Cats got your heart. The wisdom of a hearty breakfast.

Today’s working from home breakfast for K & me. The portions are in height order.

I woke up this morning to see Baby Loaf lying in the easy chair by our bed. This is his favoured spot these days. He naps there during the day too. I see him snoozing over there when I get up from an afternoon nap. Actual ‘catnaps’ evidently last a lot longer than mine!

I remembered going to sleep last night and seeing Baby Loaf settling on my slippers for a bit before he left the room. He had come into the room earlier, got onto our bed, saw the pyjamas which I was going to wear lying there, got onto it and began making this strange movement which to me looks like a cross between a reverse Michael Jackson Moonwalk and Carl lewis taking off in a 100 metre sprint. Or running on a treadmill!

I posted a video of him doing something similar on our quilt, a few days back on Instagram, and people wrote in to me saying that this is called ‘kneading’. Apparently cats do this to recreate memories of their being nursed by their mums. Some people said this is a cat’s way of saying that you are their parent now.

I liked this explanation the best and must remember to tell this to Kainaz the next time Loaf does this on freshly laundered clothes much to her chagrin.

Many moods of baby Loaf

It is not that Baby Loaf is always lovey dovey. Last evening in between his kneading and then lying on my sandals, he went to the door and meowed to be let out.

Or take what happened this morning when I woke to feed him at around 6.30 am. Loaf snuggled up to me and I tickled him below his neck. He followed me as I took the cat food out and then fed him. Then he went to the door and meowed to go out. You do remember that he got beaten up by the cats downstairs the last time we let him out.

He then came back to the bedroom and got on the bed and touched his nose to Kainaz’s nose while she slept. I went back to sleep and, as I said, woke up seeing him on the easy chair.

So that is how it is with Baby Loaf. There are times when he comes and flops on the floor; at times on my foot, or snuggles up for us to pamper him, pat him, hug him, kiss him (yes I give him many pecks on his back and head). Then there are times when he wants his space and goes off to parts of the house where he can be alone. And then there are times when he goes to the door and wants to be left out. I would like to think that these have become a bit less than before.

Baby Loaf often comes to see me make breakfast

Now let me tell you about the profound realisation dawned on me when I woke up today and saw him lying on the chair in the room and I reflected on what I just described.

Sautee the mushrooms first, take it out. Then roll out the beaten eggs and then put the stuffing back in. Easier to fold this way.

No, I am not talking about the realisation that regular commercial button mushrooms and processed cheese can make for a fabulous omelette stuffing, as I told Baby Loaf when he came to the kitchen to see me make my breakfast today.

It was realisation that everything that I had thought about cats before I met Baby Loaf, every preconceived notion that I had, was proved wrong once he came into my life.

Check out the smile of our Cattisatva

I used to think that cats were cold and distant, unlike dogs whom I always loved. That their loyalty was to their place of shelter, to their food, not to people. That they don’t like to be petted or loved, that they preferred to stay aloof.

K clicked this pic just after I published the post and Loaf was in a very lovey dovey mood

Then came the fateful day last November when Baby Loaf and I bumped into each other at our lobby and he came and nuzzled his cheek on my sandal. Later people told me that this is how cats stake their claim on you.

If he was a dog or a puppy, I would have patted him. I did not know what to do with a cat.

This happened over a few days till I finally had the gumption to pat him. I had never done this with a cat before this and was a bit tentative about it.

I did pat him eventually and it was such a wonderful feeling. I rushed up home and excitedly told K, “I patted a cat for the first time in my life and it felt fabulous.”

You know how this story progressed.

The wisdom of breakfast

There was more to my ‘profound realisation?’ 

Well, if I could be so wrong in my preconceived notions about cats, then how valid are the notions that we hold in our head about other human beings? People from other classes, communities, cultures, countries, genders? People who are different from us?

Think about it!

While Baby Loaf keeps changing his favourite spots, his love for this statue of the Buddha that our friend Niloufer gave us is constant. I have even see him put his head on the lap of the Buddha. Guess he feels a sense of calm there.

Click here to read about the Baby Loaf story