Cat tails

It's a cat that gets along with me. And not one of my own. With a dirty black nose and enormous potential for growth, here's a cat that is spoilt silly -- much like my Thomas, but younger, more sprightly.

I used to have a blog called 'Cat tails' for awhile till I deleted it. Cats and dogs may be the most favoured in the world of pets, but they ain't the only pet-worthy creatures around. Manu and I once had a pet caterpillar named Cappy. He wasn't the type that turned into a butterfly. He didn't live in a cap. He ate tomatoes for lunch and dinner, and had shades placed over his Chinese food plastic bowl home lined with leaves to protect him from the direct rays of the sun. There is something called "too much Vitamin D" if you happen to be a caterpillar, we assumed. He didn't live long though, our Cappy, and we still miss him, Manu and I.

I'm glad the black-nosed cat and I get along though. Yes, he's too lazy to jump. And yes, he seems to have all the ingredients to become a white-hot casanova someday -- one of those moon-faced cats that seem to only know how to make mating calls. And I can imagine him being one of those feline Hugh Hefner type people with Playboy kitties hanging all around him. Aah.. if you happen to be a house cat, could life be any better?

PS: I wrote a review of the new The Mummy movie while chatting online last night. And it turned out pretty long -- I wasn't exactly expecting that to happen. :P

Day 34

My dog died last night. So this is not going to be a long post. I'm not even going to wax eloquent and launch into a funeral speech. I'm not in the mood for that. Instead, here's a picture of Cindy the Dachshund:

This was coming for awhile now. And Ma was glad that she could bury her in a nice place. In fact, at the cemetry, they even gave her a letter from Cindy that went like this:

My dearest Master,

I am lucky to have had a Master who loved me enough to see that I was laid to rest with dignity. The word "interweb" has become fashionable these days. There is, however, a Cosmic Interweb of Souls which cuts across the barriers of this world, and this is what brought me into your home & heart...

I lived to bring you joy, to get your love and give you all I had, in my own funny way. Now, I am gone and you live on. For the love I bore you, and for the love you have for me and for the interweb which binds all beings, I make this parting plea:

"Live for those who love you,
For those that think you true,
For the heaven that is above you,
And the hope you have in view,
For the cause that needs assistance,
For the wrongs that need resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that you can do."

Your loving pet,
Cindy
Date: 20/05/08

P.S.: We never did go to a breeder to buy Cindy. She was on her way to being abandoned when Ma decided to keep her for a few days, till things worked out in her original home. But things never did work out there and Cindy stayed on with us and became a part of our family. She will be missed.

Day 23

23 days of blogging. 23 years of living. I will soon turn 24. Sigh. But it's still better than turning 25. I actually have friends who turn 25 this year. It's kinda scary.

I saw a Kingfisher on the TV antenna of the next building this morning. In between gulping porridge (my daily breakfast -- preferred b'cause it's convenient) and hunting for the green comb, I had to take the cupboard key out of the pouch in my bag, open the drawer, take out the camera and click this blue wonder. Here are two pics (the same pic actually). Sadly, I could not zoom in any more than this:



I guess I'm not much of a photographer. The bird looked much prettier in real life. Also, I'm not even sure that it is a Kingfisher. Do let me know if you happen to know what it is. The body is almost electric blue (if that helps).

Life at office has been cold today. I was sitting at Shreya's comp today with the blast being directly over my head. I shivered through most of today even while most other Kolkatans were complaining about the heat.

I really have to finish that Grisham book today. Have been falling asleep with my nose in it for three nights running. How embarrassing to be reading a pulpy book for so long. Sheesh! It's a good read though.

Note: Ma read my earlier post this morning and was aghast at being made the villain of the piece. To be fair, she merely did not want me to finish up most of the grapes (as I am wont to do) before the sister got her fruit salad ready for school.

This being a not-terribly-exciting day, I will sign off at this point.

Day 13

The star of today's show is Minimum the Cat (sister of Maximum the Cat who had his first brush with stardom on my last post):


Now the reason why I wanted a cat picture on my blog:

I have been wanting to change my name for awhile. Pooja is too common, and Chakrabarty isn't foxy enough. So I had decided that when I do get hitched, I won't hold on to my surname for dear life (God knows there are enough Chakrabarty-s with all kinds of spellings in the world). But that doesn't mean I'd happily slip into hubby-dahling's surname either. I'd like to go the whole hog and change both names at one go.

