“through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us. . ."

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Catwatching







Sipping tea at a wayside stall,

I watch a cat sauntering by.

She regards me; I smile at her-

She pauses - lifts a paw -

She moves –

How graceful, how lithe, how feminine!


On her croups, she looks at me, blinks –

Twitches her ears – this way, that way.

She glances up at a crow, intent.

A man walks up –

The cat appraises.

At peace, she examines her left forepaw

And licks.


A fallen leaf stirs in the wind –

Cat looks at it, ears pointed.

A mongrel runs by – the Cat’s tail

Stiffens and then d-e-l-i-b-e-r-a-t-e-l-y

Twirls and flicks (it scares me).

She follows him, rapt eye-ed

As he goes out of sight.












The cat gazes at me.

She stares at me, unblinking -

Uncomfortable, I look elsewhere.

How she demands attention,

How swiftly does she ignore!


Kneeling, with love

I offer her a piece of cake, a bit sodden -

I never thought

A cat could express such disdain!

Oh well, you never liked cats, I thought,

Don’t try so hard to, now.


Sheepish, I realize

That the grudging admiration

I have for cats

For their attitude

For their sly, self-assured ways

Their aloofness, pooh-poohing

The rest of the world –

Is the same that I have

For certain women I know!

********* Balachandran V, Trivandrum 19-10-2010




15 comments:

  1. Dey you are inviting wrath with the last verse. Good luck!!!

    But well said and thought out piece.Quite a matter of fact. Difficult to argue to deny.

    And are you sure the feline was feminine?

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  2. Hahahaha. The last line deserves a piece of cake. :-)

    Watching the cat walk;
    beautiful verses you chalk :-)

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  3. interesting simili.. makes sense now that u mention :) so if women are cats, men are dogs? no wonder marriage is so difficult ;D

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  4. @Anil: The poem was duly read out, censored and approved by you-know-who! :D

    @ Insignia: I have watched a lot of ladies too! :D :D

    @ Ashok: Patti aayath-ennude punyavum!

    @ K: And then you see the rare sight of dogs& cats in love with each other!

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  5. Cats sure have an "attitude"
    It's hard to NOT admire!

    From the cafetaria I look outside I see kittens - they amuse me with their ways;

    They are on their own,
    Just a few days, from the day they are born...

    Catwatching, I've been too
    And also like your view :)

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  6. Don't know why. I don't like them the way I like dogs. I think they are more parasitic, like some women you mentioned.!

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  7. @Doc: 'Kodu kaii!! :D

    @RGB: You learn a lot from observing! :)

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  8. @Kavitha: Angels? Hmmmm..!
    btw, I did as you told for the twitter, but nothing happened????

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  9. I noticed the share tab was not there--i assumed that you chose to remove it.It is a two months old feature and is available for all the blogspot blogs...let me see how can i help again.

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  10. A pleasant write and one much enjoyed by me...Why? Well, I happen to be a cat lover. They are so independent and pretty much uncaring of what we like or think...Lol.. As for the line at the end.....hmmmmmmm, I am self assured that I do unto others as I would have them do unto me; therefore, I become likeable without a problem....lol.. Great write Balan...You make everything so very enjoyable....

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  11. @Sandy: Thanks, Sandy! You'll notice I said, 'Grudging admiration'!! ;)

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  12. ha! how we play aloof and what fun :)

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  13. @Sumi: Well, you are not one among them!
    Out of the blues? Welcome back. You have missed some of my gabbing.

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