Wordless Wednesday!

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Foto Friday!

Foto Friday!

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Our Andrew Ruled Us for 11 Years - Part II

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10 Canine Commandments:

1. My life is likely to last 10 to 15 years. Any separation from you will be painful to me. Remember that before you buy me.
2. Give me time to understand what you want from me.
3. Place your trust in me. It is crucial to my well-being.
4. Don't be angry with me for long and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your entertainment and your friends.  I have only you.
5. Talk to me sometimes. Even if I don't understand your words, I understand your voice when it's speaking to me.
6. Be aware that however you treat me, I'll never forget it.
7. Remember before you hit me. I have teeth that could easily crush the bones of your hand but I chose not to bite you.
8. Before you scold me for being unco-operative, obstinate or lazy, ask yourself if something might be bothering me.  Perhaps I'm not getting the right food or I've been out in the sun too long or my heart is getting old and weak.
9. Take care of me when I get old.  You too will grow old.
10. Go with me on difficult journeys.  Never say 'I can't bear to watch it' or let it happen in my absence'. Everything is easier for me if you are there.

My friend Usha Pisharody had posted the above message in facebook, which pushed me to write this post about our Andrew.  The first part is here, wherein I wrote how much we enjoyed his company.  Like it happens with human beings also...with our own children, we have to bear their tantrums, take care of them when they are ill etc. we have to bear some things with our pets too. Though with dogs they are slightly different.  It takes time to get used to including them as a member in our family.  Unless you like/love them whole heartedly, it is very difficult to bring them up.  With pomeranians, which have too much hair, we have to bear the 'tick problem'.  We have to keep them clean.  Bathe them and brush them regularly.  Still somehow they attract ticks (small insects).  So, from my personal experience long/thick haired dogs are difficult to bring up.  Yearly vaccines for any type of dog is a must - we enjoyed going to the vet where we came to see many types of cute dogs/pups!

We must have somebody reliable to leave them when we are away from home, who will feed them, take them for walks, etc.  Thank god, we had friends who loved our Andrew like we did when he was with us. 

Now, to the 10th point of the above '10 Commandments'. Our Andrew lived with us for 11 years.  He was unwell for a few months and my sons insisted on taking care of him like we took care of them. The doctor came home to have a look at him often.  Then my son was unwell and was in the hospital for a few days.  Still he was asking about Andrew everyday.  Andy died when my son was still in the hospital.  My mother said that pet dogs die if somebody in the family was unwell.  I don't know about that but my son cried so much hearing the news that we were worried about his health.  One of our relative broke the news to him against our wish not to tell him. Well...he was a good pet and will live in our heart always.

Now, to some more antics of him! As you know I have two sons and they were school going children when Andy was with us.  They were asked to take him for walks, one on each day, after dinner.  Until dinner, Andy will keep quiet, just keeping an eye if we finish our dinner.  As soon as the dinner was over, he would start whistling, looking at each son, standing on two legs, dancing in front of the son whom he thought would take him out on that day. Sometime the sons fought, like, 'you take - you take'.  Andy used to run to both of them in turns and dance! He never liked looong walks, only short walks!  If we take him for long walks, he would just sit on the road after his due distance and would not budge.  We had to carry him in our hands or hips!

He was very possessive about my husband.  He never liked if my husband hugged my sons.  He would start barking at them, push his face between my husband and son and separate them. He never liked when my sons fought with each other.  He would stand up and bark at them loudly until they stopped fighting.

Some of my old relatives who never liked dogs also were made to love him by his friendly nature. He never climbed the bed but during the rainy season, thunder made him to climb and sit in between my sons!  He always loved to be surrounded by people.  He used to sit in between me and my friend on the sofa and sleep off when we chatted in the afternoons.

I remember his first birthday on 8th April '84.  My sons also were small.  All the small children from the colony celebrated it grandly...I remember my friend's daughter tying a small conical cap...well trying to tie (!) on Andy's head.  All the children had those caps and a cake was cut with cheers, with Andy joining in with his 'wow wow...no, wok, wok'! Happy days!

I still remember him taking tiny bits of chapaathis from my 1 and a half year old niece, without touching her fingers.  Another niece used to take him for walks (!) inside the house from one room to another.  The chain used to hang between him and her hand.  He never pulled her unlike he did with us! She used to act like a teacher later and Andy was the student.  He just used to sit there and watch her. She is a mother of two children and tells stories of Andy to her daughter now!