So Coffee Stain and I threw around some names for awhile, and came up with Chesire Ratatattat for me (since I like and have cats and have a Chesire Cat-ish grin). Coffee opted to be the Mad Hatter. Moolah is the Rabbit who's always late. Both Moolah and Rabbit keep grumbling all the time. And we decided that Dreamy should the sleepy Dormouse coz she is Dreamy after all.

Anybody else who:
(a) Wants to be a character from Alice in Wonderland;
(b) Would like to change his/her name;
(c) Can think of a better name for me; or
(d) Has nothing better to do than post comments on random blogs...
...is welcome to comment.

Day 12

This is what I will be munching on in a while. Despite the punnable name on this pack of Cheetos, it happens to be my favourite munchy in the whole wide world (most times).

I wanted to be lazy and not take any picture, but I wanted a cat photo for this post, and the cat that posed yesterday (Minimum the Cat) didn't seem photogenic enough. So I did the next best thing. I shook awake her brother and got him to pose for some pictures. He insisted on looking away at first:

He was sleepy, and irritable at being disturbed. But I pressed on:

Till he deigned to open his eyes ever so slightly:

And said, "Let me get this over with and get this crazy female off my back. Waking me up to pose for a stupid camera." And so he did pose -- just that once (albeit a little halfheartedly). Ladies and gentlemen [drum roll], put your hands together for Maximum the Cat:

And that's all folks. More bad pictures and useless ramblings tomorrow.

Day 11

And today is the day I post a pic I took all by myself with my new (but secondhand and I got it cheap) 5mp Nikon camera :D

It is a very stupid picture. But you are not allowed to say terrible things about it. As in, I can't do much even if you do say horrible things. But then "Beware of Dog" signs don't always work.

Anyway, without much ado, here it is:

Meet the stuffed Mummy tiger with Baby tiger that sits on my bed day after day staring at the wall. It must be a very boring existence, but mother and son don't complain. Not even when I use 'em as a pillow. I did that for a few weeks till I got a new pillow. Incidentally, this tiger duo that shouts "Hug me" belongs to my sister; as does the book that lies stylishly strewn (:D) next to Tiggey dear. If you'll look closely, you'll find that it is a Full House book with Stephanie and one of the Olsen twins (before they became anorexic glam dolls) on the cover.

***

Today I came home by tram. It took me fifteen minutes more than if I had taken an auto. I also realised that I mind travelling that slow. But the interesting thing is that if you are not looking outta the window, you may not even notice that the tram is taking a turn. Quite a different ball game from an auto ride where you run the risk of falling out if the driver decides to suddenly turn into a super-narrow lane off Royd Street.

***

The people in my office have never had banana chips, which I think is pretty weird.

***

Day 5: Half Dead

Today, I feel like a zombie. Have done too much work all this week. I really need a vacation by the sea and a day in a Swiss spa.

I'm going to watch 'Horton Hears a Who!' tomorrow. Plus, there's that guitar waiting to be bought.

I'm so tired I can't write. Even though I want to talk about the stray dog in my area that suddenly fell in love with me and followed me to the puchkawala, waited for me to finish, and then followed me home. This despite the sweat and the grime from Chandni. He must really love me to follow me around in this heat. I'm touched.

Again, please check out my site: www.ilovekolkata.in. And send me some comments, etc.

My Pet Llama

adopt your own virtual pet!

I think she's super-cute. And what's more? She's a sprinter. Wins every race in llamaland!

Sugar on My Bread

My dog Sugar wakes up at 5 every morning and goes bonkers on a regular basis. While my other two dogs lie around stretching and peering through still-sleepy eyes, Sugar is already on the run, racing at top speed from bedroom to dining&drawing room to second bedroom back to dining&drawing room to first bedroom and back again. This carries on for awhile with Sugar doing the Licky-Licky exercise where she pokes her cold, wet nose inside blankets and covers, finds a face and goes lick-lick-lick, till the face hiding under the blankets and covers tries (in vain) to push Sugar away. This only acts as a further spur to Her Great Lickiness, and the lick-lick-lick continues till the victim (yours truly) decides enough is enough and shouts in a voice dripping with annoyance and helpless irritation: SUGAR!!! GO AWAY!

She generally does go away with her tail between her legs after encountering such an outburst, but by the next day she is back once again, her tail moving like a helicopter's propellor as she focusses on the Licky-Licky exercise to awaken the world (read: ME).

Vacation Post 2

I'm back home in Kolkata with all the dogs and the cats and the squall and the car honkings. It isn't quite as chilly as I had thought it might be; though Kolkatans in general can be seen wrapped up in thick, brown sweaters with mufflers covering their ears for fear that they might fall off in the cold. My feet have been shivering a little, but I refuse to wear socks.

