Finding Nemo was the easy part. It was loosing her that was the hardest.
Nemo was found in Baridhara, right in front of my university. Ok no – that is the version I told my mother – The Royal Evilness. Nemo was found on a random street. This is what I told my friends and cousins. Actually the truth was – Nemo and her mom was found holed up in an abandoned building near a friend’s house. In a dog infested neighbourhood.
Nemo and her mom had just managed to dash in before a whole brigade of dogs surrounded the abandoned building and lay in wait for them. What the kitten and her mom was doing in such a part of the neighbourhood in the first place, still remains a mystery. My friend – I forgot his name – called me up frantically asking for a home for the kitten because both mother-cat and kitten were starving inside the building and there was no way to get both out.
Now I knew The Royal Evilness would first die of fright, resurrect herself, kill me in the most horrible way and then die again of fright – if one day I just happened to bring home a cat. So I had to make sure that my story was so pathetically sad, that it would melt The Royal Evilness’ heart before she went into “attack” mode.
So the story was – Nemo was a poor little lost kitty, who lonely and starving was wandering around aimlessly. Bleary eyes and muttering incohorently, she happened to stumbled across me, saw the glimmer of my halo and JUST knew that I was to be her savior. So she solemnly and silently brainwashed me and as a result of her tremendous ability to control minds by making adorable cute cute kitty eyes – she had me all weak and jelly-like under her spell. And so I fell prey to her control, picked her up and brought her home, in a shoe box donated by a friend – which would later become her favourite litter box.
But in reality, it was much simpler. My friend drove her over, put her in a shoe box and gave her to me. Nemo was really weak and half dead with all the fright and starvation, but she still won me over by her cute melty eyes and her sad little mewlings. So atleast that part was true. I sat with her for a few minutes, got acquainted with her and then took her home to put her cuteness to the FINAL test.
To say that The Royal Evilness (TRE) freaked out when I was climbing up the stairs with a shoe box in my arms will be a gross understatement. TRE turned a ghashtly shade of white when she saw me – after all she was Royal and Evil and most importantly Smart – and so she knew that Naomi + Sad (but innocent expression on face) +Shoe Box (big enough to fit a kitty or puppy) = BAD BAD news.
Nemo did a marvelous job of winning her over with a tired mew and begging eyes. TRE allowed us in but gloomily predicted that the kitten had not a chance for survival - and that I would have Nothing to gain or offer to the kitten by bringing her in. Since I also had Nothing to loose by trying to save the kitten, I named the her Nemo – Latin for Nothing – brought her to my room and put her on a 4 hourly feeding schedule.
Nope, I didn’t loose her that day. Within three days she was up and about, chasing my skirts and playing with my shoes. It was 2 months later that I lost her – but that is another story, reserved for another day…
