Those eyes were looking at me as if they were pleading, “Please don’t leave us here alone. We are afraid of this new place and this darkness. Please take us back don’t do this to us. We promise we’ll behave at home, we won’t cause any trouble. Please don’t leave us alone here, we beg you.”
I don’t think I can ever really explain those eyes… It was dark, around 9 or 9:30 PM. I was standing on my office campus, which has a little forested area at the back. There might be more cats there, maybe dogs too… I was afraid too, just thinking, “If I leave them here, will they really survive? Won’t other cats attack them? Will dogs chase them? Maybe they’ll learn to fight, maybe they’ll survive somehow…” Thoughts were spiraling in my mind, clouding my head, and in the middle of all that, those eyes were looking at me. I couldn’t stop myself. I took them back home. I was so ready to fight with my family because I just couldn’t abandon my kittens. It would have been so easy for me to leave them there — they would probably survive somehow — but the love they had for us… oh man, that was so tough..
Today it’s been 4–5 months. Both my cats are with me, just like they promised. They don’t mess up anything they’re free to live anywhere in the house without doing anything wrong. I call them Choti and Motu. Motu loves his tockri (basket) the one we use to keep dried clothes. He made us empty it because he wanted to sleep there. And Choti brings gifts for us from the neighborhood — sometimes a teddy bear, a chunni, their heart-shaped cushion. Oh, I almost forgot Doraemon is her favorite. She loves playing with it. Every morning, the three of us walk together. They love to walk beside me, gently brushing against my legs and rubbing themselves on me as if asking for more love. And when I do my exercise, they do their own little stunts nearby, wanting me to join in and play with them.
Honestly, when I see them now playing, meowing. I always remember the day when I was about to leave them in my office campus. Oh Lord! What a bad day that was… and good at the same time, because I brought them back. My parents and relatives used to scold me because they don’t like cats. With all that pressure, I was convinced I would leave them. “They’ll have more babies, but not now…” I was so ready to abandon them. But now I’m ready to adopt more kittens too, if there ever are any.
It’s so easy for us, as pet owners, to abandon our dogs, cats, horses, cows somewhere far away from us. We are so selfish. We leave them, but they never leave us not until their last breath. How can we even think of abandoning someone who loves us unconditionally? There’s no surprise here people abandon their parents when they get old, so for them, leaving a dog or cat is nothing. The real truth is: there is love, but there is always selfishness too. Just because we want this or that, we leave those beautiful souls behind. Instead of finding a way out, we abandon them because we never really learn how to love.
People keep their dogs for 4–5 years and oh my God, I know stories where they actually abandon them just because the dog bit someone, scratched the furniture, or did something ‘wrong’. But whose fault is that, really? It’s yours if you didn’t train them properly. It’s yours if you teased them or treated them badly and they reacted. It’s not their mistake they only know how to love, they don’t know how to lie. But just to feel better about yourself, you blame those innocent souls. And in the end? You abandon them. That’s it.
I think people who do this; this selfishness…. that’s their true nature. Not love. The love they show is fake.
Before you decide to bring an animal home, remember — they trust you with their whole heart. Don’t break it.
