Fragile

It's been more than a week now since I last wrote. The problem is a lot have happened in the past one week which has left me pretty depressed. I just didn't feel like putting them down in a post but I guess that acceptance is the only way to move ahead. Last weekend started off very well. 2 of my kitties got a home. Trupti was kind enough to come all the way from Mulund to take 2 of them home. The remaining 2 were healthy and active and things looked perfect. Everything went fine until yesterday.

Day before yesterday I got a call from Apna Home, followed by Trupti. Out of the 4, Trupti had taken one of the white/orange and one black. There was one which was of a dark shade and had stripes all over. Looked very much like Hobbes. Dr. Sangita from Apna Home called up to say that Hobbes wasn't keeping well. He wasn't moving much, wasn't eating much and generally was growing weak. His body kept getting cold and in spite of her various attempts to keep him warm, it wasn't helping. She wasn't very positive about saving him.

I had just done talking to the doctor when Trupti called and she had bad news too. The black one wasn't doing well and the same symptoms were showing. I told her about Hobbes and told her to continue the way she was doing. All I could do was hope for the best.

The next morning, ie yesterday I got a call from Trupti. The black one died at 8:30 in the morning. I immediately called up the shelter and found out that Hobbes had died too at 4:30. I didn't know what to do. They were fine just a couple of days back. How can they cease to live in 2 days? I went over to the shelter in the afternoon. The last one is all alone and looks terrible. It's become extremely skinny in spite of the constant feeding and all the care. I don't know what will happen to it. Trupti on the other hand is trying her best to keep the other one alive.

I feel bad for the way things have turned out and feel responsible for their deaths. Maybe I shouldn't have hurried to get them adopted so soon and separated them. I should have waited for atleast a couple of months before giving them away. By then they would have stabilized. Ignorance is my only plea, my only alibi. Others may be convinced by it but how do I convince myself?

The Holiday in room 1408

Work front has been mind numbing the past week. I have loads to do (which I am looking forward to) but my stupid code refuses to cooperate. I have been breaking my head over a piece of code which mysteriously refuses to work. Its developed AI and is diligently working against me, frustrating me. To get my head off the little prick, ended up watching "The Holiday" yesterday and "1408" today. Refreshing, but still the code keeps disturbing me at the back of my head. Anyways, my main intention was to review the 2 movies. So here goes...

"The Holiday" was a romantic comedy about a couple of girls (Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet) swapping homes as a home exchange vacation setup. Both tired of their miserable love lives, or their attempt to have one, plan to take a trip away from all the shit and spend christmas in a different country. They both end up meeting guys (Jude Law and Jack Black) more suited to their line of choice than their previous disasters. It was a tad bit long but then again didn't really get bored at any point of time. All the actors did justice with their roles (loved Kate, always had a soft corner for her) and the director did a brilliant job portraying the emotions. I was a little disappointed by Jack Black's character. Probably its difficult imagining him in a non-sidey character. A good movie to watch on a lazy weekend afternoon. Will definitely leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside and the hope that someday you too, in spite of all the failed romances shall meet the right person accidentally.

Alright! I admit it! I like mushy romantic movies. I like kick ass action, gross guy movies. But I love the romance and drama genre too. I can imagine a couple of my friends smirking but I shall take care of them later. X-(

Its been ages since I have seen a good horror movie. I hate those serial-killer-oh-so-scary flicks but its been a long time since I have been scared by a horror movie. "Exorcism of Emily Rose" scared me in some scenes, ie the original version and not the one they showed on TV. They actually butchered the movie. The fact that it was based on a true story helped too.

Well 1408 based on a short story by Stephen King was interesting, though a little boring in the middle. There were quite a few twists and turns and if one is familiar with Stephen King's work then you'll know that apart from just supernatural, he likes to play with the human psyche ( you'll know what I mean if you have seen Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining"). 1408 had a good mix of paranormal and human psychology. Mike Enslin (John Cusack), the protagonist is a writer who debunks paranormal activities in haunted hotels, graveyards etc. He checks into room 1408 in the Dolphin hotel where it is claimed that no one has survived for more than an hour. There have been 56 deaths in that room. The movie slowly reveals the activities of 1408 and Enslin's life and how the two mix to create the experience that Enslin goes through. There is a "Director's Cut" version of the movie which has a better ending, though the current ending is also pretty interesting. If you wanna increase the effect of the movie, watch it in a dark room, alone... you'll like it :D

The story so far...

The past few days have been very exciting and positive. Just when I was giving up on humanity with all the bomb blasts and unnecessary loss of life, with helpless kittens being left to die on the streets, some very wonderful and kind people contacted me and restored my faith. There's still hope.

A couple of days back I was seriously worried about what would happen to the kittens if I were unable to get them good homes. I sent out mails to my friends who were kind enough to forward the same to people who could help and I got a surprising number of inquiries and tips on how to take care of them. :) If things go as per my conversation with the interested parties, I think I have managed to get all of them good homes.

Spoke to Dr. Sangita and it seems the kitties are all settled in. They are eating well and meowing at the top of their lungs ( I actually heard them scream over the phone ). I plan to go and visit them on weekends till they are adopted. And as cats and kittens have been an integral part of my conversation lately, I have learnt quite a few things about them.