I feel that if possible, it is better to bring up a pet, esp. dog, when we have got only one child.  Then the child will develop sharing mentality and start taking care of the dog, which is like taking responsibility at a young age. This happened in our house...my sons adored him and were very close to him.

I can go on writing about him for a few more parts...but will stop now! Enjoy your pets!

P.S.: Cats are ruling us now! We have got 2 older cats at home which are sterilised and they entertain us now.  No, no, we entertain them (husband says!). Anyway, cats are cats and dogs are dogs! Nothing can beat the friendly/loyal dogs!

Edited to add a few hours later: Our whole family is reading this article and they keep remembering new things about Andy! Once my husband's cousins had come home for the holidays when we were in Hosur.  One brother used to take Andy for walks 2-3 times a day.  So, Andy was giving him special attention! Whenever the brother changed from pyjamas to jeans, Andy would start jumping with joy, knowing that Anna will take him for a walk! Once Anna just changed back to pyjamas...you should have seen Andy's face, body language...he just went and sat in a corner...he was upset! I don't know how many 'edited to add' I am going to write now!

Our Andrew Ruled Us For 11 Years! Part - I

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I had been thinking of writing about our Andrew for a long time now.  A Facebook message by Usha Pisharody triggered my brain and I am doing this post at last, now! I was afraid that I might write a lot and yes, I am going to!

Let me start from the day he joined our family! It was in Hosur! We had just then shifted from Bangalore to Hosur.  My neighbour from Bangalore had a Pomeranian dog, Pinky, who had delivered 5 puppies and she offered me one.  But we had to wait for the pup to grow up.  So, he, whom we named Andrew, came home, by car to my husband's office and he sent him via his office boy who came by a bicycle holding him to his chest!  Andrew was shivering when I took hold of him for the first time...he was looking like a tiny white soft woollen bundle with 3 black rounds for 2 eyes and a tiny nose, maybe the nose was pink! He was just 40days' old! Though we had a dog in my grandmother's place and then cats in my mother's place, Andrew aka Andy was new to us. My sons were in 2nd and LKG classes! So, three children to look after for me in a new place! And I didn't have a servant maid too! Imagine! After he slept, I ran to the shop, asking my neighbour to be with him, in case he woke up, to buy a small chain, a teething ring(!) and some marie biscuits.  I feel as if I did all these things recently! We lived in a Housing board colony of independent houses.  We had small garden areas in the front and the back but no fences! I had to keep an eye on Andy all the time! Because of Andy, all the colony children started coming home to play  with him! If I closed the door, he was behind me playing with my saree and then just like that, sleep on my foot! I was cooking without moving my foot for a long time, I still remember!

One day, no, one night, we couldn't find him for quite some time.  The year was 1983...TV was still new.  It was a Friday and 8 O' clock Tamil film song programme 'Oliyum oliyum' was going on in the TV.  The whole colony was deserted.  Nobody wanted to move out because of the TV programme.  Still many children joined us in the search. We just roamed here and there calling him! All of us were very upset...then we found him sleeping behind the gas cylinder when the whole group of adults and children had left the TV programme in search of him!

He had this habit of running to the neighbouring house and bringing home their child's toys!  So, whenever some toy was missing, my friend used to come and complain 'unga Andy thookkindu vandiruppan' (your Andy must have brought it home!). Sometimes she was angry too! But Andy is a baby...a loving baby! Shail knows best!

I didn't know what to feed him in the beginning, so like I used to feed my babies, I fed Andy paruppu saadam (dhaal rice) with salt and ghee! Later on I was told that ghee and salt are banned for dogs!  But in later years, he was fed saambaar rice by my servant maid along with her 4 children and this fellow was happily gobbling it up from her hand! She used to work in 4 houses, collect all the rice from those houses, mix them up and feed her children (making balls out of the mixture and dropping in the children's hands and then one ball for Andy!She used to feed him holding rice in her hand!) who came from a nearby school for lunch. 

Andy used to play 'hide and seek' with the colony children.  We women used to play tennikoit in the open space in front of our house.  This fellow used to intervene and run away with the ring!  We, women, children used to run after him! It WAS real fun!

When he was tiny, we made him to sleep on a small jute bag with a cotton cloth on it.  Andy used to sleep on that, come out, urinate outside his bed, in small round puddles, go back and sleep! His bed was never wet for months together!

