The cat call

-By Swetha Amit
The previous night had been a rather late one as a result of the screening of a Rahul Bose film which I couldn’t miss. It was around half past two when I dozed off quietly on my leather couch. The tinkering droplets of rain continued to hit the window panes with an unusual ferocity along with the howling gale of wind. I sleepily looked at the clock which showed 5:30 am. Just as I was about to revert to my beauty sleep, I heard an unmistakable mew.

A moment’s relapse had me pondering if it was imaginary only to hear it again, this time being a decibel louder. Baffled at the proximity of the sound, I slowly reached for the door. I couldn’t ignore the disbelief and surprise in my mind at the fact of a cat loitering on the tenth floor at an odd hour. The elevator was already doing its morning rounds and the wailing seemed to come in the vicinity. As I looked quizzically at the lift man, he assured me of rescuing the cat which according to him was stuck on top of the same.

Just as I was about to shut the door I heard that pitiful cry again in close quarters. My unfounded apprehensions of it being a dream completely vanished like smoke only to result in a vigorous hunt for the troubled animal. Straining my eyes in the darkness of the elevator space, I alerted my five senses in order to trace it quickly. Two pair of gleaming eyes caught my attention and to my horror, the poor little thing was seated in a space between the two elevators. As it caught my eye, it seemed to wail even more loudly in its petrified state.

All the questions about how it got there disappeared as my mind rambled furiously on saving its skin. Helplessness and anxiety engulfed me as I dialed the security from the intercom praying earnestly to the almighty to safeguard it until I called for help. As I waited for the guards to reach, I looked in distress at those eyes which spelt fright all over. My steady gaze seemed to reassure the pet of it being relieved out of its danger zone.

Finally I breathed a sigh of relief at the arrival of the concerned authorities. The terrified mammal froze with fear even when gently prodded by the security personnel. It reminded me of the sudden shock that overtakes a human when pushed into a life or death situation. The senses seemed to stop functioning and harden like clay in a drought weather condition refusing to let anything seep through. After what seemed like eternity, the uptight animal began to allow itself to be coaxed and gradually slipped out of its aberrant disposition.

Watching it scuttle away in agility, it seemed that the cat had a quick recovery after its anomalistic escapade. As I walked back into the living room, I noticed the sudden pause in the downpour and everything seemed to portray an unusual sense of calmness. I couldn’t help but wonder about the series of turbulence that just occurred an hour ago which reflected the saying ‘calm after a storm’. The entire neighborhood seemed serene and depicted the probability of the apartment folks yet to wake up to the break of dawn; and more importantly, unaware of the rather bizarre episode that just occurred.

Shaken by the incident, I sat down on the sofa only to be startled by the milkman’s chirpy ringing of the door bell. As I resumed normalcy of the day’s routine, I led myself to be immersed in deep thoughts.

It made me realize how essential it was to keep one's eyes and ears open always both at the conscious and subconscious level. Such things are mostly taken for granted as we choose to dwell in our dreamy states as a means to escape from the harsh realities. Unwrapping ourselves out of our egocentric worlds and attending to inner/outer calls at times can prove to be beneficial not only for us but also to others. Even if it means assuming the role of a savior of a domesticated pet by responding to the 'cat call' as in this case.
Written for www.msn.co.in

Comments

Anonymous said…
Looks like things conspired to bring you to the rescue scene. Guess the poor cat had been taking refuge in the gap between two lifts to escape from the rain.
Good work lady!
Anonymous said…
And regarding burning a feed, go to http://www.feedburner.com and type your blog address in the box on the home page, click on the button to the right, and select a suitable name for your feed in the page that follows. If you have two feeds to choose from, choose the non-atom one.
The menus that come up in the following pages must be self-explanatory.
Whirlwind said…
Thanks Mukundh.Will definitely look into it.:-)

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