CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The Hindi word for sun is suraj.
It came to Kishore’s attention that pets played an important role in family life in New Zealand, almost every home contained a cat or dog or both. Dogs were not so strange in India but cats? In India cats were considered dirty. He had never known anyone to own a cat as a pet or welcome one into their home as part of the family.
My family owned a golden Labrador, Jasper, who had been with us for many years and Penny, a five year old grey and white cat. Kishore found this bizarre, when visiting my home he observed as Jasper and Penny ate their meal next to each other and slept together. He was astonished to see them as friends.
Kishore seated himself on the couch and Penny took this opportunity to jump up on his lap to try him out for a cuddle. She rubbed herself up against him expecting to be patted. I told him what she wanted and as he had never done this before I showed him how. Very gingerly he stroked her soft, fine hair and she began purring. This was a strange noise to Kishore, it startled him, he thought she was growling and was about to bite him. He jumped up quickly moving out of the way. I laughed asking what was wrong, “That cat is going to bite me,” Kishore exclaimed.
I explained when a cat purrs it’s their way of expressing contentment or happiness.
“Penny‘s just enjoying you patting her,” I clarified.
“Ohh,” he sighed, much relieved. He sat back down again but Penny had moved, deciding to settle on her favourite armchair. After making herself comfortable she turned to look at him. Her eyes were glazed as she stared, the sleepy way cats do when they’re content, her purring continued, becoming in tune with each breath she took. Kishore intently scrutinized her and finally he concluded, “It is like a motor they have inside them that switches on when the trigger is activated by someone patting them.” Coming from a man with a systematic accountant mind, this was surely a true analysis.
Penny soon stopped purring and began her licking and cleaning ritual, carefully stretching her neck, she smoothed the hair on her back with her rough tongue.
“Now what is she doing?”
“She’s cleaning herself.”
“Does she think I dirtied her?” Kishore examined his hands, “My hands aren’t dirty,” he joked.
“No,” I giggled, “Cats are always cleaning themselves.”
“I thought cats were dirty animals but if they can clean themselves with their own tongue, that's impressive, that is clean, not even a dog does that.”
The next time Kishore came over he brought his camera with him. He took photos to send to his family of my Mum and Dad, the house, garden and the pets eating and sleeping together. His parents reported back they were also most surprised to see a dog and cat happily living together.