Ours was the only house which had a Pomeranian dog in those days.  So it was called 'naai veedu' (dog house).  Andy used to run away from home often for one or two days. Sometimes we used to find him in some homes.  He was an over friendly dog! Once he was missing for a few hours and we found him sitting near a small plant...his chain was caught in a branch...he was a 100% budhdhoo and darpok!

I had already written here how he used to bring auto rickshaws by himself! Whenever we were out of station, we used to send the children and Andy to our friend's place.  When we have a dog, we should have some friends who would be happy to take care of them in our absence.  My friend's husband was crazy about Andy.  He used to give oil bath on Sundays to my sons and his children and Andy too used to have shampoo bath with the children near their well in the open space! He really enjoyed life!

If I was not in station, my husband used to take him to his shop (he had an electrical shop then) and Andy used to sleep there! My husband had to coax him a lot to eat! Andy loved chapaathis and curd rice too!  Sometimes we used to feed him eggs.  He loved warm breads from the bakery...it SHOULD be warm, otherwise he refused to eat!  He used to be very fussy for eating if I was not home!  He never liked me going out.  Whenever I tried to change my saree for going out he used to sit on it and make it difficult for me to wear it and then would start barking until I turned the street corner!

He never liked to take bath! I had to carry him in my hip like a baby, even after he was quite grown up, for giving him a bath! He would run here and there and hide beneath the  low double cot and it was very difficult to pull him out. Sometimes my husband used to bathe him.  Andy hated it more because my husband would apply soap on his body and rub him so hard that his whole body used to move from one end of the bathroom to the other! Then he started acting smart!  Whenever my husband said 'Innikku naa Andyei kulippaattureen' (I will bath Andy today), this fellow would run and hide in his usual place - beneath the cot.  My husband would coax him, plead him...no, he won't come out! Then my husband will curse him, go and bathe himself and come near the God to pray...now, Andy would come and stand beside him with his tail wagging!

My friend, whenever we met used to ask me 'Un moonaavathu paiyan yeppadi irukkaan? (How is your third son?)'  He was like one.

I remember one more incident.  Andy had the/took the freedom to go anywhere in the house.  On the Ganesh Chaturthi day, he loved to sit near Ganesha among all the flowers and diyas, sometime sleep, keeping his chin on the cold flowers (this was in Chennai!).  After the haarthi, I used to recite some shlokas and my sons used to repeat them.

Gajaananam bhoota...sons used to repeat and then Andy, 'Wow Wow'
Ganaadhi sevitam...after sons' repetition, Andy, 'Wow Wow'
or is it 'wok wok'?! The Pomeranian dogs have a unique small voice and our Andy had that!

Imagine Andy sleeping, keeping his chin on the flowers in front of the Ganesha!

I think I will continue in the next post!


THE SECOND PART IS HERE

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Wordless Wednesday!

Foto Friday!

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Tails' Tale!

(My friend Kavita's caption!)

Do You Believe In Rebirth? I Think, I Do, Now!

This happened in our house yesterday, no, the day before yesterday!

After waking up in the morning, I came down from upstairs and suddenly started hearing some sound coming from the living room. First I thought it was the sound of a squirrel! Then I saw...Goalie, our cat sitting quietly and watching something dark in colour. I switched on the light and saw...a small baby bird shouting/crying feebly, continuously. I got so upset that I called my husband and he came running down! I asked him to take care of the cat, threw a small towel on the bird, took her outside, dropped her on the ground and she went hopping under some flower pots in our backyard. My husband closed all the windows and we were opening the doors slowly for sometime so that she did not have the opportunity to run out and catch the bird again!

After an hour, I went out and looked out for the bird. She was shivering, sitting near the pots and I noticed that ants had started surrounding her and biting her. I didn't see any parent birds for more than 3 hours. I took a glass of water and poured it around the bird so that the ants stopped biting her. Crows were roaming above and I was worried about them catching her. I changed her places twice removing the ants as much as possible with a towel. I had seen the bigger birds eating curd rice I usually placed for the crows, so, kept some in a small plate for this little one, near her (I found out later that it was not a good idea, the whole rice was full of red ants but they left the bird without doing much harm!).

After about an hour or so, I heard the bird's sound...the baby bird had started shouting feebly and then the parent birds came and the loud shouts began! All the three of them started 'talking'! The baby bird was happy and the parents were happy! I was happy that the bird didn't die in our house!

