Cats - cute, clever and chatur...

This was a comment (I've modified a bit) that I wrote in one of my dear blogs by IHM. Though I quite dislike the acronym but she is a good writer who writes sensibly on sensible topics. I like her passion for the topics she writes.

This blog of hers, however came to my notice not for the topic, but for this photograph that I have presented in my blog, stolen from her blog. (Thanks IHM).
I just loved the way the cat is looking out for someone. Most likely, that someone is a something. It may be a lizard on the other side of the wall. Never can guess a cat !!

I have grown up with a dozen of cats and dogs in Assam. They were so much a part of our lives that I used to find supposedly
popular snaps in urban India like that of 'a cat sleeping on a dog', quite a cliche'.

Cat is honestly great fun. They are the hunters. Quite, fast, clever lovable bastards, they are. Also they are the cleanest animal I have even seen. You would never see her poop, they will cover it with sand. You would never see mud, dust and other dirt in their body. This is interesting because cats hate water and stays as far away as possible. Sure they must be always thinking if they could quench their thirst with something else !

I have had great moments with our cats. Let me tell you a few interesting ones that may sound funny, surprising and cute. Surprising, because we, living in the metros, simply cant get to know the real cat. For instance, we don't have ceilings here where the cat can climb... !!

1. She playing with a ball of wool. Only trick is that you have to keep it dancing by pulling one end of the thread. Today's urban generation wont believe if we tell them that one of the favourite time-pass activity for the girls was to buy different colours of (balls of) wool to hand knit sweaters, scarfs for their dolls and future husbands. Cat used to love that. She will watch from a distance with full hunting posture at the ball of wool which is on the ground moving, as its being pulled while knitting. With one clean swoop, she will attack the ball of wool and take it a few yards kicking with its front limbs and biting the wool ball dead! My mom used to get irritated but I used to have too much fun.
2. A similar but of course better scene was to watch the cat catching a rat and playing with it till it dies. It will let the wounded rat to run and then he will run fast and catch it again - the same way she plays with the ball of wool. Sometimes, the rat actually manages to run away. That's the worst, because it would die somewhere and the whole house will be smelling.
3. Watching her protecting the plate of fish and rice. One of our dogs, a greedy bugger used to finish his share of food like in a second and would slowly come for the cat's share. Slap! Cats are so quick that the dog is left with no clue, when the paw came, hit and went. How many slaps my dog must have got for trying to sneak like that. It was just too much fun. The poor dog barks after getting the hit, then gets scolded by my dad to shut up. Dogs normally do not go near cats. Generations after generations, dogs have got slaps from Cats. Cats do come near dogs, though. Its on her whim! She would slowly come and climb onto the sleeping dog and sleep on top of him. The dog poor fellow forgets that he had got a slap a while back. Stupid dog!
4. Apart from getting to wear cool jackets, this was the second reason why I used to love winter so much. Once I am 10 minutes on to the bed, she would pull out the mosquito net and get into the bed to sleep next to me. She will purr the hell out of me. But slowly I had got used to it, loving it every passing day. She would mostly sleep to your back. For some time, I wondered and later discovered that they don't want to be in a position where I can hug him or put my heavy hand (sleeping me) on top of him. They consider it binding and cant accept that.
5. Have you ever seen a cat jumping from a height? what a sight and a miracle. They make absolutely no sound. This used to be my best time pass activity whenever I used to be bored dead. I loved looking at the cats doing their rounds all over the place (roof, windows, ceiling etc) for hunting, perhaps copulating, or just loitering around like kings. In Assam, we have tin houses with ceilings. There is about 2 feet space between the tin roof and the ceiling. They would love to climb to the ceilings looking for mice. They have their usual routes. The tool, dressing table, the window, the cupboard and the ceiling in 2 seconds flat. And no sound. You remove the tool, they will meow you to death. They will hardly come and go through the doors. They know the ventilation that is always open. They basically know all the crevices in the house. It always fascinated me to see them jumping from so high and to such height without making any noice. Whenever they come to sleep with me, I keep touching their paws and wonder how can they be so silent.
   

There are so many childhood memories with our cats and dogs that I tend to think that keeping a pet in Mumbai is so much of a farce. Dogs are still okay. I have a golden retriever and it is almost the same level of fun. But Cats are wild and their true nature can only be seen in the wild. Come to Assam someday if you like cats.

BTW, I hope you guys know that cat is not a domestic animal by strict definition of domestication. One wild feature of cat is that they wont copulate in the near vicinity of humans. Secondly, it will attack you if you approach him in a closed room from all sides and he/she feels cornered. If it's a he, then better not go near him. They will jump to your trachea, much like other cats. Beware!!