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Romancing with Nature

 Kingini and Plato have no aesthetic sense. They are killers by instinct, I think. Sadistic too. They catch the prey and play with it until it is rendered lifeless. Once the prey is dead, Kingini and Plato will abandon it and go in search of another victim. 

Kingini and Plato are my cats. Mother and son, both together have driven quite a few creatures here to extinction, I think. Lizards and chameleons are their usual victims. The cicadas have fallen silent in the bushes. Once in a while Kingini and Plato discover a small snake too to play with. Highly venomous ones!

What worries me these days is their newfound fondness for butterflies. They have become experts in catching butterflies. They just sit and watch a butterfly for a while and then one jump - the butterrfly will be in their mouth. By the time I rush to save the little creature, it is usually too late. Most of the time I don't see these hunts. I see only the dead remains of the tiny beauties. 

Nature is full of such cruelty, I know. One question that has always risen in my mind and which I articulate frequently in my classes is: Did the same God create both the lion and the deer? As William Blake might put it: What immortal hand or eye framed the fearful symmetry of the tiger? Did that same hand mould the meek and mild lamb too? 

Let me conclude this little Sunday musing with a few pics of Kingini and Plato in the farm I inherited from my father. 

Plato on his hunt. You can see Kingini's tail on the left. Both Kingini and Plato are there in the pic below. 
While clicking these snaps, I noticed the beauty of the palm tree which had burst into an efflorescence without my notice. The thick growth of weeds didn't go without my notice. The incessant rains kept me away from the farm for long. It's time to take out the hoe and the billhook. 



If you really observe nature and also deal with it personally, you won't be as romantic about it as Rousseau. 

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanJuly 21, 2024 at 10:37 AM

    Hari Om
    Raw in tooth and claw...🙂 YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. marietta pereiraJuly 21, 2024 at 12:26 PM

    It is the survival of the fittest in life and in nature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 21, 2024 at 1:09 PM

      But cats are perhaps the only creatures who kill just for fun!

      Delete
  3. magiceyeJuly 21, 2024 at 6:24 PM

    Cats are hunters by nature. Once they get their food laid out for them in their bowls they will hunt and kill because that's what they do!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Liz A.July 22, 2024 at 5:24 AM

    Yes, cats can be vicious. But then they purr for you and all is forgiven.

    ReplyDelete
  5. peppylady (Dora)July 23, 2024 at 9:13 AM

    Never known and animal name Plato.

    ReplyDelete
  6. vanderloostJuly 25, 2024 at 5:36 AM

    Lovely pics of the farm. Plato and Kingini are practical.

    ReplyDelete

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