Our Goalie, as usual, was just playing with the baby bird, like she is doing often nowadays with all sorts of birds and animals (check here!) without hurting them much! She just wants something to play!

The baby bird was like this in the morning! Tiny scary bird!

By the evening, she was not looking scary, even when we went very close to her!

She looked like this - a bit grown up, the next day...ready to fly!

The mother bird, watching her baby! It was very difficult to take pictures of these birds, they are very sensitive unlike the Bulbul birds and fly away as soon as they see some movement!

I took this video of the amma-appa birds teaching their baby to fly. The teaching went on until the next day afternoon. I didn't see them afterwards!

This is our 'always playful' Goalie...she was born at home and later delivered three kittens at home...even now, she is happily playing with us! A happy kitten, no, cat, she is!

Edited to add on 15.7.11: The baby bird had a rebirth because she was silently waiting for her parents to come near her and then started squeaking...the crows were waiting on the neem tree to take her. As soon as I took her out from the cluster of pots to remove the ants, she flew down and ran under a Teak leaf which was quite big...she was a shrewd baby bird!

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Wordless Wednesday! Guess who/what is this ?!

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Edited to add in the evening: Kavita, Bikram and Shail have guessed it right! This is a small frog. We call it 'Thaerai' in Tamil!

For the past 3 days, I saw this frog sitting inside the cup (same cup!) in the morning. I used to hold a cloth to cover the cup in my left hand, lift it from the hook, take it to the backyard and throw the frog out! I was really scared and felt sick, doing this job! I found the frog at the same place, the next morning too...for the next 3 days and I had this job of throwing it out in the morning! Yesterday I threw it into my neighbour's compound...(how mean, you might think...I was!) and voila...I didn't see it since today morning! It might have forgotten the route to come back!


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We Got A New Camera...Here Is The Proof!

We never had our own camera for many years...even when we had our first son! We asked some photographer to come home and take some snaps of the baby, when he was 8 months old! He had just started sitting without any support! After the photographer took some 10-12 photos in different poses, the baby fell down and had a bump like an appam, at the back of his head for a few days, I still remember! And according to our neighbour maami, we were not supposed to take snaps of the baby until he was one year old! Even my relatives were not very keen to click their children when they were babies...the importance of camera or photos were not realized, then!

We went on a tour to Mysore with a borrowed camera. We have got many Brindavan garden photos...just heads or half faces and the background was the dark sky...it started raining later on!

Then we bought 'Cannon' camera and later 'Ricoh'. The latest one before this Nikon was, 'Olympus' and I have learnt to focus properly...OK nearly properly...now! This Nikon camera is very good, though I am yet to learn the nuances.

Now, over to our pictures:

Kochi Port!

Same place, Kochi Port!

Now, to the pictures of cat-women of our house:

Goalie (we call her Gullu, Goalilu...!)

Notice the expression in her eyes in the two pictures, so different from each other! She looks just like a tigress in one and looks like a typical house cat, in another!

Jinju (Jinjillu, Thoppe Raani are her other names!)

Jinju loves to sit in this posture! I must have posted one more picture of hers in another post, sitting like this!

Jinju's Paws...My son's handiwork!

Now, back to humans! Sleeping beauty...my grand niece! So innocent and happy in her sleep!

Catch Me If You Can...live Tom & Jerry Story!

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Goalie having fun with a mouse or is it the mouse having fun with her?!

This is the story of our cat, Goalie and a tiny mouse!

As per my usual morning routine, I went out to pluck flowers at around 6.30 AM. Normally, Goalie accompanies me like a dog, running here and there around me when I make a round of our house to pluck flowers! I didn't see her today and so was calling her and then saw her playing with a little mouse...she just looked up at me and continued her play!

I just stood there and watched them for a few seconds and noticed that the little creature was not at all scared of her perpetrator but was standing up, literally, jumping to bite Goalie's face! I felt like watching a Tom & Jerry movie! I ran inside and got my phone (my camera was somewhere else and I was in a hurry!) and started taking a video of the 'cat & mouse' play!

By the time I started filming, the mouse had stopped standing up to fight, but was running here and there, Goalie following her! I am using my phone for taking the video for the first time and so, the video is not very clear...but their 'hide & seek' is visible! I would have felt happier if I was able to capture the face of the mouse in a close-up! She was cute!

The mouse was just like Jerry...too intelligent for our Tom...Goalie lost her and came back home with a gash in her front knee!

More kitten/cat stories here!

Feline Friday!

