it all started with two little ones...

I had already been living in Mumbai for almost 2 years when I first really noticed a cat. The stray dogs are notorious in Mumbai and had been in my radar since day one along with the beggar children. I used to always try to feed the stray dogs, be friendly to them, etc. At that point that is all I knew.

Then one day I came home to my new building to find small kids chasing these tiny little kittens around, flopping this way and that, and generally just going crazy over these little things. I was immediately drawn in and went to check out the kittens. They both seemed relatively healthy, but had eye infections and were seriously bloated with worms. I asked around and no one seemed to know if they had a mom. At the time I didn't know much about cats, so I brought them up to my house to at least get them away from the kids, give them some food etc.

The next day I called every animal organization in Mumbai to find out what i could do with these little guys. I assumed that like in the west that there must be an adoption agency or shelter somewhere. But I got the same response from every NGO - there was nothing they could do unless the cats were in need of serious medical help, otherwise they all suggested I leave them outside and hope the mother comes back for them.

To say the least I was disheartened.. how could a city of 18 million people not have one shelter for cats or a place that they could be adopted from?

I then found a pet store (the first in Bandra) and asked if they knew of a vet and they recommended a few who I called and took the little ones into right away. He told me to make a decision - either keep them in my house and take them back to America if I left India or to leave them outside so they wouldn't get too domesticated. At the time I wasn't sure what the policies were for taking pets abroad, so I thought the best option was to leave them outside, but continue to care for them (vaccinations, food, etc).

I loved these little guys like crazy. And amazingly I began seeing cats all over the place - where I had never noticed them before. I spent hours each day downstairs with the kittens. I also began teaching the children in the building about cats and how to care for them, hold them, etc. It was seriously the highlight of my days. The kids and I named them Pinky and Perky (as they were still too young to determine their gender).

Then one day they disappeared. They had never left the building before so I wasn't sure what had happened. The children were the first to tell me that they were gone. We asked everyone and no one knew anything. But I couldn't let it alone.. I knew they were out there. They must have been following a bird or something and gotten lost. We went out for 3 hours, searching all over the neighborhood, whistling for them with no responses. I had almost given up and then a block or so from my house we saw them. They were scared and hungry and excited to be back in my arms!

Life went on as usual again... until one night I decided to go down and check on them at 1 in the morning. As I was down playing with one kitten I saw the watchman for the building pick up the other one and throw her against the marble wall. Of course I flipped out and went hysterical! The little one seemed ok, but as soon as I set her down, she ran off - never to be seen again. (we searched all night for her, with no luck.. my guess is she ran off to die).

In the meantime I decided to bring the other one upstairs so he wouldn't be harmed in the night. The next morning I took her downstairs and left her while I went to the office for a few hours - upon my return a driver for a resident in the building came up to tell me that "billi hit by rickshaw". I freaked.. I found him laying in the grass, still breathing, but barely alive.

I rushed him to the vet, but he died in my arms on the way. The vet tried to revive him, but said that he had massive internal bleeding. I was again devastated.

I came to find out later that it was the secretary of my building who ordered the guards to kill the cats. That is why they had disappered previously - the guards were supposed to have taken them to the sea to drown them - but of course were not able to, so instead just dumped them. And this guard was afraid that he was going to loose his job, so was trying to beat the cats so that they would be too scared to stay in the building anymore.

I had nightmares for months about perky being out there alone needing help, about pinky being cremated (requires another blog post!). I carried cat food in my purse all the time so that anytime I saw a stray I would feed them and hope that my other two would be replaced. I was obsessed about how someone could be so cruel to another living animal, etc.

And that was what began my obsession with the stray cats of Mumbai....