The Pet - Kalu

Those who have seen photos on F would clearly remember a photo I titled as the pet - the Black Cat who was actually "Kalu" a male cat. To remember him is to recall fond memories of this pet. It so happened that when we shifted our flat from 2nd floor to ground floor which had open lot, after few days of our shifting, a stray white yellow stray cat delivered 3 kittens - one black, one four coloured - white, brown, yellow and black and another deep brown strips nearby. While foraging for foods, it used to visit us. We knowing it has three kittens, used to offer milk with bread. First the cat visited alone, later on all three kittens followed and shared the meagre meals we offered. One day one while waiting for its mother the deep brown stripped kitten died from a fallen brick. The cat with its two remaining kittens continued to visit us to receive the meals. Slowly it became friendly to our touch and allowed to fondle it and its kittens. One day, as there was a tempo stand outside our flat on the main road, the four coloured kitten got smashed under a rash auto during the wee hours of dusk. Now the cat had left its kittens to fend for themselves. And the black kitten, now left alone, searched frantically for its lost brother or sister, whatever it was to him. Its plight was really upsetting us. Slowly it used to visit alone for food in the morning and late in the night for food. We as already mentioned above, had christened it as KALU, the jet black cat with Green eyes. It grew large enough as we had measured it to be 42 inches long from the tail end to its moustache which is the standard for measuring an animal. Kalu was so mild as it grew older that it used to come running like a Pup at our command and used to visit every member of our family while taking routine rounds of the premises in search of a rat or a mice which rarely entered.
I had never liked to enslave an animal like a pet in my life. I always preferred their independent existence. When I used to watch closely them for their beauty, actions and responses to our overtures. For some time used to kept a golden pup for some days but we preferred to free it.
So, Kalu was very much interested in our house and inhabitants. It used to sit outside the grill gate and make noises when Saroj used to say "Ram Ram" to our surprise instead of 'meow' it clearly voice "Ram" as "aam" making us to wonder at its aptitude to learn. Clearly the cat can utter two and a half alphabets of hindi, which when heard as "aam" made sense. You may take it as a surprise or 'hallucination' but I am sure it did tried to say "Ram".
Kalu was also a peaceful cat. It during winter nights used to come after 10 or so at night and used to sit in lap of every member of the family for sometime and then leave as a routine.
It was so peaceful inside the house that on occasions, we photographed it, few of which I uploaded on the Face book for everyone to look at and appreciate.
In the lot outside our flat, we developed a garden with few trees of neem, papaya, amaltas, gudhal, kaner and guava among flower and vegetables beds. As was my pastime, I used to spent free time on 2 closed weekly days in tending the garden where Kalu silently used to visit and stop and sit behind me when only I used to learn about its presence. Kalu used to remain there as long as I used to work there. The moment I left, it was gone. People there used to wonder about our company. Outside the flat Kalu never allowed itself to be carried by anybody or myself. As long as we lived there Kalu visited us as a member when it was not a pet but more than a pet, almost a member of the family, close to us, our heart, our lives.
After we left Sanjay Nagar for Vasundhara in December 2003, on our visits, we never noticed Kalu, we don't know about it except that it lives in our heart and the photos I uploaded on Facebook.
As promised to my friends, that there are few life size episodes troubling my memories which I would like to bring out. This is first in the series.

The Tree

What I mean by tree is not the green plantation but a 'family tree' to which I was recently introduced by my younger brother still living in our ancestral place - the village, the street, the mohalla and the house. Before that I used to think about my ancestors, my forefathers, about their identities, the names, and their actual relation to me.

When introduced, I visited the site, I was amazed to know about my great grandfathers, grandfathers, uncles and their kith and kins, though remotely I knew they belong to our clan - Rastogi. Its such an amazing experience to know about your ancestors.

Recently I happened to attend the last rites of my deceased aunt at the place. I happened to visit the place after a period of two and a half decades. The memories of my last sojourn along with my father flushed back to me. The house was newly built, a two storey house, extravagantly done in stone and marbles on a grand scale, appropriate to the status of our ancestors at the hands of my dear younger brother who commanded great respect in the area I witnessed on the day of 'shok sabha' attended by saints, religious men and masses known to my deceased aunt, the uncle and now the younger brother.

I held in awe the scene I witnessed that evening and was greatly impressed. We all, near and dear, close relatives and like felt the glory returned to the family which perhaps our grand father commanded then in the beginning of the 20th century, almost a century back. Though the rebuilt houses in the street, our mohalla spoke in volumes about the increasing prosperity and expanding family businesses despite repatriation of a large number of 2nd and 3rd generation people from the place.

Prior to introduction to the family tree, I was wondering as to how our ancestors lived and how prosperous or powerful they were. From the tid bits told by our parents, we could never visualise the vastness and greatness of the family tree. We gathered from the family tree that many a great business houses belong to our family tree i.e from the family of our 2nd grandfather in Delhi and elsewhere.

I am immensely in debt and gratitude to my younger brother for doing a marvelous service to the family by including up to the three generations downwards including the 3 generations upward in the family and I am happy to improve and expand the family tree as best as I can.

Days

Each day we live is unique in nature, vivid colours, impressions and outcomes. Each day ending at night speaks in my ears you have lived partly leaving what to be turned over to the next coming day in the morning. The incompleteness of the day effects the night, sleep, dreams and the morning of the next coming day increasing my load of tasks ahead which keep on increasing, multiplying leaving no scope for any backtracking except backbreaking. Thus goes on the caravan of life up and down, slow and fast, and so on.