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Anna, please, please, don't take my picture!

(Her anna also blocks his face if anyone tries to take his picture!)

Don't irritate me, I want to sleep, grrrr...!

Golie is too sophisticated to curse her anna, so she escapes through the window!

The Great escape!

Edited to add today (12.02.11):

The last comment is by my friend, Manju! Isn't this a better title for the above picture?!

More kitten/cat stories

Wordless (sorry, with some words) Wednesday!

The growing up stages of our Golie!

Baby Golie in the middle!

(Born on Jan.16th, '10)

Very pregnant adult Golie!

(21st Oct.,'10)

Amma Golie with her tiny babies!

(The babies were born on 3rd Nov., '10)

Typical mother, our Golie! Notice how she is keeping her hand on her baby!

(11th Nov., '10)

The three beautiful babies!

(17th Nov.,'10)



Miniature Golie! Notice the claws and baby fur!

(17th Nov., '10)

This one is not very happy because I was keeping them out of their room on my saree and changing their bed sheet! Appa's lungies are very handy now, too, like they were, when Golie was a baby!

Notice the pinky pinky nose and baby claws!

The very bluuuue eyed kitten! Looks just like Jinju, her grandmother!

Her grandmother, Jinju's family is here!

The 11th Nov., '10 photo is added now, an hour later!

The first 45 days of 3 tiny loving kittens after they have entered this world!

My last post on kittens was, 'Zorro's story', where I wrote about our Hero Cat, Zorro and his first wife, Ammaakkaari and their black silk kittens. After she left (we sent her off with her kittens because she gave us kittens once in 4 months and it was too much even for us!), a couple of months later, Zorro invaded our house with his second wife, Jinju, who was pregnant already (so scandalous!). As usual, we felt pity on the pregnant girl and like others before her, she too was pampered well in our house! She even slept with us in our bed, the day before she delivered her babies - she must have been nervous or with pain. When I thought the D-day was nearing, I showed her two places, one shelf in my son's wardrobe and one in our bedroom. I kept some clothes also in them and maybe she understood it and delivered 3 kittens in the afternoon of Jan, 16th, in my son's wardrobe, upstairs! She might have thought it to be a secluded place without much interference from us, humans! When I noticed her absence and saw them, the kittens were clean and she had settled down!

In the photo album below, you can find a lot of information (!) about the kittens in the comment section! Most of the pictures are of them sleeping in different postures! I loved the innocence in their faces, when they were sleeping! Jinju looked so happy and contented when she was sleeping with them.

The photos which are displayed in the album are date wise and you can notice how they were growing up nearly everyday!

Jinju stayed upstairs with her babies for nearly two weeks. Zorro used to visit them mostly in the morning, peep in and come down! One day after having morning's milk, he just ran up. Jinju was not home and my husband went after him. He just waited near the door step and saw what Zorro was doing. Zorro looked inside for a second or so (I had never seen him entering the shelf or touching or licking the kittens on any day) and closed the door with his nose and came down! I had noticed earlier when I went upstairs, Jinju jumping down from the top shelf and the long door on the left, where the kittens stayed always to be closed. Then it dawned on me...the kittens had opened their eyes and started moving here and there and their parents must have been closing the door, so that they did not fall down/out from the shelf!

On 2nd Feb, since the kittens had grown up, I thought it would be safer for them to come downstairs, so that they can start moving here and there. I brought them down when Jinju was with me and kept them in the hall. Jinju was restless but was lying down and feeding them. I was doing something and when I turned to look at them, Jinju, holding her baby in her mouth, was climbing up and went to the previous place! The wardrobe door on the left was closed and she jumped up with her baby, to the top shelf, climbed down to the area, where she was, with her babies earlier! You can see this in the album!

After a few more days, when they started peeping out from the shelf, she allowed me to bring them down. I readied a drawer with some clothes and she settled down happily in our bedroom corner. You can see the rest of the days' activities from the photo album! They were happily playing, hide and seek, 'you catch me, I catch you' etc. throughout the day. The top act was WWF/King Kong Fights. We used to sit beside the box with our morning coffee and watch their fights - along with my husband's commentary! Normally, we are very particular to sleep by 10 p.m., but because of these activities, our sleeping time became 11 p.m.!

Normally, we decide on the names to call them after we knew which one was going to be with us/with his mother. Last time two black kittens were very close with each other and one was always with her mother, most of the time and was a bit weak-looking. So we kept the weaker one at home and handed over the other two to our known persons. One of them was quite healthy and beautiful and my husband was calling him 'Hippo'! He is still called by that name in his new house!

