Hello lovely people of the cosmos, its me again!
Over the years I have earned many nicknames, be it ‘Raindall’ by the lovely , Ms. Swarali our marathi teacher or ‘Rydell the Bridal'(whatever that meant). But there is one that was developed pretty recently and I’m sure if you know me you’d go ‘OMG that suits you so much!’, yes ladies and gentlewomans(looking at you Ms. Swarali, the Marathi teacher). Over the past two years I have been called ‘The mad cat man’. I’m not even sure if its because I hiss at people for touching my food or the fact that my Instagram account is flooded with cats or the fact that my cat is sitting on my lap right now and going all like ‘Bro, food,now!’. So yes, today I am going to be talking about my experience with owning a cat with the most purr-fection(See what I did there! See SEE.) way paw-sible(AGAIN, BOOYA!).
So it began one evening where I was feeling lazy(story of my life, brah.) where I was plotting to cancel a plan(seriously, this line defines me!). I decided to not cancel because I heard my mom shouting from the next room, didn’t hear much but something along the lines of ‘clean, filthy and kill you’ were being thrown around. After getting ready and escaping near impending death from my sweet but oh so OCD mom, I met the friends near a pre-decided restaurant. The place we went to was super expensive and we were feeling so weird about it considering we were all so broke and obviously not fit for the class this place had thrown towards us. I mean, the frigging doorman said ‘Good evening, How are you today?’. Bro, I don’t even do that to people I love. Anyway, I was already regretting my decision to leave the house when these guys suggested that we go to a place that was so much more my type, you know! the place where the waiters don’t lay down forks and spoons in this elegant way and give you dirty looks when you don’t ‘compliment the chef’.
It was a rather cold night and we were walking the walk of shame after the waiters refused us a second marshmallow, I mean who refuses you something like that? Die! We were about to reach the place when across the road I saw two of my college pal, standing at the divider looking preoccupied. I being me, can’t let life go without being a weirdo I ran to greet them. But before I could shout something weird, I looked down at what they were looking at and there she was, my future best friend, my life, love and the one who would scratch me for food. Of course, back then I had this hatred for cats. I used to call them selfish, evil, etc etc. I mean, you have to live with a cat to love a cat, ya know?
There she was, a small helpless little thing. She was crying, almost chirping so loud for her mother who evidently was not returning. I wanted to help so bad, but we weren’t allowed to keep pets at home at that time and I knew that no NGO or animal rescue would come at this point of the night. In sheer desperation, we took her accross the road to this shady hospital compound where there were other cats and their kittens. We tried to see if her mother was this one maybe? sitting here all cool and all with 4 other kittens. But when the cat literally hissed at us and threatened to smack the kitten, we quickly realized that we need to make a choice here. Leave her here for natural selection or find her someplace safe. The tension was building up, no one had a place where they could just take in a kitten like that. I literally had my heart beating so hard in my chest, my hands were tied. What could I do? More importantly, if I did manage this night, where would she go tomorrow?
”You know what? Fuck it!”. The words shot out of my mouth before I realized what I was about to say. ”I’ll take her in.” My friends were just staring at me in a bit of shock and asked me if I was sure about this. But I had made up my mind! Fuck you,natural selection! This kitty was getting one last chance! I scooped her up, she was so small that she fit right there in my palm and one of the friends offered to reach me on his bike to my house. I tried keeping her warm and she fell asleep after crying for her mom for what seemed like days.
Her first of many mornings with us.
It was only when I reached home did reality hit me. How the heck was I going explain this to my parents? I rang the doorbell and what joy but to find my cat hating dad greeting me here. But after countless drunken nights and hiding vodka bottles in my hand, a mere kitten was an easy smuggle. I took it to my room, which I share with my brother, he immediately stared at me and communicated a horror story just with eye contact about what would happen to me tomorrow when mom found out. But I was taking things one step right now. Step 1- save the kitten! Step 2- Honestly, I didn’t think I’d make it this far.
After feeding her, I gave her a basket lined with old clothes to sleep in. I watched over her and felt like tomorrow could go in two directions. Either mom could agree to keep her for a few days or she would throw us both out of the house. But this was something I was to deal with tomorrow, so let it go, bro!
The next morning, I was wide awake at 7 am. I knew mom would be awa… Shit… She’s here! I heard the door open and in walked mom, like the dragon from the movie ‘Hobbit’ she rose and glided. The first thing she saw was the chirping kitten trying to get out of the basket. My heart was thudding so hard,you’d think I swallowed a drummer and his drum set. Mom squinted and then did the most unexpected thing. She smiled! SHE SMILED! What the heck! She runs into my sisters room to call her saying I got a kitten. At this point, my brother and I were staring at each other like that time we threw a stone at a crow and it instead hit a lady who started yelling at some random child. But by the evening, mom asked the inevitable question ‘How long is she going to stay here?’. I in a fit of desperation said ‘A week or two?’ and the woman agreed! Seriously What on earth was happening here?
2 weeks later and we learnt to give judgmental looks
Long story short and two years later, Satoshi is and always be my baby. Mom and her are practically inseparable and she is family. I sometimes think of that day if I left her on the road, the things that could have happened to her. It makes me tear up even now. I will stand by my choice and if there is one thing I could change about that night, it would be the fact that I shouldn’t have waited and taken her home sooner, oh and also maybe not have eaten that gastric monstrosity inducing chicken curry for lunch.
1 year and can already pose better than most people on Instagram.
and I quote ”I am only allowing her for 2 weeks, nothing more”. Yeah right! pfff.
Satoshi, has been with us through thick and thin. Through my breakups and through the death of my grandfather a few months later. She has made us so happy and I wish everyone gets what they want in life to see that only a cat can bring them true happiness.
Love,
Rydell and Satoshi Dono
#AdoptDontShop
Rydell Fernandes 