1. Its not possible to determine the sex of the kittens during the first 2-3 weeks. (Go Figure!) So my analysis of all 4 kittens being females maybe flawed. I expect to see some changes in the sex ratio in the coming weeks :D
2. Male cats like to mark their territories a lot and hence one must be careful that funny smelling objects, clothes have probably been marked and hence needs cleaning.
3. Female cats go psychotic during heat ( actually so do the males, they can smell out prospective girlfriends as far as 12 kms!! ). So apparently cat owners do a very intelligent thing. They get them spayed/neutered. :P
4. They are genetically potty trained and love to stay clean( they should somehow isolate the gene responsible for this. whoever does it will make millions! )
5. Cats coughing up hairballs is not just something in the cartoons but is an actual phenomenon! Funny chaps these cats are :D

Would like to take this opportunity to thank all you guys who responded and changed your status messages pointing to this blog :). All of you who forwarded the mail ahead. A special thanks to Gauri and Sohini. Your friends have been kind enough to step up and adopt. Oh by the way, did I mention that I just love the internet? Why? Well for instance, I met Sohini on orkut in a community I made for Bongs in Bombay. (That community seriously needs some work) She's in the UK but she forwards it to a friend here in Bombay and she wants to adopt (not one but two!) See!? That's why I love the power of internet. If only people made good use of it rather than sending threatening mails to blow up the world. Thanks Monali for the backup plan :)

I would be putting up details about the adoption once they are done and the guys don't object to me putting them up. Last but not the least, thank you all for writing in with all the tips and tricks of taking care of cats. You guys Rock!!

A Tale of 4 kittens

Last evening, what started out as a simple evening walk, ended quite differently from what I had imagined. Had been lazing around the whole day and hence by evening I needed to stretch my limbs. I decided to take a walk up to Great Eastern Galleria with my friend Monali who had come to visit, see her off and then walk around sector 4.

It had been raining the whole day and had just stopped raining. Outside my house there is a stretch of road where on one side there are societies and on the other side the land is empty and has been given for farming as no construction is possible due to the overhead high tension wires. We were just near the patch of land when we heard a weird yelping/purring sort of a noise. I looked around but could see nothing but my friend spotted a tiny little kitten at the roadside near the society boundary wall. It was completely drenched and shivering. We looked around and saw no cats or anything remotely connected to the kitten that could suggest what could be done. The only idea we could think of was to contact Dr. Dhopatkar (the local veterinarian) and find a way out.

Monali was getting late, so she went ahead while I started off towards Dr. Dhopatkar's clinic. Fortunately it's very nearby and by the time I reached there it had started raining again. Anyways he hadn't come, so was wondering what to do when I suddenly noticed that there were contact details of an animal shelter called Apna Home Charitable Trust For Animal Welfare just next to his clinic. Took their number and decided to go back and investigate. On reaching the place I realized that the kitten's movement had slowed and it was getting completely drenched. Suddenly I heard another sound from the other side of the road. On investigating I soon found out that there were 2 more kittens in the mud covered in dirt and wet. They looked worse. Now I panicked. I called up Apna Home and spoke to Dr. Sangita. She asked me to see if I could spot the mother or find out from which society the kittens had been discarded. Tried for a while but wasn't able to find either. Went back to the Doc. He had come. Took a carton from him and came back. Picked all the 3 and was about to leave when I suddenly felt that I should look around for any more kittens. I had heard that cat litters usually varied from 2-4 in size. Went back and searched and there was another one trying to come out of the grass. Grabbed it and put it in the carton. It had started to rain quite heavily now. Took them to the doc. He wrote down a list of medicines that was needed and instructed me on all that was required of me to do to make sure they survived. Found out from the doctor that they were just 2 weeks old.

I took the kittens and medicines and got back home. First thing I needed to do was, clean them up, dry them and feed them. Cleaning wasn't a problem. Did that brilliantly. The problem was with the feeding and the thing that had to be done after the feeding. Now normally one wouldn't have a problem feeding cats but try feeding a kitten that has not learnt to eat on its own and that too with a syringe, then the fun begins. Well the one on the top left which was the adventurous of the lot and had in fact crossed the road didn't like the idea of being fed that way. Though it couldn't stand straight and toppled every time it tried to stand, boy it had attitude. It was hissing and spitting at me :D

Well, thanks to my friend Suman who has a hell lot more experience about cats than me and who keeps telling me small stories about his cats, I had learnt that holding a cat by its scruff totally immobilizes it. I tried it and it was true. That seriously helped a lot. Managed to feed them a few ml of milk each. Problem was with the medicines. The taste wasn't to their liking. Couldn't make them eat the de-worming medicine.

The next problem that I faced was that, I had to make them... ummm.. eliminate :P Now a mother usually licks to stimulate and make the kittens do their thing. So i tried to simulate the effect with cotton swabs. A couple of them peed but the others weren't ready to cooperate. With my work done, put them back in the carton and they were soon asleep. Unlike puppies who prefer yelping all night long (prior experience) kittens are a lot more disciplined. Slept peacefully all night without any disturbance.










The next day, i.e. today, fed them a couple of times (morning and after, repeated the same ritual as last night) and took them to Apna Home at Kharghar. My friend Chandrashekhar knew the place, so didn't have much trouble finding the place (It would have been impossible to find the place alone). The place has 77 animals including cats, dogs, owls and turtles (these I managed to see) I found out that they would be able to keep the animals for 2 months and then something needs to be done about them. I took care of the lodging and feeding expenses for the 2 months but what is worrying me most is how do I find them homes? I am not a cat person, but I may end up taking one up. But what about the rest? I can't manage to keep 4 cats in the house. I just hope I can find people who would be nice enough to take home an abandoned kitten. I mean even if they keep it in their society and just give it food twice a day, that would suffice. Cats are anyways independent animals. Well all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.