I had a strange and revealing experience on Friday,22nd December.
Presently, we are staying with our son Kaushal and his family in Monte Sereno,California. The house is quite big and the neighborhood very quiet and lonely. On this day, it was raining and we had planned to go out at 5 p.m. for shopping, dinner and a movie. We were planning to go to Santana Row first, then dinner at Pizza Antica and then to a movie - the latest James Bond movie "Sky Fall".
We could not go out of the house for an hour because of a cat. We were practically held as hostage by this cat belonging to our neighbour. My grandson had invited two of his friends for sleepover the previous day. They were playing basketball in the rain and when the drizzle became a full fledged rain,they came into the house from the rear,leaving the door open. At that time. our neighbor's cat entered our house and began to move around the house very freely. As the neighbour had gone out of town, we did not know what to do. My daughter-in-law(Vidya) suddenly remembered that she had the phone number of our neighbor's son, Justin, living about 30 minutes away. She called and asked Mrs Justin to come and take the cat with her. She advised us to leave the cat near a hole in her mother-in-law's house. We asked our grandson (Vishal) to go and leave the cat near the hole. My grandson was so compassionate that he refused to let out the cat in rain. "After all a cat is a living being" and we should be very nice to the cat, argued my grandson. After some time when the rain stopped, Vishal and his friends went out and left the dog near the hole in our neighbor's place. We all heaved a sigh of relief.
In the evening, my son had to go out to bring the children back home from basket ball practice so that we could go ahead with our plan for the evening. When he went out around 5 p.m., he was greeted by this cat. It would not let hime go out of the house. It was circling around him and in between his legs. This went on for some time. It was then that my daughter-in-law advised my son to start the car. When he did so, the cat went under the car. My son was very reluctant to start the car for fear of killing the cat. We did not know what to do. After waiting for a while, Vidya telephoned our neighbor's daughter-in-law. It became a daughter-in-law to daughter-in-law conversation. We requested the Mrs Justin to come and fetch the cat as it was blocking our way.
Suddenly, Vidya, thought of something. She asked my son to start the car. Like any living being, the cat also would have survival instinct and that it would move out of the way once the car is started. It happened that way once my son started the car. However, instead of going away from the house, the cat came towards the house and started going around the house - first in the front and then again in the back. It started scratching the windows in the front, almost appealing to us to let her in (it is "she" cat). We were watching this for sometime when my son returned with the children. When they entered the house, the cat also came in. My grandson wanted to keep the cat in his room till it was fetched by Mrs Justin. It refused to take milk or water which was offered, instead continued roaming around the house at its own will. The lady came around 6.15pm with her daughter and took away the cat.
That a very small cat could hold us as hostage for more than an hour was a shocking revelation to me. The highlight of the whole incident was that after a lot of shouting at the cat, we came to know from Mrs Justin that the cat was deaf.
We left the house around 6.30 p.m. and returned after dinner.We also watched the movie "Sky Fall". Incidentally, "Sky Fall" was "Paisa Vasool" V.K.Balasubramaian Monte Sereno,CAlifornia 23rd December 2012.
We could not go out of the house for an hour because of a cat. We were practically held as hostage by this cat belonging to our neighbour. My grandson had invited two of his friends for sleepover the previous day. They were playing basketball in the rain and when the drizzle became a full fledged rain,they came into the house from the rear,leaving the door open. At that time. our neighbor's cat entered our house and began to move around the house very freely. As the neighbour had gone out of town, we did not know what to do. My daughter-in-law(Vidya) suddenly remembered that she had the phone number of our neighbor's son, Justin, living about 30 minutes away. She called and asked Mrs Justin to come and take the cat with her. She advised us to leave the cat near a hole in her mother-in-law's house. We asked our grandson (Vishal) to go and leave the cat near the hole. My grandson was so compassionate that he refused to let out the cat in rain. "After all a cat is a living being" and we should be very nice to the cat, argued my grandson. After some time when the rain stopped, Vishal and his friends went out and left the dog near the hole in our neighbor's place. We all heaved a sigh of relief.
In the evening, my son had to go out to bring the children back home from basket ball practice so that we could go ahead with our plan for the evening. When he went out around 5 p.m., he was greeted by this cat. It would not let hime go out of the house. It was circling around him and in between his legs. This went on for some time. It was then that my daughter-in-law advised my son to start the car. When he did so, the cat went under the car. My son was very reluctant to start the car for fear of killing the cat. We did not know what to do. After waiting for a while, Vidya telephoned our neighbor's daughter-in-law. It became a daughter-in-law to daughter-in-law conversation. We requested the Mrs Justin to come and fetch the cat as it was blocking our way.
Suddenly, Vidya, thought of something. She asked my son to start the car. Like any living being, the cat also would have survival instinct and that it would move out of the way once the car is started. It happened that way once my son started the car. However, instead of going away from the house, the cat came towards the house and started going around the house - first in the front and then again in the back. It started scratching the windows in the front, almost appealing to us to let her in (it is "she" cat). We were watching this for sometime when my son returned with the children. When they entered the house, the cat also came in. My grandson wanted to keep the cat in his room till it was fetched by Mrs Justin. It refused to take milk or water which was offered, instead continued roaming around the house at its own will. The lady came around 6.15pm with her daughter and took away the cat.
That a very small cat could hold us as hostage for more than an hour was a shocking revelation to me. The highlight of the whole incident was that after a lot of shouting at the cat, we came to know from Mrs Justin that the cat was deaf.
We left the house around 6.30 p.m. and returned after dinner.We also watched the movie "Sky Fall". Incidentally, "Sky Fall" was "Paisa Vasool" V.K.Balasubramaian Monte Sereno,CAlifornia 23rd December 2012.
