A Catty Affair

I would like to not post anything that may be termed as criticism or to poke fun at humanity –

But I need to off load a bit!

What pisses me off is not the amount of ignorance carried inside of people’s heads but rather their showing off of it – without a concern to the propriety of their comments or facial-feature contortions in a given social setting! It remains good manners that people respect others’ likes, dislikes, thoughts, philosophies, personalities and convictions however divergent. And though one may disagree – it is a matter of refinement that one not wrinkle up one’s nose, appear, or sound deprecating!

But then Delhi will be Delhi- loud, (not necessarily of decibels), crass, self-appointed and opinionated. Most without any knowledge of a higher value system or a subtler one. But then subtlety of thought and living really isn’t in fashion!

At a recent social gathering of individuals that had gathered to enjoy an evening of pleasantries something transpired that really pissed me off!

Seated together were known friends or close enough. Most are aware of my love of Nature, for animals in particular and my penchant for cats! What sets me going is intelligent talk on Upanishadic thought, photography, poetry, wildlife conservation, travel, gardening, 60s music, international news, animals and birds. What puts me to sleep is inane chatter on diamonds, money, villas, gold, property prices, lewd jokes and such garbage and yes, loud music that can shatter the insides of ears(!)

However, for friends I’m willing to keep both ears (!) open and not pass out!

And the conversation went:

“You have cats?”

“Yes, I do, six!”

And the firecracker crackled!

“Six?”, and the nose screwed up and the facial features contorted as though I was an ugly, homeless pariah from the streets of Baghdad!

“How is that possible?How awful!”

AND something went BANG inside!

Who in God’s name was this person to sound so downright condescending, I said silently to myself.

“Hmm, it is possible. Most are rescues and abandoned,” I garbled!

“What’s wrong with cats or any other animal for that matter?”

“Yes, yes, but cats?!” was the moronic response. Again, the nose screwed up into a million wrinkles!

Normally, I choose to overlook people’s comments on topics that they obviously know nothing about. But I was irked!

“So, what’s wrong with them, i fumed? They’re smart, and intelligent” -wait, did I sound defensive?

Change of tactics – irritated now beyond measure, I swung my south paw- “Obviously, someone as ‘desi’ as you won’t know anything about the rearing of these gorgeous creatures. Cat people are just too damn sophisticated to be understood by the ilk of veritable country bumpkins!” And then in Royal Fashion- with a shake of my rear – I chose to cat-sashay away😻!

Leave aside rescues, compassion, and reverence for all God’s creatures!

The topic was changed to grandchildren, house-help and children’s career graphs – all time favourites with Delhi-women (yaWn).

And thus ended the catty affair.

Next time, I intend sitting at home and watching a documentary on Netflix.

PS All animals want to live and need love. It is our responsibility to safe-guard this. They revive our spirits, keep us happy and teach us invaluable things.

with love, light, humour and peace always..💕🌸