Tuesday 10 December 2013

The Rescue Mission - Behind the scenes


Note: I'm writing this in response to this article.

The night was cold and mom wasn't around. I lay there all alone, when I decided to hunt for a place that felt warm and safe. I roamed around and found a tunnel that was big enough for me to get through. I spent the whole night sleeping there, occasionally being disturbed by cold winds and mild drizzle. I woke up and came out to find my mom and brother outside. It was still cold, so I decided to get back into the tunnel. It was 6.30 or 6.45 am I think, when I went there. I ventured too far into the tunnel and slipped. I didn't realise that the tunnel had a hole and I fell into it. I fell for just a little distance, when I got stuck inside.

I initially felt that the place was warm, so I decided not to struggle to get out. But after sometime, I was reminded of mom and I was hungry too. So I started calling out for help. I sensed that my mom had come for help, as she was calling me from outside the tunnel. The tunnel was too small for her to get through, I think. I kept calling out in vain and was telling her that I was hungry. That's when I heard some people talking outside. I think they heard my mayday calls and decided to look for the one who is need of help. Most of their conversation was gobbledygook to me. But this is what I could figure out: They had thought that someone was calling for help at their neighbor's place and chose to ignore.

I kept calling out for help, but in vain. Then at around 7 am, someone rushed out to the terrace, came over to the tunnel and found out that the sound was indeed coming from there. It was a human. He brought one more human there in a few minutes. After sometime, there was a loud quarrel going on there. I think there might have been about 4-5 humans there, and I could overhear their conversation: At first, they seemed to be concerned about me. And then I found out that they didn't want me to die inside their well as that would contaminate their water. And so, they decided to rescue me.

After a while, something hit my head. It was pushing me downwards and I continued to slip through the pipe, getting stuck at regular intervals. And then I landed into a bend and couldn't get myself out of it. I screamed again for help. The humans responded by pouring water inside the tunnel and I got completely drenched. They did this once more and I thought that I was going to drown for sure. A third time, and I was freed from the bend that I was stuck at. I choked and sneezed. I cleared my eyes and saw that there was finally an opening out of the tunnel. So I decided to get out and walked to the edge of the tunnel but found out that all this water was draining into a huge pit. I waited for help and stayed back quietly into the tunnel. 

There was water forced into the tunnel again. I didn't know what the humans intended to do, but the water dragged me out from my position and I almost fell into the pit. I somehow managed to hang on to the walls and waited again. There was more water. This was insane. As I was forced out for the third time, I was caught by the neck by a human and thrown out of the huge pit. I was shivering and nervous as I saw more humans gathering around to catch a glimpse of me. They wrapped a cloth around me to keep me warm and took photographs of me. They even fed me biscuits that wasn't able to chew and gave me milk. I was then taken to their terrace to be dried under the hot sun, when the human who pulled me out of the tunnel decided to torture me by taking more photographs: 


The way he tortured me by taking photographs :/

And then he left me at the place I consider home - their terrace. My mom and brother were not there, perhaps they had gone in search of me. After sometime, they returned. They were really happy to find me back home again. We now live as a happy family just like we've always been, and these humans provide us with food and milk - although there are times when they just don't care and we have to go looking for food by ourselves. 

Mom tells me that these humans are good people. I find it very strange to strike a friendship with them and I was very scared initially. Mom seems to be in very good terms with them and they too seem to enjoy our company. I'm trying to break the ice and be social with humans, and it is starting to work, I guess. My brother still refuses to even show up when the humans come to see us and is very scared of them. I really do hope that they do not harm us and keep us happy. 

P.S. I learnt that the warmth of being with mom and brother is better than the one I went searching for in the tunnel. I wrote this blog from the human's MacBook when he had left it on his balcony. I also managed to pull up a photo of him from his Facebook profile. For the record, this is what he looks like:




Loads of meows,
The Kitten.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

The Rescue Mission


I woke up at 7 am this morning, which is very early by my standards. My house was already abuzz with some issue. My uncle, who lives downstairs was talking in a loud voice and my aunt was complaining about something. Then I heard a kitten meowing nearby. It seemed to be in pain and then there was sound of more cats. My aunt was telling my uncle that a cat probably got stuck somewhere and was unable to come out of it.

I rushed to the terrace and found the cat who has made our terrace its home. There was a kitten along with it. But the sound of the wincing kitten seemed to come from elsewhere. I checked the broad rain water pipe which drains the rain water from the terrace into the well. The sound was coming from that. I checked if I could somehow pull the kitten out, but I couldn't see it. It had fallen into the pipe and was stuck vertically inside it. There was no way to dismantle the pipe as it is cemented and the single pipe runs from the terrace till the outlet inside the well. If the kitten were to slip from the current position, it would fall into the well and its death was imminent. I wanted to do everything I could to save it.

I called my mom to the terrace and explained the situation. I went downstairs to my uncle's house and checked the open-to-terrace space where the well is located. I found the outlet of that pipe and lowered a bucket tied to a rope into the well and tied it firmly into the position so that the if the kitten were to fall, it would fall only into the bucket. I then went back to the terrace and took the long tube that we use to water the plants. I lowered the tube into the rainwater pipe and pushed the kitten along the pipe. I pushed it two floors down and went downstairs again. I could now hear the kitten near the well, but it was now stuck in a right angle bend there and there was no way to push it any further.

It was around 9.15 am by now and I was still struggling to get the kitten out. My uncle gave a hand and was keeping vigil if the kitten would suddenly pop out. My aunt went to the terrace and I asked her to pour water forcibly into the pipe. The water drained out through the pipe but the kitten was nowhere to be seen. For a minute, we thought that it had died inside. I wanted to get it out somehow and I asked her to pour more water. She poured a bucket full of water when the kitten was pushed out of the place where it was stuck and looked out from the pipe. It saw daylight after about three hours of being stuck inside.

It was afraid to come out, and went back into the pipe. The outlet inside the well is barely reachable by hand so I couldn't grab hold of it. Now my aunt poured more water and the kitten peeped out for a second time. More water. Now it peeped out for the third time when I bent down into the well, stretched out my hand and grabbed the kitten by its head (or whatever my hand could catch hold of it). It started scratching my hands with its paws and I quickly, but softly threw it out of the well into safety. It was completely wet and shivering due to the cold water. I wrapped it up with a cloth and showed it to my mom, uncle, aunt and granny. Well, now let me show it to you too:


The cute little fur ball that I rescued today!

Okay, so everyone at home seems to have started loving him. But I'm not allowed to raise pets at home, you know. But I hope he sticks around and stays in my terrace (I've blocked that pipe FYI). For the next half an hour after we rescued him, everyone at home was taking turns to cuddle him. I think they've accepted him as a member in our family, but I haven't officially asked the kitten for his permission for being a part of our family though.