We couldn’t walk the end of the lane outside our house without being surrounded by beggars. They came in all sorts of sizes and colours but I preferred the brownish red one who looked up with certain poise and dignity amongst all the other cats. I called her Lalu, after the politician. I didn’t know the reason that the cat parliament convened exactly outside our lane, till I saw the coup.
A dog maddened by whatever it is that maddens dogs launched itself into the lane barking. The closed end of the lane meant that the dog could have nearly 20 cats to itself. Both the species ignored me in what was going to be a primal struggle for survival. The dog must’ve been a youngling, unaware of the rules of canine society, for I had never seen the dogs attack before. They had their garbage dump area to guard, monitor and love. I wanted to see what the cats would do as the barking continued and the felines kept on licking their fur as if their hygiene had taken a sudden precedence in the order of importance.
The dog rushed in heedlessly, and the cats … jumped. Red, yellow, white and black – all sorts of cats rose up in the air at the same time to create a confetti like experience, but in reverse. They alighted on the rows of windows above the lane and continued their grooming. Only Lalu remained, looking curiously poised, staring at the abstract pattern of plaster and bricks around her. Perhaps it was injured I thought, or worse, it couldn’t hear the dog approaching it. I did have this thought before that the ‘regal’ behavior of Lalu could’ve been due to her deafness.
Lalu sat where she was, basking in the rays of suns that made their way through the narrow lane and meowed. She hadn’t completed her third meow when the dog was upon her.
My grandfather had built the house 5 decades ago adjacent to the fields that were once ours. He sold one plot for each one of his 5 daughters, cursing the expenditure he had to bear. The fields have been left to collect water and novice hunters who jump in the expectation of catching Lalu.
The cats came down and mewed pleasantly at the mud bath. Lalu went back to the deceptive grooming, basking in the shifting sunlight.
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