Not too many people know that I'm back in Kol for Christmas. I think I will keep it that way for awhile.

There is just one worrisome new development. I don't know what to buy me for Christmas. I was contemplating getting a dress, but given that I practically live in my jeans and everything else goes into storage, I'm not sure that this is a good idea. I'm probably not even going partying this year (how seriously dull am I??) and am in no mood to get yet another good-looking outfit that will occupy precious cupboard space.

I've been talking a lot of late: Blabber jabber blabber jabber. It is rather out of character for me, but I am enjoying this talkative incarnation of myself. (I think I use a lot of "but"s in my sentences.)

One of my two black cats is basking in the sun. His eyes are drooping with sleep as he stretches out his long, elegant legs. I adore his panther-like attitude. And he's only a house cat.

It is good to be a house cat. You can pick out the sunniest spots in the winter. Hot food is given to you twice a day. You don't have to wash the dishes. Owners with cold feet are happy to have you around. And if you live with dogs, you have 24-hour access to entertainment as well.

I actually have nothing to say today. Am just typing for the sake of it. I wrote for about an hour on my flight to Kol the other day. I thought it was fairly blogworthy but I don't think I have the patience to type it all out.
In bullet points:
1. I was the second person on the plane.
2. I refused to have overpriced flight food that was not included in the fare.
3. The people beside me came with a whole red bag of yummy food (maybe this does deserve a post of its own).
4. The flight reached half an hour early (What luck!).
5. I was the first person off the plane :D
6. My luggage did not make me wait for too long. Though Ma did.
7. And I got paid for that freelance project. Yay!

War in Bitch-Land

(Sugar and Candy shall be the stars of this post. Yes, those are the names of two of my three four-legged bitches. The third one is Sindy. No, I don't have any two-legged bitches. Yes, it might have been nice to have a few of those to carry my bag and things.)

Well, Sugar and Candy had a fight over lunch yesterday. They animals at my place have a very lovely lunch of kheema and rice on most days (even when us humans have to make do with saag and daal and bhaat). Three plates are set aside for the three dogs of the house. Three identical steel plates, so that none of the three feels left out or mistreated.

But yesterday, something went wrong.

Both Sugar and Candy wanted to eat out of the same plate. I assume Candy muttered, "Bitch" under her breath. And Sugar went for her. Candy is slightly bigger than Sugar, but Her Little Tykeness was angered now. Somebody tried to move Sugar out, but she was holding fast. Finally I (got to be the hero finally) came and dragged the wounded Candy out of what was clearly a very bloody, one-sided fight.

Candy got the hero treatment despite her obvious defeat. She was made to rest on the bed with two bandaged paws and one bandaged ear. The wounded soldier look won her sympathy and attention. She even got to eat from the 'disputed' plate on Grandma's bed!!

Sugar -- the villain of the piece -- got the cold shoulder. Being the friendliest of the three bitches, she usually gets the most affection. After the bitchfight, she was getting nothing but angry looks. Pretend angry looks even, for it was difficult to remain angry at her woebegone demeanor.

Her eyes were big, watery, and apologetic. Her tail drooped as low as it possibly could. And she silently followed anybody who passed her way. She didn't even plonk herself on the sofa last evening. That dog has truly mastered the art of apologizing. Maybe she should start her own classes: Sugar's Say Sorry Seem Sorry Session!

Things are better today. Candy took off all her bandages. All on her ownsome. She's limping a little, but seems no worse for the wear. Sugar has realized that she has been forgiven, and has plonked herself on the sofa again.

And we shall all live happily ever after.

Till the next four-legged crisis occurs.

When Tom Caught Lizzy

Just caught my cats eating a lizard. A medium-sized one that had gone white with fear. Or maybe those were his camouflaging tactics. If the latter, then the camouflage tricks were definitely faulty. Didn't work on the cats. And even I had no problem spotting it hanging out from my black cat's mouth, head first. Gross.

Everybody was (is) asleep. So there was no lizard-non-fearing person that I could turn to for help. I bravely went to the kitchen to see if I could rescue the poor reptile. Though to be honest my main concern was that my felines will fall sick after eating Lizzy dear. We have had that happen before.

So I went in to the kitchen pretending to be a rescuer. The three cats were circling around the poor tail-less thing. I gave them a whispered shout, so as to not wake any of the sleeping humans.

The whispered shout had the desired effect. The two cats jumped on to the fridge. It was then that I saw it. The tail was lying right beside its owner. It was twitching as though it was still connected to the reptilian heart that pumped cold blood into its veins.

