I read an article recently, which was about how cats are being reared and killed for meat in China. It said that Cats paw is considered a delicacy in China. The article was vivid of the details of the gore atrocities done to cats. There were some pictures also, where many cats were put in small cages and it was reported that many of the cats died while in transit.
I was wondering whether this article was not an example of hypocrisy!! A person, who can have cattle, and other animals, for breakfast, protesting against cats as a food delicacy!!
No, The article falied to move me., despite the fact that I used to have cat as my pet from the School days itself Where as most of the children used to get a solid “No” for the request for a cat or a dog as a pet, We (myself & my brother) were fortunate, that our parents though objecting initially will give way to our choice. Cat used to be my favourite pet, and Dog, my brothers. Our first Cat was named “Thendi”(somewhat translates to beggar in malayalam),. a name given by our sister, since it used to be not at home during daytime and will roam at others houses for food. When I got up in the morning, it used to be at my bed curled up and asleep near me. The first dog we had was christened “Holding” after the Westindies fast bowler, who was my brothers favourite West Indies bowler.
Two incidents come to memory, when its about pets. After Holding went missing..(Everyday night he was let free in the compound, and he will come back to the cage after the usual night duty in the morning.), we had another pup, after a short gap, which was named “Chunnu”. We used to play with out dog after school, and amma will bring him food. One day accidently he bit amma,
and poor amma had to take 14 injections.. Well Chunnu too was sad, as he knewsomething was wrong., but my amma’s caring brought his cheer back.. Chunnu died, after some years, when Myself and my brother had moved to Bombay.
The other incident is ofcourse related to cat. This happened one rainy day, when myself and Manikandan(my school chum) were walking back from school(School was around 1 km away, and we saved the bus fare for the ice-cream stick during the lunch interval). I found a small kitten wet in middle of road, and since I felt really bad(knowing how cats love water), I took the cat into my arms and walked home. It didnt take much convincing for my parents to accept the cat. I arranged some gunny sacks for warmth, and mom provided the warm milk for the poor creature. I would visit the cat everyday morning and evening and arrange for its comforts. One day the cat was not to be seen and I had searched everywhere for it unsuccessfully(I had kept it in an attic room by the side of our house, where many old furnitures, trunk boxes were also kept). I gave up searching the next day when I couldnt find it anymore. I got the news, the following day, when I cameback from school, that it was dead, floating in our well. I had a last look at it, as it had been fished out from the well, before myself and my brother buried it. Interestingly no one shouted at me for this.. but got some comforting words from all, and grandma stated “You cannot change the destiny!! whatever you may do” and later told us a story from mythology to illustrate..
The well was chemically purified the same day..