Animals are a favourite with my parents as well as me. So stray cats are always welcome at my home. Once a stray turned pet cat of ours delivered two kittens. To be exact, the date was 2nd January 2009. One of the kittens, a female survived only 13 days. The other one, a male became the apple of our eyes. We named him Buju. He was such a playful creature; always up to some mischief. But one day, he fell into the bucket full of water that had phenyl in it (the maid was wiping the floor) and from that day onwards he became a patient of epilepsy. We took him to the vet, consulted t2 for opinion on his condition, but no medicine could cure him. Although he was not a so called "normal" kitten, yet he understood us perfectly. On days that we would stay at home, either me or my mother, he would be so happy. On those days, after having his food, he would go off to sleep peacefully. And someone rightly said once, to watch a kitten sleep peacefully is one of the best scenes in this world. The days when we would not be at home, he could somehow sense it from our conversations, he would become so restless and would keep pacing down the room.
He would get so afraid to stay at home and would make a mess in the room. Either me or my mother would come home and had to clean it. We would get so angry at times, but then Buju was so helpless. He was so dependent on us. He could not eat or drink by himself. We would make him eat from his plate, drink from his saucer. Unlike any normal cat, he could not even drink from his saucer or bowl. I had to feed him milk and water, and sometimes even medicines in the liquid form via a syringe.
Buju took up so much of our time. But he was so lovable. Whenever we would be out of home, on returning, when we opened the door, we would find him waiting for us at the doorstep. The poor soul would often go off to sleep while waiting for us.When my mother would be getting ready to go out for work, he would walk all over the floor, on Ma's saree, as if to ask her not to go. His eyes would plead for our company. We tried our best to be with him for as long as we could. We could hardly go out on vacations all three of us together. Either my father or my mother had to stay back to take care of him.
We spent sleepless nights over him when he gradually started falling more ill. I would frantically search the internet to see if I could do something to make him feel better.
Buju was like family to us. Families with differently abled members would understand our situation. At every moment we would feel bad for him, but our love for him and his reciprocation was a wonderful feeling.
He passed away on 18th April, 2011 in the afternoon. I could not bear to see him go. Even when he was dying, I gave him water to drink and he had it from the syringe. He waited for my mother to return home from work. And then he was gone. Buju left us with so many happy memories. We miss him a lot.
Even now I have a couple of stray cats at home, but no one can take his place. He was and will always be, THE BEST.