All the three kittens were sleeping together, on top of one another, most of the time. Their favourite places were the phone stands in the bedroom and in the hall! They loved to play with books! They admired the way the pages fluttered when the fan was on! The slow turning blades of the fan also fascinated them. All the three used to watch them with their necks turned up, together! Just for the sake of identification, we were calling the kitten with more white patch in the neck as 'Vellai kazhuththi, which means, White neckwaali and the other one as Brown kazhuththi, means Brown neckwaali (Veekay and Beekay!). Let me tell the story of how we selected the name Goalie later, this post already looks like a long epic story!

The photo here, shows, how close they were while sleeping...

Now, we have got Goalie at home and the other two have gone to a new house. They seem to have blended with the new family members very well. When we had sent off Ammaakkaari's kittens, she was making crying sounds for nearly 2-3 days. Thank god, Jinju is searching for the missing kittens only once in a while, otherwise she seems to be happy feeding Goalie and playing with her. Goalie must be missing her siblings (I think it is a 'she', so I might have written her as 'he' sometimes, in the photo comments!), but now, she is playing with me and her mother.

Long back, our house was called 'Naai veedu', thanks to our dog, Andrew, now, I think I will be called 'Cat Woman'!

By the way, all the three kittens are GIRLS!

Comments are welcome to the photos in the album too!

Purrfect bus ride of a cat and the story of our Andrew!

Today I came across this interesting video:

A cat has become such a well-known user of a Devon bus service that its drivers know where to let him off.

Casper has been queuing with other passengers to get the number three service from his home in Plymouth for months, bus company First said.

The company says the cat often curls up on a seat during the ride.

This reminded me of our dog, Andrew who was behaving like this, yes, nearly!

We lived in a Colony in Hosur (Tamilnadu border town near Karnataka) for some six years. The place is an Industrial town and most of the residents were people from outside the States. All of us had family friends, who were very close to each other.  We, three families were very very close - when the children had holidays, the children lived in each others' houses for two three days too!  And we had the habit of leaving our children with our friend's family, if we had to attend some function of our relatives in Chennai or Udupi or they used to send their children to our house if they had to go out of station.  All the three families had two children each, nearly of same age group. All of them went to the same school too.  I had one extra child, Andrew, our dog!  

One of my friend's house was some 3 Km. away from my place.  We had an auto stand in one corner of our colony and the autowallas were very familiar with our families.  We used to use these autos for going to their (my friend's) colony.  Sometimes, we sent our children and Andrew together in these autos to their house, if we, I or my husband, didn't have time to go there.  The auto drivers and all the colony people were familiar with Andrew, our house was in a corner on the main road and the house was called 'naai veedu' (dog house!) by some people, I was told!

Once my friend came home with her children in the morning and planned to leave in the evening.  When she started bidding us farewell, our Andrew went out.  Initially, we didn't give much  importance to his behaviour.  After 5 mts. we were still chatting on the door step and heard an auto coming and stopping near us! And the driver came out and laughingly said that Andrew went to him and sat inside the auto and he brought him home! Then, it struck to us...this fellow thinking that he was also going to my friends house or wanted to go with them (outing!), happily went and brought the auto! 

Actually, they had just come for a visit, but feeling 'paavam' at Andrew took him home along with them and my husband went and brought him back the next day!

The Story of our cat, Zorro, his wives and kids (kittens)!

This is our Saadhu Maharaj, Zorro!

Our family's first cat was Koyla (she was a black cat!), who came home on a rainy day! She was with us and entertained us for around 3 years and then fell into our neighbour's well and died. Her story will come later! Everyone knew how she was pampered at our home. After she died, a person who knew how much we missed her, presented us with another black kitten! He was named 'Zorro' by my son!

He was a tiny skinny kitten, very scared about any moving thing. My husband started feeding him so much that he was bored to - forget about running - even move himself. He loved to sit on my lap and if I lifted and cuddled him, talked to him, he used to touch my cheek with his hand, with a happy, small meeyaav sound! In the beginning, he used to open our bedroom door at night, by jumping on the handle, come inside and sleep with us! Slowly, we changed that habit by locking the door and he stopped waking us up at night!

He comes home often with wounds on his face (it looks a bit distorted now with all the war-wounds he had with other male/female cats!) and my husband promptly applies 'Nebasulf' powder on them!

