T.S. ELIOT’S fondness for cats yielded the most delightful collection of light verse, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, which went on to inspire one of the longest running musicals on Broadway. When Mark Twain’s “large and intensely black” Bambino went missing, he put out an advertisement with a $5 reward in the New York American. Charles Dickens was so upset when his favourite feline Bob died, that he went on to mount an ivory letter opener with its stuffed paw.
Pankaj Tripathi, a 31-year-old interior designer, who shares his one BHK south Delhi flat with nine cats, does not quite care about the illustrious history of male writers and their feline companions. Two years since he adopted Chikloo, a stray kitten with soft brown spots on plush white coat, he has nurtured a clan of cats in his mousetrap of a house. “Whoever said they are selfish? Cats are as loving and loyal as dogs, even though my life has turned upside down,” says Tripathi, who left Bhilwara in Rajasthan 10 years ago to study in Delhi. Tripathi’s face and arms have tiny scars and scratches, he looks slightly sleep deprived, his house perpetually reeks of fish food and his neighbours are not exactly friendly, but Tripathi is happy to upturn the “crazy cat lady” cliché our cat-wary society clings to.
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