On Valentine's Day as people are celebrating their love in innumerable ways starting from fancy dinners, romantic getaways, or simply red roses and chocolates, I also want to celebrate my love that needs no language, no words of love, and not even the commonalities of a species. It is the special bond I have with my "first born".
Lightning, or as we call him, Mota is our first pet. Even though May is the eldest one, Mota is our first born as we adopted him first. A big boy, weighing around 14 lbs at almost three years of age, he was still quite shy. But it didn't take him much long to become a mama's boy. Within weeks he was snuggling with me, and I still remember the day when he first put his head on my lap and slept.
Over the last seven years he moved with us from our apartment to this house, has adapted to sharing his home and parents with his two sisters and has grown into a handsome orange and white cat. Whoever sees him, the first thing they say is "wow, he's handsome!" A social eater, he has the personality of a gentleman. He just retires upstairs if there are guests, if he comes downstairs then he watches people for a while before greeting them with a friendly head bump.
With me, he has a special bond. He just loves me beyond words. The gentle purring and kneading on my belly shows that he considers me his mom (cat-mom actually). Every night he would come to me, sniff my nose and then curl up with his head on my tummy. I never knew that this bond is so deep until last week when he suddenly fell sick. What at first seemed to be UTI was actually a case of urinary tract blockage because of tiny stones, like sand, in his kidneys. Even though it is very common in male cats his age, and is completely curable, to see him suffer and meow loudly terrified Arnab and me. On the car ride from his local vet's clinic to the pet hospital, I just kept my hand on his back to make sure he was breathing. The pain, as the vet told us was excruciating, but as the pain killer kicked in, his breathing became a little easy. They admitted him to the hospital within minutes of us bringing him there and the doctors immediately started doing the tests. For the next three days all we could think was of him.
This was the first time in our lives with Mota not at home. Even though he is calm and doesn't run around all day, the house felt different without his gentle presence. I am notorious for being a heavy sleeper, and up till last week, neither sickness, nor heartbreak, not even exam results have been known to disrupt my sleep, but with Mota at the hospital, I kept waking up every few hours and Arnab and I took turns to call the hospital to enquire about him even at night or early morning hours.
We are lucky to have workplaces that let us take days off because he was in the hospital. On last Friday, we were ready to bring him home. When we got him back, he was lethargic to say the least. He had a cone on to prevent him from licking his belly, and that made him wobbly. He would just plop down next to me and sleep. If I got up, he would awaken immediately. And then I saw he was actually holding my PJs while sleeping. That's when I thought that the whole biological relationship thing is so overrated. There is just one thing called love, and that doesn't care about what you say, what gifts you give, or what relationship you have with a being. True love has no expectations, it is that feeling which makes you feel good when the other person/being is just there with you. That is why for the whole of Saturday Mota didn't leave my side. He would lay his head on my lap and fall asleep.
Arnab and I spent two more sleep deprived nights as we had to wake up to feed him (he can't eat on his own with the cone on) and to give him medicines. We are also monitoring his water intake o that the same problem does not recur. It is tough. He is confined to the master bedroom now, also using the master bath, and our room is smelling like a cat shelter! We don't seem to mind, I guess that is what labor of love is all about.
To have a soul that loves me so deeply that he can feel completely safe when I am there elevates me to a position of being loved. It is a great feeling, especially because there is no expectation. To be loved by someone this deeply are those moments in life that makes me feel good to be a human being.
PS: The house is again feeling like home, as all five of us are here once more!
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| With Mota in early 2010 |
Over the last seven years he moved with us from our apartment to this house, has adapted to sharing his home and parents with his two sisters and has grown into a handsome orange and white cat. Whoever sees him, the first thing they say is "wow, he's handsome!" A social eater, he has the personality of a gentleman. He just retires upstairs if there are guests, if he comes downstairs then he watches people for a while before greeting them with a friendly head bump.
With me, he has a special bond. He just loves me beyond words. The gentle purring and kneading on my belly shows that he considers me his mom (cat-mom actually). Every night he would come to me, sniff my nose and then curl up with his head on my tummy. I never knew that this bond is so deep until last week when he suddenly fell sick. What at first seemed to be UTI was actually a case of urinary tract blockage because of tiny stones, like sand, in his kidneys. Even though it is very common in male cats his age, and is completely curable, to see him suffer and meow loudly terrified Arnab and me. On the car ride from his local vet's clinic to the pet hospital, I just kept my hand on his back to make sure he was breathing. The pain, as the vet told us was excruciating, but as the pain killer kicked in, his breathing became a little easy. They admitted him to the hospital within minutes of us bringing him there and the doctors immediately started doing the tests. For the next three days all we could think was of him.
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| Snuggles help him recover fast |
We are lucky to have workplaces that let us take days off because he was in the hospital. On last Friday, we were ready to bring him home. When we got him back, he was lethargic to say the least. He had a cone on to prevent him from licking his belly, and that made him wobbly. He would just plop down next to me and sleep. If I got up, he would awaken immediately. And then I saw he was actually holding my PJs while sleeping. That's when I thought that the whole biological relationship thing is so overrated. There is just one thing called love, and that doesn't care about what you say, what gifts you give, or what relationship you have with a being. True love has no expectations, it is that feeling which makes you feel good when the other person/being is just there with you. That is why for the whole of Saturday Mota didn't leave my side. He would lay his head on my lap and fall asleep.
Arnab and I spent two more sleep deprived nights as we had to wake up to feed him (he can't eat on his own with the cone on) and to give him medicines. We are also monitoring his water intake o that the same problem does not recur. It is tough. He is confined to the master bedroom now, also using the master bath, and our room is smelling like a cat shelter! We don't seem to mind, I guess that is what labor of love is all about.
To have a soul that loves me so deeply that he can feel completely safe when I am there elevates me to a position of being loved. It is a great feeling, especially because there is no expectation. To be loved by someone this deeply are those moments in life that makes me feel good to be a human being.
PS: The house is again feeling like home, as all five of us are here once more!
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