Two years back, we had gone on a holiday tour for around 3 weeks. My son said that whenever he came home, he saw Zorro sleeping on the diwan and another black cat, which we had seen roaming in our backyard sometimes (we had misunderstood it to be his kitten because she was black and small made!), lying on the sofa set or sometimes on the diwan! Both of them must have come in through the netlon window. After we came back, she did not come inside but was visible in our back yard. Then we saw her bulging tummy and one day she came inside through our window with her kittens (carrying one by one with her mouth) and settled down at home with her husband!

This is Ammaakkaari, who invaded our house with her (and Zorro's?!) kittens!

We called her Zorrotti in the beginning (Zorro's kutti) and then changed it to Ammaakkaari after she came home with her kittens! She was a very smart cat. She delivered for the second time in the wardrobe in my son's room upstairs, where we kept old bedsheets. 3 black rat-like kittens. After maybe two or three days, one day she came down the stairs, making some weird sound as if she was trying to convey something to my husband. My husband was looking at her, not knowing what to do. She just started going back up on the stairs, looking back at him. My husband and I followed her. She went and stood in front of the wardrobe. I bent and checked the kittens. One was missing. When I searched for it, I found it under the 3 bedsheets' bundle! I took it out and showed it to her and she was so happy! I could sense it. She just sat with all the three kittens, licking them and feeding them. Who said that the animals don't talk...Ammaakkaari did talk!

This is Ammaakkaari with Zorro, at our backyard!

The above photograph was taken, after her first batch of 3 kittens were almost 2 months old! I had seen a tigress lying down like this in front of a tiger, in a programme in Animal Planet. Ammakkaari was rolling on her back on the ground. Zorro was just watching her!

She delivered twice - 3 black velvet bundles each time and we distributed them to our friends and relatives after the kittens were 2 months old. Kept Nero from the first batch and ET, from the second batch. But they went missing after sometime. They were beautiful black velvet kittens with fluffy tails. Somebody must have taken them home. We sent off Ammaakkaari also to one of our friend's house, because she kept on delivering once in 4 months...phoof!

This is Jinju - Zorro's (known) second wife!

We had seen Jinju, sitting on our compound wall often in the mornings. She was just sitting there, watching the surroundings or dozing till afternoon. Sometimes she used to make some familiar sound, when I went out for plucking flowers in the morning. She was also small-made like Ammaakkaari, when we saw her for the first time.

Once Zorro went missing for 3 days and on the 4th night, came back and asked my husband to open the backyard door (my husband always stands in attention in front of all our pets, whether it was our dog or cats and they used that attitude of his to the hilt! He runs to them to open the door or feed, even when he is watching a 'winning stage' cricket match!). Zorro was standing on the first step, trying to come inside and then my husband saw another cat behind him and it was the one which was sitting on our compound wall! My husband blocked Zorro and said 'nee varathunna vaa, un friend varakkoodathu! (you come inside if you want, your friend should not come in)!' You won't believe, he turned and went off, with the other cat behind him! He came back home after another 2 days, this time alone!

After this incident, the new cat was visible on our compound wall, for another week or so. Then, one day, my husband was standing on the front door steps and the new cat came down from the compound wall and started talking to him. My husband was just watching her. Then she slowly came up, brushed herself on my husband's pant, walked inside the door and my husband turned and saw Zorro standing inside the door, just looking at her! Hmmm...'paavam, irukkattum ithuvum' my husband said (poor thing, let her also be here)! That is how, Jinju settled down in our house! Now she is VERY pregnant and we might have more kittens roaming in our house any day and I can do another 'kitten' post!

This is Zorro and Jinju, relaxing!

I have noticed that the female cats are more ferocious (like female dogs) than their male counterparts. Ammaakkaari used to hit Zorro on his face with her left hand often, when she was bored! Jinju also does it! They do this when Zorro just sits and watch them or when he walks past them! Sometimes they hit him 'tup tup tup' continuously 2-3 times! Zorro just walks off! I have got photographs of Zorro, Ammaakkaari and the black kittens together, in the album of 'Zorro's family'! Have a look and enjoy!

Nero is learning to play guitar, seriously, from his Anna!

More interesting photographs of 'Zorro's family'!

You can also access this album directly and post your comments for each photograph, if you so wish.

Edited to add a new photo of Jinju with her new kittens (18.01.10):

 

Earlier posts of the kittens!