Jayashri Jayaraman
Once upon a time, there lived a cat named ‘Cat’.
Cute
Cuddly
Ugly
Elusive
Ferocious
Hypnotic
Watchful
Untamed
Unknowable
Cat the cat, wanted to be everything.
A reasonable ambition
For a creature that has been
Worshipped as divine
Blamed for bad luck
Sometimes both, in the same lifetime
And so it began where all things begin…
With feeling!
Love
Longing
Fury
Fear
Bravery
Boredom
Dread
Delight
Wonderment
The cat wanted to feel everything.
A curious pursuit
For a creature that trusts instinct over emotion…
That reads the air before the room
That senses before it understands
That chooses before it knows why
And so, it learned quickly
What’s feeling, without knowing?
The keeper
The watcher
The chosen
The coveted
The show-off
The trickster
The beloved
The believer
The dreamer
The cat knew it had to be in the company of all.
A paradox, really
For cats are solitary beings
Yet masters of co-existence
Ignore you, it will
Insist on bringing you an offering, it must
Sitting where it shouldn’t, well, it can’t helped
On plans. On pans. On laptops. On laps.
Skilfully walking the tight rope of contradictions
But is one life ever enough?
When so much of it slips by in sleep
Not for a creature
That must follow every flicker
Every sound
Every maybe
‘Curiosity killed the cat,’ they say
But satisfaction brought it back
And that’s probably why, the cat has nine lives
Or so the stories go…
Nine lives, none fully spent
Eight nights it watched you sleep
Seven secrets buried in its gaze
Six senses sharper than yours
Five shadows it leaves behind
Four corners it royally claims
Three things it will never forget or forgive
Two worlds it treads between
One moment before it decides
In all of them
Cat the cat, remains unowned, unknowable, unfinished
Because a cat is never just a cat
It wasn’t trying to be everything at all
It already was
And the nine lives?
Perhaps, not for the cat
But for everyone trying to understand it.
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