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A Guest of Few Hours…


It’s love that binds us together and as humans, we are gifted to express each emotion through means of ‘language.’ But that doesn’t mean animals cannot express. They too express their love through a ‘language’ which cannot be understood by humans. But more than language, it’s their gesture that ends up expressing more.

As humans, we always have attachments and when there’s parting away, there’s always an empty space which cannot be filled up. Attachment to humans is dearly, but attachment with animals is more than dearly. It is their immense love that keeps you going. And when the time comes to part, it becomes painful to both the human and the animal.

I had such an experience recently. Usually before going to bed, we see to it that all the doors, the front gate and the back gate are locked properly to ensure safety. Once, my mother went out to lock the front gate and as she was doing so, she heard a very loud ‘meow’ sound from our compound. It was a small kitten, hardly a month old and a healthy one. But it looked like it had separated from its mother. It was very frightened and was shivering badly. Somehow it came out from under our car and before it could run away, my mother kept it on her lap, held it with will love and compassion and after a few minutes, it seemed to be a bit assured that it would be safe here. I got some milk for it in a small dish. It felt kind of relieved.

We soon realized that there were dogs on the street that were cruel enough to scare it. Also, if this small one runs out of the compound, there was a chance of it coming under the wheels of any vehicle. Hence, for its safety, we decided to keep it safe on our terrace. The kitten was small and the terrace would be a huge place to roam. We placed a soft old banyan on a wooden plank and also some milk. We locked the door so that it doesn’t run all around the house or else it would have ended up wounded by coming under us.

There is a temple a few minutes away from our house where there are many such small kittens and puppies. They get food everyday as the temple serves hundreds of people every day throughout the year. We decided to leave it in the temple premises. We wanted to keep it but some months before, we had a kitten that used to be at our place the whole day long, but once, it went out of the gate and was killed and eaten up by other animals. Also, our neighbours were not human enough (and are still not) to look after it when none of us would be there in town. Due to these things, we had to take a decision with a heavy heart. In not less than an hour, this super cute kitten had shown love enough for us to re-think on our decision again and again. But it was more for its safety, we had no choice.

Next day early morning at 5.45 am, my parents were watering the plants on the terrace; the kitten was constantly roaming around them with loud meows. That woke me up. No one but this tiny little had the power to wake me up at 5.45 am.

Later for almost an hour, it was roaming in our house. It went through all the nooks and corners, as though analyzing the place and ambience.

It is very touching how we spend maximum timespan of our life finding love but pets can establish such kind of attachment in less than an hour.

After we were done with the daily chores, we went to the temple and saw another small kitten. We left it there with it. Both started playing but we started feeling immensely sad about it. But we had no choice, it was all for its safety and good health. As we started leaving with heavy feet, it started following us with loud meows as though saying ‘Hey, where are you going? Aren’t you taking me with you home?’ We stopped but knew we had no choice. There was an old lady sitting there who told us that it was a good decision to bring the kitten here and that it would be safe and healthy and will gel well with others in an hour.

As we came home, I felt real bad, because I knew that there would be no meowing in the compound, no one to run behind us, no one behind whom our hours and hours will run like seconds. I never felt like this before.

True that, the kind of attachment this little one had established in just a few hours was more than the human attachment developed in years.


The love and attachment we get from our pets is far more pure, pleasant and mesmerizing. It is beyond words and beyond all emotions of human nature. It is divine…

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