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Cats and Love


No less a psychologist than Freud said that the “time spent with cats is never wasted.” I find time to spend with cats precisely for that reason. They are not easy to love, particularly if they are the country variety which are not quite tameable, and mine are those. What makes my love affair with my cats special is precisely their unwillingness to befriend me. They’d rather be in their own company.

“In ancient time, cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this,” Terry Pratchett says. My cats haven’t, I’m sure. Pratchett knew what he was speaking about because he loved cats which appear frequently in his works. Pratchett’s cats love independence, very unlike dogs. Dogs come when you call them; cats take a message and get back to you as and when they please. I don’t have dogs. But my brother’s dogs visit us – Maggie and me – every evening. We give them something to eat and they love that. They spend time with us after eating. My cats just go away without even a look after having their food.

I love cats in spite of all that. In spite of their being sophisticated without being civilised. In spite of their beating my alarm by waking me up just about half an hour earlier and asking for food. As soon as I get out of bed, Kingini and Plato will escort me, one on the left and the other on the right, to the cupboard where their food is kept.

Usually my cats spend most of their time outdoors. They love to play on the terrace which is roofed. But this evening witnessed heavy rains. Maybe that’s why they chose to spend time indoors and let me pet them a bit too. Here are some pics from this evening.

Little Dora making herself cosy in my lap under her brother Plato's vigil.

Kingini and Plato - Mother and Son
Dora - Kingini's new arrival, nearly 3 months old now

Quite many of my friends and relatives don’t understand my love for cats. They think me crazy. The truth is – my truth, of course – cats are like music. You either love it or you don’t. Love can’t be explained any more than the pleasures of music can be.

 

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Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanNovember 4, 2024 at 8:29 PM

    Hari OM
    Quite so! YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Samuel GeorgeNovember 4, 2024 at 10:23 PM

    Indescribable how these little creatures add to our life experience. I have one and he's restless. Loves chasing hens around him. Recently, he became acquainted with another cat in our locality and now they share the same plate.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Liz A.November 4, 2024 at 10:34 PM

    I'm more of a cat person, too. You don't have to entertain cats. They can take care of themselves, mostly. Dogs are very needy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. magiceyeNovember 5, 2024 at 7:13 AM

    Lovely cats!
    Humans keep dogs and cats keep humans!

    ReplyDelete

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