OUTNUMBERED BY THE CAT FAMILY!

Nishi Agrawal

The change in Mallika’s behaviour towards her elder sons Chango and Mango was becoming quite horrifying to behold. The doting mother who had spent hours frolicking with her sons and licking them lovingly, suddenly turned into a hostile adversary.

She perceived them as potential predators for her about-to-be-born new litter. She would growl at them menacingly, and in one instance, I saw her slap one of them repeatedly on his cheek, as a human mother would a recalcitrant child!

Given her most unpredictable behaviour, I have always considered Mallika to be a mystery woman. So once again, as the hour of her delivery drew near, she took an unexpected sharp turn. And she began to reach out to both sons, almost imploring them for help. She appeared to want them to be present while she went through her labour.

For reasons best known to them, Chango and Mango turned a blind eye to her persistence, kept running away from her, and finally hid themselves in the neighbouring garden through the night. The next morning greeted us with these 3 small blobs of fur, who

were promptly given the names Midnight, Cupcake and Stripey by my

8-year-old granddaughter Siya.

We are happy, amused and entertained by their sweet antics, but also dismayed by the fact that the cats now outnumber us 3:1