Garfield was born in our back garden. His mother abandoned one kitten – we don’t know why? Anyway, Garfield this stray kitten adopted us. Sometime along the way, I was relegated in the pecking order and my wife, daughter and Garfield had full control – wifey being the disciplinarian and daughter the caregiver. He would periodically disappear for a day and then resurface hungry, dishevelled and wounded from catfights. The two women would then go into throes of remorse and Garfield would be treated like a long lost son.
Now the Lost and Found Story: On 6.11.22 while returning from the vet clinic in Sector-50 market after treatment of a severe wound, Garfield suddenly escaped from his cage being carried by my daughter. This was unusual but possibly he was traumatised by the painful treatment in the clinic. He ran into the centre lane opposite the market as seen by the Colony Guard who stands there.
For the next 7 days we searched that whole area calling out his name and spoke to the residents, security guards, the dhobi and put up a few posters. All of them were very considerate and promised to call if they saw Garfield.
I spoke to our sector president and requested him to speak to the concerned person in the RWA of Sector-50. He did the needful and the general secretary Sector-50 RWA, circulated our digital poster of Garfield through the RWA system. A cousin of mine in the sector also spoke to editor of Samvada. She in turn spoke to manager of the RWA office, who was also kind enough to spread the message.
Seven days later, on 13.11.22, I received a call from a resident of Sector-50. He sent me pictures and a video of a ginger coloured cat in front of his house, never seen before. He put some milk out for the cat and kept a close watch along with his family members. My wife and I rushed to his house and there was Garfield! He was confused, scared and hungry but came to my wife wailing in what I presumed was ecstasy. My daughter reached home just after we did (we hadn’t told her yet) and she was overjoyed and couldn’t believe her eyes. Mother and daughter did not know whether to scold Garfield or cuddle him.
This is a classic example of how positive Community Spirit can be so productive and bring so much happiness amongst people.
by Sanjaya Varma (edit@samvada.in)
