Tomichan Matheikal's blog

One of my cats, Brownie How many times have you wished to be somebody else? To be the emperor of Akhand Bharat Or be in the Forbes list of karotpat. Serpents may long for wings, Tea vendors can long to be kings. Like I want to be a poet Or at least a muse’s cigarette.   Cats The only creatures That don’t want to be Anything else. They are contended To be what they are.   When they are hungry They know how to get the food From you And if you don’t know What they want It’s your loss They will go And bring serpents And play with them In your bedroom.   Cats They love you So much That they will sleep Between your legs When you are asleep And go away without a word of thanks Or regret Or any sentiment silly When you wake up Loving their warmth Between your legs.   They don’t need you. You need them. Try loving a cat If you don’t believe me.   The cat’s love will make you s...

Bob, before his adventure Bob’s body is punctuated with wounds and scars. Most of them are inflicted by Modiji. A couple of them are knife wounds which only humans could have inflicted. Bob is my beloved cat. Modiji is possibly Bob’s father because he is the only male cat that comes from somewhere and imposes his Mann ki Baat on my females, Dessie and Brownie. Bob resembles Modiji physically. Beyond the physical similarities, however, they have nothing in common. Modiji was harmless until Bob grew up to adulthood and started courting Dessie and Brownie. Now Modiji and Bob are rivals. And Bob is the invariable loser in their countless encounters. I named the marauder Modiji only because of his unexpected onslaughts on my beloved Bob. Modiji emerges from nowhere at totally unexpected hours – even in the middle of the night – and pounces on Bob. The assaults remind me of: ·       the farm laws which led to a yearlong agitation ·     ...

Bobs Zachariah is one of my favourite writers in Malayalam. The latest issue of Mathrubhumi (Malayalam weekly) carries one of his short stories titled Karunan Cat . Since I have three cats of my own and two of my neighbour’s that seem determined to eat only with my ones, any writing about cats draws my immediate attention. When Zachariah writes, the attention becomes ever more engrossing.   The story is set in Delhi of 1977. Karunan, the cat-protagonist, is living in an upper middle class household in Defence Colony. His great ancestor was a Persian cat that was gifted by the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, to one of his beautiful concubines. After Shah was exiled, the concubine slept with many British VIPs and the Persian cat had many local mates. In spite of the miscegenation of his ancestors, Karunan had all the charms of the Persian ancestor and hence was loved by the upper-class Delhiites who fed him the purest cow milk. But Ramakrishnan and Nalini are going to...

Have a nice ride! But remember: being on top is always a risky job.