Meet Sam, short for Socially Awkward Meow. Sam adopted us when
her utterly clueless mom, Hello Kitty, succumbed to peer pressure and went back
to her ‘hot-kitty-seeking-divided-attention-from-misguided-toms’ days without
even a second glance at Sam. She was last seen hanging out with the highly
despicable resident tomcat, Mr. Jinx. It can be said of Mr. Jinx that forget
taking him him home for a cup of milk, you won’t bother wishing him a friendly
greeting. He is a bad hissing ball of fur.
To get back to Sam, life was quite hunky dory in the beginning.
Attention was showered on her, and well, she lapped it up. And then came a
sister act - Shashikala (named after the 60’s actress who wouldn’t have
recognized a good intention even if it had landed as a juicy sardine on her
plate) and Dimple (not named after the sultry actress but after the character
named Dimple in the movie ‘99’ – a hired goon) - into the scheme of things. And
scheme they did. It so happened that these two sisters were the original
inhabitants of the house. They were relocated to another part of town and then
unceremoniously dumped back after some months. The sisters were understandably
not too pleased with the state of affairs. First of all, they got uprooted from
familiar surroundings. No self-respecting cat likes that. All that marking of
territories means something. And just when they were getting used to their new
surroundings, they found themselves back in their old neighbourhood. Heck! They
were just getting used to the second-hand IKEA sofa with questionable stains. After
all, it takes time to find the sweet spot. They weren't too happy to find Sam
lording over their former pad. Truth be told, in the beginning, they did try a
‘Live and let live’ approach. ‘Hey, there’s plenty of fish around for everyone,
capisce?’
But Sam had unresolved anger issues thanks to her abandonment by
Hello Kitty. She also suffered from a ‘tough cat’ syndrome. Sam decided on a
strategy adopted by the erstwhile East India Company i.e. whatever I see is all
mine. It worked for East India Company for a century or two. Sam’s aggressive
approach backfired spectacularly, instantly. Trained in the Mao School
of Sharp Claws, both Shashikala and Dimple, gave Sam quite a few lessons in
paw-to-paw fighting. More Dimple, than Shashikala, actually. Dimple, you see,
is quite simple. If this was a theatrical production of Riverdale, no prizes
for guessing who would have landed the role of Big Moose. Shashikala would just
need to make a threatening snarl and Dimple would fly past her. Shashikala
would then calmly groom herself, as fur would fly in all directions.
Sam realized she misjudged the whole situation. Her
foes were formidable. She observed other cats quietly pay their respects to
Shashikala and Dimple, and share the daily rations quite amiably. But not
having grown up with feline company, she didn’t know how to lap the bowl of
peace. So, she decided on an approach that most human beings adopt quite
successfully – live like a coward. Sam found digs on the roof of our neighbor's
house. A vantage point from where she would keep an eye out for Shashikala and
Dimple. She soon figured out that they were creatures of habit. Every morning,
they would need their S&S – sunbathing and siesta. The moment she spotted
their supine bodies stretched out languidly soaking in the warm rays of the
morning sun, Sam would make her way very, very, cautiously to our kitchen for
her morning chow. After her meal, she would quietly crawl back to her bedroom thinking
if only she had approached the situation a bit gently.