The End

I woke up that day listening to the mew of kittens...It came from the yard behind my house. then i saw an ailing cat passing by, my dog scaring it away just like the time milking the life from it. She looked like the mother of those kittens.

I used to enjoy watching the kittens playing around, always a silent spectator never getting anywhere near them. I used to take a few photos and that is it. There were five of them in all colors-white black grey brown and yellow mixed in different combination and proportions. In two days there was just one left. I didn't know where the others went and I never cared to find out.

I saw the ailing cat, the same evening at my aunt's place, a stone's throw away, fighting for its life hanging to it dearly.

I went back and checked out on the kitten which saw me mewed at me softly and innocently. May be it was begging for help, for food, for being adopted into the family. I still remained a silent spectator.

In the evening that day my cousin, who lives opposite to our place, told the sick cat was lying in between the plants, in their small garden. I checked out and found that it was going through the last of its minutes. We offered food and milk to it. It never tried to open its mouth to eat or drink. May be it couldn't, even if it tried. It just looked at me painfully and mewed with great pain, asking for pity. I guess it knew its end was near. May be it wanted to live, for its kittens.

I went home and just happened to check for the solitary kitten. It wasnt there.

I visited my aunt's home again and saw the cat has already breathed its last breathe. It was no longer a burden for the world. we gave her a decent burial and parted ways.

But where was the last kitten? Where were its siblings? Did they already know it was futile to wait for the mother who would never come?

Or were they the unfortunate first victims of some predator, of which their sibling was the last.

What a sad ending to so many lives. There is so much of suffering around us. I wish I could help every unfortunate life in the world. But then, i can't. So I may mourn, I might cry for them, and later when the feeling sinks in, I move on. That's life. It hurts everyone somewhere or the other. There is no point brooding over the tragedy of others and at times even yours for a long time. And life just has to move on.

Wrote this almost 3 years back on a vacation from Infosys. I found it in my mails and wondered why I didn't post it on my blog:-). It was a really sad day for me.