'CAT'ch Me If You Can

It is time to tell the story about Balaguru, Vikram and their cat connection. For the records, I didn’t bring it up. I was telling a story about cats. Balaguru commented and Vikram responded. THAT is what made it my duty and responsibility to tell this story.

It was some time past midnight in our hostel (National Engineering College, Kovilpatti) and several other parts of the world nearby. We guys were sitting on the short wall bordering the hostel veranda. We were making fun of each other, describing the stupidly hilarious actions of ‘others’ etc. I distinctly remember Thirupathi (‘thirupu’ in some comments in this blog - he is a well-known self-confessed “night owl”), Prem (my room-mate of three years, well known as ‘sibu’ for a reason I don’t wanna say here), Udhaya (you wouldn’t want to be teased by him) & Arunachalam (he can be seen only in the night - so no wonder he was there). There were other friends too. The florescent tubelights in the corridor were removed and thrown down from the terrace the last time there was a power-cut. It was dark. So, my memory being photographic, didn’t get enough exposure. I think Sathish Pandian(Aatha), Petchi and Gnanaprabhu (Gnans) were also there. I am not sure.

While we were generally being happy and fools and everything, Balaguru walked by close to the wall. I don’t want to call him as ‘palaguru’ in this blog as he might feel bad… btw, Palam = Fruit… hence PalaGuru… a little twist on his name that came on naturally… But I am definitely not going to write about that in the blog… I am a good guy, you see! Anyways, Balaguru walked by, close to the wall as he always does, not minding us, holding the end of his lungi in one hand and swaying the other hand casually.

After Balaguru passed by us, we heard a sharp cry of a cat. And then another and another. It was not a purr or a meow or even a meaaow. It was more like a stud cat making love to a whole bunch of cats. We stopped our laughter and checked it out. No cat orgy in sight. We resumed what the studious guys would call “waste-of-time” and what the lay man of the previous generation would call “just being fools”. We were honing our creativity but thats a secret. Don’t tell anyone, ok?

Couple of minutes later, we heard it again. We kept hearing it and ignored it. Suddenly a door burst open (in an implosive sense) few yards away from us. We almost could feel the wind gushing in to the room as the door was violently opened. Vikram staggered out. Even in the darkness, we could feel the violence in his eyes. He must have been sleeping. He bellowed “Where is the &%^*@$% cat?” “Dunno dude” was our answer. We kinda roamed around to check it out. We gave him moral support. We could tell that if indeed he could locate the cat, he would kick the hell out of the poor creature.

Then we heard it again! Vikram ran like an enraged bull in the general direction and returned back after some time feeling frustrated that the cat or cats didn’t seem to be around. After some time Balaguru came around again and thats when we found that he was the one making the sound.

It seems, Balaguru had a cat when he was a kid. We used to tease him about the cat coz we learnt that the cat was of questionable morality, even for a cat. She was kind of a hippie cat that believed that life is very short and that it is to be “enjoyed” to its “fullest extent possible”. There are several other stories about that cat too, but that would be shooting off the tanget. If you are interested and if Balaguru wouldn’t mind, we’ll do that some other time, ok? Anyways, thats where he picked up the habit of making that cat-orgy sounds.

Vikram, as a kid, had a pet bird - a parrot I think… Vikram, correct me if I am wrong. It sadly was killed by a disloyal neighborhood cat. The very same cat he fed milk to on occasions turned against him, cunningly opened the cage when he was off to school and feasted on the poor bird. A Greek tragedy.

What would have happened if Vikram had caught Balaguru making that sound that night? We kinda know the answer. After he did come to know later about Balaguru’s skill, he found so many occasions to take it out on him. Balaguru would make the sound, which would freak the hell out of Vikram. Balaguru would run away. Vikram would pay back at the earliest possible opportunity. This was a regular activity in our hostel.