I was no knight in shining armor. With everyone asleep, I could not scream (my usual reaction on seeing a lizard on the floor). So I squeaked. Twice. Maybe a third time. High-pitched squeaks that woke my Grandma. The tail continued to twitch. But the squeaks chased the cats away.

However, as it always happens in an overpopulated home, Sugar the dog decided to take a midnight walk and sniff at the shitty-brown animal. I thought she opened her mouth to give it a lick, but the lizard bolted. At least, I hope it did. Sugar comes every morning and licks my face. It is gross-ish on normal days. Lizard remains would make it worse.

But I'm hoping that Lizzy dear has managed to escape. I don't like lizards. But hate and fright need not always manifest itself in cruelty. I don't want my cats to play cat and mouse with either mice, birds, or reptiles.

Even as I type these noble words, I'm scared that the lizard is trekking all over our kitchen, drawing, and dining room floor. Wonder what would keep it from entering my room and climbing on to the mattress. I don't have the protection of a well-raised bed, and lizards are known to take a stroll just where they are not wanted.

Nightmare lizards, go away!

P.S.: The title for this post sounds strangely like one for a love story. Hope you weren't misled by it.

Update ten minutes later: Black cat Maxi's mom, a.k.a. black cat Ebony, just came into my room from the kitchen licking her lips and looking satisfied. She then snuggled up to a pillow and is now in catnap heaven. I think I can safely say that Lizzy is on its way to Lizard's Paradise.

On Reading "Marley and Me"

Imagine a loopy, ultra-energetic, adorably stupid dog with an unsatiable appetite for everything starting from dog food to hamburgers to dog leashes to gold chains to chicken poop. Sell him to a couple who want a little practice raising a baby dog before they start raising baby humans. Add the baby humans in the span of a few years. Garnish with stories of auditions and thunder-storm-phobias and stealing food and defecating in the sea and running away with tables and voila! You have the story of Marley and Me.

This memoir-novel by John Grogan relates the author's experiences with what is arguably the world's worst canine. Funny and heartfelt, this is a must-read for anyone who has ever loved an animal. And for people who are yet to meet the right pet, the novel yields the one secret that anyone who has ever owned a pet already knows: "There are no perfect pets; only terrific ones."

Read the book if you want to turn the last page feeling warm, fuzzy, and a little misty-eyed.

Ant Attack!

I hate ants. Change that. I hate red ants. The black ones are quite okay.

The point is: I hate red ants. And they have taken over my bed. Why? Because the other night I was having chocolate and I forgot (read: felt too lazy) to chuck the wrapper into the bin. And the ants came marching in, treasure-hunting (that rhymes!). Since then, ants have been taken over my territory, and have been attacking like nobody's business!
:(

Moral of the story: Use dustbins. Stay ant-free.

Saturday Miscellany

Most exciting thing today? Stopped a dog fight at home. A common feature of life with three female dogs -- the rise of bitchiness!
***

Started reading Orhan Pamuk's The White Castle. It's short, quick reading, child-like, dreamy, and amusing-without-trying-at-all-hard. Very Charles Lamb-ish actually. Someday I will go to Istanbul and meet Pamuk. Someday. (I really need to get my passport done ASAP!)
***

Made a lot of progress with the chapter I've been trying to complete. Will definitely be done by tomorrow. 2 pages now. 2 pages tomorrow morning. And ta-dah! Also getting the hang of dialogue-baaji now.
***

I don't like shopping for clothes anymore. I don't even see the point in looking at them. They just don't seem cost-effective enough. (Am I turning into a guy??) Facing a serious shortage of clothes now. Great abundance of books -- That's what I mostly end up buying when I find no appropriate clothes. Need to reverse the trend for at least a while.

This Week's Resolution: Will go clothes shopping! And buy clothes!
***

Sunday Entertainment

Life is getting better again. (Though I'm going to be loaded with work starting tomorrow.)

Watched Serendipity today. First time. Liked it quite a bit. Wish John Cusack was a little cuter though.

Went to buy clothes. Came back with music (bought a set of 3 CDs for 399/-). And a book (Arundhati Roy's essays). Don't know when I'll start reading it though.

Currently trying to read Joyce's Ulysses. It's proving to be quite an effort. Can't manage over 20 pages at a time! And the whole thing is 733 pages on Microsoft Word!

Also reading Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey. Not necessarily a light read, but a good read, and 50 pages at a time is not terribly difficult. Moreover, it's inspired me to start writing dialogue. (I had some earlier... but it looked amateurish. Now, having taken notes, and looked up writing tips on the web, I am doing a better job. I discovered what was missing all this time. Lots of rewriting going on now.)

