Sunday, June 7, 2009

A momma cat on the Indian roadside

Thanks to the heroic efforts of our taxi driver, Manju, we had safely descended from a tea farm at an elevation of about 8000 feet up in the mountainous area of Ooty, India, down a windy road through wild traffic to a rest stop that sits just before the entrance to a national park where elephants would appear in our headlights. We were hungry, so we stopped and ate another delicious Indian dinner.

As we waddled back to the taxi, I suddenly spotted an orange and white cat walking through the shadows to my left.

"Kitty!" I shouted to Tryskuit and Soundarya, the other cat lovers in the group. Then, as the others watched with bemusement, the three of us dashed over to meet her.

This is she and, as you can see, she is pregnant.

Tryskuit gives the pregnant orange cat a scritch.

Tryskuit and the pregnant orange cat.

Soundarya gives the pregnant orange cat a scritch.

Tryskuit watches as the pregnant orange cat strolls past.

A black kitten appears in front of a door. Soundarya strolls over to say "hi," hoping to give it a scritch, too.

But the black kitten is not a scritch taker. It dashes off. 

Then we all climb back into the taxi. Manju drives us into the midst of the elephants of the steamy India night.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Pictures of homeless cats living miserable lives make me so sad. I was hoping that this was a rescue story...sigh.

Grahamn Kracker said...

I wanted to bring every homeless cat that I saw in India (and so many other places that I visit) home to Alaska. But I could not. I am not so certain that this cat is homeless. It was friendly and there were little shops about and so it is probably hanging out with somebody.

The little black cat was hanging out with the lady behind the open door.

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

Are all the street cats friendly? Homeless cats here won't let you anywhere near them, which leads us to believe that these cats aren't really "homeless" as we think of it.

Slash and Bronzy said...

We haf given you an award. Come and pick it up!

Grahamn Kracker said...

ZSS - That's what I think, too. As for comments about the Indian cats being skinny, it is true but if you go to India you will also see a huge number of very slender people.

Slash and Bronsy - Thank you for the honor! I will come by.

The Activist said...

Waoh, you met so many cats along the way. I didnt get to see a single cat in Bangalore. So painful.

Molly is no longer a scritch taker, she no longer want to come home. She roams about the compound at night and will dash off when I attemp to get near...

Katie said...

Wow, she's really loving those pats - it makes you wonder if she ever really gets any attention or affection, living on the streets. It's a reminder how lucky our pets are to be in such loving and stable homes. I hope she gets through the birth okay when the time comes. You've definitely made her day today!