Love connects, love binds, love becomes the source of living at every point in life
To be born as a human, is indeed a great blessing from the divine. The power of speech which essentially differentiates man from animals is the biggest boon that we have ever received and we could ever ask for. Words speak what our hearts feel, connecting our emotions with our loved ones.
Animals do not possess this divine grace, which has been exclusively showered upon mankind. Nevertheless, they have a strong powerful sense of attachment. They don’t need words to convey, they can interpret expressions through sounds. Perhaps, if we took time to spare and look around the busy streets of Mumbai, we may not miss to see the bond between stray dogs, homeless cats, littering kittens…..Of course, theses animals did not attend any nursery or spend long hours in schools, but they have won the biggest battle of life and have known what true happiness….they can understand their mates mind, without the use of a single word….
I distinctly remember when my pet cat Kittu delivered four healthy kittens. I was away in college and my parents gleamed with the news, almost announcing the way a parent would when they have now hav someone to call them an “Ammuma, Appupan”..However, I wasn’t too glad, I loved Kittu too much, and I feared once, she saw ones like her own, she would become indifferent to the raw, human touch. I was naïve, and in my innocence, I realized I was being selfish not to feel the joy a birth had brought.I remember refusing to see them, always coming up with excuses, but once, when no one was around, I sneaked into the cardboard house, that was her new private home, to find 4 tiny ones, hungrily sucking their mother’s milk with closed eyes.
Days passed by and I started seeing more of the kittens when I was on at home, during my vacations. I was one of the lucky few to witness or should I say experience the excitement, when my kittens first opened their eyes to light, thereafter struggling to keep it steadily open.
But fate had something else in store for my kittens. One by one all kittens passed away. The cause till remains unknown. Several theories were propounded to explain the mysterious phenomenon. Perhaps the kittens were averse to humans, or they might have succumbed to some common illness, or may be the mother didn’t have enough milk to feed all of them , so on. Whatever the reason was, the kittens were dead now, they were no more there, all of them, one by one, had left…….
End of life inherently brought about a huge sadness, but I particularly mourned the death of the 3rd one ( it was the 3rd in order of birth that Kittu had given) it was a little brown one, ocean blue eyes, tiny brown feather like hair all over its delicate body. The last few moments of that kitten are etched so deeply in my memory, that my nerves still become numb, to feel the pain only a while later- the pain of losing someone to the cold hands of death.
That fateful day, the brown one lay breathing heavily, quite a distance away from Kittu, who was busy tending to the others which showed signs of survival. Ocassionally, it let out a groan, may be it was pleading death to show some mercy. Devoid of all strength, it lay weak its back facing its mother. Just before it breathed its final moments, I saw Kittu running towards it, and the little one somehow felt the presence of its mother, and stretched out its hand. That last, final look shattered me, I saw in those eyes, innocent dreams, longing hopes, that sense of incompleteness that u feel when u leave something half way, knowing you would never complete. Only if it could speak, I know what it would have told, “Mom, I love you, but I have to go”
Today, my house stands quiet, surrounded by lifeless objects around. One can no longer hear the little “meows”, the playful lullabies that we sang turn by turn, to put the kitttens to sleep. But I am glad to be alive, fortunate that I can feel, and choose to tell what I feel and what things mean. I consciously never miss an opportunity to tell people how much I love them. Who knows, life may not give me a second chance to tell those 3 magic words and bid adieu forever.
