In a road accident.
For God's sake don't say I am equating my cat with that young man For Ginger gave us nothing that money could buy.
