Bella

Our affair started sometimes in April, she (a stray cat) started coming to our door looking for food. Slowly she found her way to our hearts. We decided to name her Bella.

She would love to be touched on her head and neck and brush against our legs. Much of her time was spent seated at our doorstep. Every time I walked out of the house, she would walk with me till the gate and I would feed her a biscuit. When I came back home, she would come out of nowhere and accompany me till the door with spring in her step.

A few months later she became pregnant. On 11th Sept, she entered our gallery twice when we opened the door, but I shooed her away. She had her way and when we were out, broke the mesh of our gallery and jumped in. I found her in a big bag which was in the gallery, looking at me pleadingly and next to her 3 kittens suckling her.

Life naturally revolved round the kittens for 2 weeks. One kitten was decided for one family member. I called my white kitten Tinker Bell. My son liked the black and white one and named her Milky. My daughter adopted the grey one and named after herself Syd Junior. We would hear them squealing when Bella came to feed them. On 24th Sept, she brought the kittens out of the bag and placed them on a cloth. Now we did not have to peep inside their bag to see their progress.

Then tragedy struck. On 25th Sept night, Bella did not come home. On 26th Sept morning, when I stepped out I found her lying near a plant, outside our house, unable to move, meowing softly and conveying with her eyes that she is injured and in pain. One leg had turned black. After contacting different NGOs, someone from WSD came to check her. She had met with an accident. First aid and pain killer was administered to her and kept back in our gallery. The amazing part was how she managed to drag herself till our garden.

By evening she died with her kittens over her. With tears and a heavy heart, buried her in the back garden.

Now was the issue of taking care of the kittens. They were squeaking loudly searching for their mother. Started feeding them milk through a syringe and cleaning them. Being a working person was unable to keep them. On Tuesday, after contacting many people, a vet agreed to take them and with a tearful farewell handed them over to him. Life seems a bit empty at the moment.