Sunday, October 3, 2010

Rehashed

Dear blogger friends. It has been very busy for me as I try to balance between work and home. So, haven't been able to write anything new. Posting comments on other blogs has been poor. Please bear for some more days:)
Meanwhile, read the rehashed post and laugh



The Indian summer: it affects different people in different ways. Let us examine the case at hand.

A small village in central Kerala is the stage. After a sumptuous lunch, the household has settled down for a siesta. And thanks, to loadshedding, getting a wink was proving to be difficult. But our braveheart family did not give in. People took to the bare floor where it was cooler. The atmosphere was quiet. Even the cows were not mooing.

Kerala as you might know is a 100% literate state and publishes many magazines, newspapers, weeklies etc for its voracious reading population. These editors are real mavericks for they come up with all kinds of useful information for its readers- for eg: How to make Sambar- a dish which everyone in south India knows to make, How to make your child eat, Why did Cuba have problems, Ask the psychologist column, Weekly horoscope, The story of couples who opted for love marriages etc.

Our heroine had one such useful magazine to help her to go to sleep. She was feeling drowsy when she came upon the page – Cats too can go mad. As the household had couple of cats, she was hooked. Her eyes grew wider as she read on.

She nudged her husband who was snoring away, “Did you know that cats can go mad?”.
“No.” Said he and rolled over to the other side.
But she was not letting him go with that, “Look, I am not joking. It says so here. And they have listed the symptoms too…”
“Eh?”
“1. The cat prefers a shaded place.
2. It doesn’t react quickly when provoked.
3. Once Provoked…” Before she could continue, he took the magazine from her.
She protested and then gave in saying, “OK. Read for yourself. Anyway, it’s almost time to make tea. I will just refresh myself”. And she went into the adjoining bathroom.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh” She came out screaming and was now standing on the bed.
“ What’s the matter? Why are you screaming?”
“ It’s the cat. It’s in there”
“So?”
“It’s mad”
“Who, our Sati? No joking”
“No, It’s true. It’s in there”
“OK, Let me see”
He tiptoed to the bathroom. And there was Sati lying in one corner of the huge bathroom. He tiptoed out and went to the terrace where the arecanuts were spread to dry in the Sun. He picked an handful and came back and started to pelt the cat.

At the first pelt, she did not bother. By the fourth, she opened a questioning eye. She didn’t like to be disturbed thus. She was in no mood to play. By the tenth, she heaved herself up and padded to the other corner and settled down again to continue her disturbed sleep. But this was not her day! The pelting continued.

Now she had it. She got up and stood in the classic arched pose, flashing her teeth. Her hair was standing on its end. She looked ferocious. She was a big cat and a black one at that.

However, she could not quite understand this sudden change in behaviour of her masters. They loved her and she loved them too. And she had been a good cat. That morning too, she had curled at the foot of the bed and crooned appropriately when cuddled. At breakfast, she had eaten the crumbs and purred gratefully. And she had not stolen a thing from the kitchen, except the neighbour’s. Her mom had taught her not to steal from the house where she chose to live. Then, what was the problem, wondered Sati. Maybe it was the mouse she had failed to catch, but that should not be a problem, Sati thought. Anyway, she continued to snarl and keep the pelters at a distance.

By then, the couple was sure that the cat was mad. Now the husband brought in a pole to poke the poor cat. Meanwhile, the commotion had woken everyone and all of them made a beeline for the room where the action was.

The Lady of the house, my aunt, went in first. Upon being enlightened by the state of affairs by her daughter, who was still standing on the bed, she exclaimed, “Oh! Shut up. Don’t be so stupid to believe in that nonsense. It is a hot afternoon and the poor cat has simply found itself a cool place to nap”. But her daughter and son-in-law differed. As aunt tried to go into the bathroom, they tried to save her from imminent calamity. She shoved them aside and went in and called the cat lovingly. She approached it slowly and the cat calmed down a bit. She picked it up and came out.

“Look”, said aunt. But there was no one in the room. The daughter had gone to a safer place- on top of the dining table. The son-in-law peeped from the kitchen.

“Ha ha haHo Ho”, aunt burst out laughing and added, “We don’t have a mad cat in the family, but two madcaps who think that cats can’t climb on to the dining table”.

A trail of laughter followed.

19 comments:

  1. Oh! no worries, we will wait :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha, ha...looks like the world's going insane! And don't worry, take your time :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my!! :))) Poor cat disturbed from her catnap!
    Take your time!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Indeed putting the poor animal to so much ...
    Would have been fun if the cat had made a jump to the table :) wud have been funny to watch them jump

    Well hope ot see you sooon ....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Poor cat, what all has been happening to her

    ReplyDelete
  6. Poor Sati, n I was wondering when would you stop the narration from the third person to make it a first person narrative.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ha ha!! Enjoyed the last few sentences :)
    Poor cat being pestered by its masters!! So sad!

    ReplyDelete
  8. heheh..this was a fun read...feels so good to be back and read such interesting posts :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. now the next article in the mag will be about mad masters of a mad cat, their symptoms and such! fun read :)

    don't worry about not commenting..bloggers love to read interesting stuff..so far as you keep bringing that in whenever you have time, we are happy :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Funny!!! And the magazine part is so typical of Kerala! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Media does so much..where can they finbd different topic evryday..so some exotic things:)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Some day I'll come to Kerala and make you narrate all such wonderful stories, over vegetable stew and appam meal :)

    and I want to read such magazines. can I get it parceled? these days Women's Era too does not provide entertainment :(

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hilarious !Enjoyed it completely.
    Take your time ,we will be waiting for you.Happy Navratris !

    ReplyDelete
  14. Even I have been busy O holy one...didn't even call you to inform about my vidyarambham. ;) This post is too funny. Was the heroine present at your house warming? I wish you had introduced us :D

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thats a lovely post that can release all the stress from ones mind...thanks for writing such a good post kk :))

    ReplyDelete
  16. Insignia
    Thank You

    RGB
    Yep, it one mad, mad world.

    Shilpa Garg
    I knew you had a soft corner for animals:D

    Bikramjit
    Thank God it di not happen or our heroine would have miscarried!

    Bk Chowlaji
    Even cats face problems in India

    Tomz
    Seems you loved the cat's name

    Vaish
    Happy to bring the laughs on

    Anil Kurup
    I'm happy too

    Rachna
    Back already

    Lazy Pineapple
    Welcome back

    Neha
    I'm honoured

    Dreamer
    You know it too well:)

    Shesha
    Hans lo

    Samvedna
    Exotic write us get exotic responses

    Shruthi
    Appanm and stew can't be parceled. Drop in at kochi

    Kavita
    Wish you a happy Navarathri too.

    Destiny's child
    Oh! Will do net time

    A New Beginning
    Stressbuster:D

    ReplyDelete