)
)
)
)
Nicknamed Cut-aah, for his thick fluffy black fur (which made him resemble a black buffalo calf ) when he was a teensy weensy kitten. Being his mothers favourite, who spent endless hours grooming him, he was the chubbiest of the lot ... and inevitably the laziest.
Those of you who have raised kittens would know that, normally when kittens drift way from their litter, they mew for help and to lead their mother to their location. On the contrary, whenever Lil’ Maximus found himself straying away from the kittens play area or abandoned by his brothers, this smart little fella never raise his voice. Instead, he chose not to waste his energy, in unnecessary distress calls to mommy and siblings. Unperturbed he would wander off to the feline family cushion in the catbox, curl up and snooze literally conveying/saying “why bother, wherever the gang is, they are ultimately going to turn up in the catbox…might as make good use of the peace and quiet”
Maximus has the whole clan (feline and non-feline) under his furry thumb. Don’t be mistaken by his laid back attitude. He sincerely believes in proper exercise and is often seen to be chasing and dribbling a table tennis ball around the house in the wee hours of the morning, while his siblings tuck in breakfast. Maximus is prone to delivering long lectures to his humans, irrespective of the hour...(sometimes even when they are asleep). This wise guy unleashes his feline wisdom whenever he chooses and refuses to shut up no matter what, until he is satisfied with his verbal endeavor. His favourite pastime is chewing and attacking human toes that dare stick out beneath the blanket or bedcovers.
Second in line is Taliban. This spotted black and white feline was initially christened as Daisy-Anna, when he was a tiny little kitten. Back then he would place his front paws on the edge of his box while standing on his back paws to mew (wrinkling his pink nose in the process) and stare at the rest of the world.
Later on after the determination of his correct gender he was renamed Taliban, given his profound tendency to beat up his siblings and lash out at his humans without provocation.
Taliban’s immense love/affinity for technology drives him to in the vicinity of various electronic appliances in the house. He enjoys lounging on top of the TV and the PC monitor and snuggling among the PC packaging on top of his human’s cupboard. Taliban still wrinkles his nose while mewing.
As a kitten, Billy Bob’s voice would rarely be heard…the closest sounds emitting from this timid kitten would resemble strangled sighs or sobs, as he would stare at his human with wide scared eyes. The slightest indication of (imagined or real) danger would make him scuttle away to hide in his selected safe spot of the moment.
This once a shy and apprehensive kitten, with a sparse fur has now transformed into the wild child of the litter. Now grown up, Billy Bob is the Casanova of the local feline circle. His charming thick black and white tuxedo fur complemented by perpetually dilated pupils give him a bespectacled and gentlemanly aura. When he is not out romancing the femme felines, Billy Bob spends most of his time grooming himself, coughing up fur balls, bird watching and cat napping.
Though Billy Bob’s personality may have changed considerably with time, he still continues to practice one of his most endearing kittenish habit i.e. he will gladly stand erect on his hind feet to have his head stroked and petted (That too despite the paunch, acquired thanks to his glutinous streak).
Youngest of the lot, Simon was the brains of the litter.
During the initial months of his life, Simon rarely received any notice from his human, partly due to his ordinary coloring/markings and appearance. To make matters worse, Simon was stricken with an ocular malfunction as his right eyelid became dystrophic after an eye infection. As a result his right eye became slightly disproportionate to the other and would often fail to close. But, perhaps what really set him apart from the rest of his siblings was his yearning for human’s love and possessiveness of his human’s attention.
Indifference from his human was something quite unbearable for this possessive and jealous feline. Through a strange mixture of determination, intelligence (bordering on cunning) he overcame all physical disadvantages and managed to attain the love and affection he craved for from his human. Initially, when human used to pet and fuss over his siblings, Simon did little much than stare longingly and wait for his turn. Eventually he learnt to channelize his intelligence to fulfill his craving for attention from his human. An innocent game of kitten play initiated by Simon, while his sibling/s sat snugly in his human’s lap, usually ended with the same results… Simon would gradually advance and pounce on the kitten sitting in the human’s lap and feign to play around his tail. And before you could figure out what was going on, annoyed at Simon’s boisterous advances, the other kitten would vacate the lap. Then Simon would fill in the vacant space and literally demand to be petted and cuddled.
Simon’s short life was spent in pursuit of attaining his human’s affection and approval. Just stretch out a hand to pet him and Simon would readily to drop on the ground and roll on the floor with joy. (which earned him the nick name of Chandramukhi). His quirky antics attained him a special place in the heart of his human. Chopping vegetables or shelling peas in peace became unavoidable with Simon around. He would sneak away a pea pod or piece of vegetable away for sport…literally. He would make a great affair of killing it, dribbling and chasing the vegetable piece allover the place ¾ treating it as prey and guarding it fervently till he grew tired of the game. Then the mauled green would be stowed away in some obscure corner (often under his human’s mattress.) During a certain phase in his life, he chose to sleep with his human and conveniently ignored all efforts to make him budge from her side. Being fastidious creature, Simon would saunter in at 9 pm (which was the ascertained bedtime for his human by Simon) to issue vocal reminders if she deigned to stay up later than that. Eventually Simon’s human had to give in, in order to shut him up. (Thankfully Simon quickly grew out of this phase)
Simon was the other half of the terrible two…(the other half being Maximus) The duo would cuddle together and would spend hours grooming each whenever the mood struck them.
Simon left his home on 13 January 2004 never to come back. He died in a fatal road accident. Needless to say, Simon is sorely missed and will never to be forgotten