Wrestled with my dog today. After ages. She isn't the young pup she used to be. Neither am I. But today, both of us had high energy levels. So we had ten minutes of uninterrupted mixed-species wrestling. No winners or losers were declared.

These days Shugz (the other dog) comes to wake me up every morning, then gets under my sheet, curls up, and goes to sleep. There's such joy in that!

The dachshund is sleeping like a log now. She has become really fat. Waddles everywhere. Looks a little like a seal. Love her loads.

Wonderment and Other Things

I seem to be getting overloaded with work as the days go by. I think I need to put my foot down somewhere. But up on cloud no. 9, everywhere I put my foot, it's just air. I wonder... do people actually fall off from their cloud no. 9s? It would be funny, wouldn't it, to suddenly have a person fall into your verandah (a species of room that is extinct in Mumbai middle class homes), while you are quietly contemplating how the smog levels have been rising? And you think: "I wonder how these smog levels have been rising, rising, rising..." when THUD! You've got a person sitting on your verandah floor wondering what the hell just happened!
***

Just read a post about an Alice in Plasticland. Well, it had some other name, but it was about an Alice (the one Mr. Caroll created) who lived in a land where everyone was plastic. The first two paragraphs of the tale read very well (I was beginning to get insecure about my own stories). But they lost steam somewhere. I was both -- relieved and disappointed. It is sad when a story that has promise fizzles out before you can say "Can I have some popcorn!" Such a pity!
***

Popcorm and movies go together. This weekend I went to watch Ratatouille. The point of the movie was that "Anybody can cook". And if you generalize that statement just a little more, it means "Anybody can do whatever it is that they like in the world". So Mr. Rat can cook, Miss Muffet can become a pest control advisor, Georgie Porgie can give up the stress of kissing the ladies and start leading the life of a parish priest. Aah.. so many possibilities. Maybe some day my dogs will be able to open the door instead of barking their heads off trying to get someone else to open it for them.

....

I'm part of a very noisy family. Taken one by one, we are all quiet fellows and fellees. But put us all together, and get ready for chaos, confusion, and commotion. What with all the screeches and babies dancing in circles and dogs chasing cats and cats stealing bones and people ringing doorbells and dogs barking at the door and people pushing out the dogs to open the door.

Today's a Sunday and I worked all day… and I mean ALL day! One of the side effects of working from home and taking one day off mid-week to go and get sloshed! But I'm free now and am finally feeling like it is Sunday.

The smiley face persists. I hope I don't end up looking like my warped Orkut picture eventually! Yeah… The warped pic has been getting a lot of attention… Far more than my pretty pics do… There really is no accounting for taste these days!!!

Kol is too humid these days. I need to run off to the Alps or something.

And I think I will go and do some serious writing now. Have been pretty lazy of late! Get back to work girl!

It's raining elephants now. This is what I love most about the monsoons. Strong winds. Lots of thunder and lightning. The coolth that the less dramatic seasons lack. My favorite season of the whole year. Makes me want to fly. Sing into the clouds. Dream my secret dream. Sit on the window and just think and do nothing else. The monsoons -- exciting, passionate, alive, angry, intense, magical, dramatic -- I love 'em!

Deleting Ugliness

This has to be the ugliest blog in the history of bloggerama! I need to fix it. This has to be the ugliest green. The font is all wrong. There are no pictures. Aaaargh. Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! And I am the caretaker of this stupendous ugliness!
***
I finally decided to delete somebody from my life. After years of telling myself that people are generally nice... I decided to cut this dumb wannabe dude out of my list of "Nice" people.. and hence, outta my life. (Sounds corny when I write it. Doesn't sound at all corny in my head.)
P.S.: I did hesitate a little before hitting the final delete button.
***
My kuttis are sprawled over my bed. One is flat on her back with her legs up in the air. Sigh.. I wish i were a dog.
Change that. I wish I were a famous dog.
***
I need to get a boyfriend. Its been ages since i went on a date... Over a year at least. Is it time to break my oath of loyalty to singledom? And who will i break it with? Now that is the real question.
***

Getting My Goat!

Some people really get my goat. Insensitivity drives me wild even when I'm in my best moods. Now if only that wasn't just a goat. I wish it was some manic-psychotic, scum-chewing, flesh-pricking ghoul that specialized in bad jokes and smelly farts. Sigh... Then all those insensitive blokes would know better than to get MY goat!!