How I met your brother. One year of having Baby Loaf in my life AND the little Nimki origins story.

Baby Loaf

If one goes by Instagram story records, today is the one year anniversary of when I first met Baby Loaf. I was returning from a walk that evening and entered the building lobby when a cat came to me and nuzzled its face against my shin.

“I am not a cat person,” I told it with a smile. K vividly remembers how I came up and excitedly narrated the story to her that day. The rest is history. We now have two cats! 

After breakfast today

I learnt from cat lovers on Instagram that rubbing its face on you is a cat’s way of claiming you as its own and that is what Loaf did that evening. We became friends as the days went by. I thought he was a girl then (he was neutered and looked rather ‘lady-like’) and I called him Maharani. We would meet at our stairs and I began to feed him to help some of our other neighbours who were already looking after him. He began to come home and became an inside outside cat for a while. We took him in for good in February after some unpleasant incidences in the building which us made us worry for his life. 

He has been with us for nine months now. I hope he is happy. He does try to run out occasionally after all. 

Little Nimki watched me intently while I made egg  rolls for breakfast today

Little Nimki, who might or might not be Baby Loaf’s brother, moved in with us on 6th August, 6 months after Loaf had. We first came across Loaf when he was possibly 6 to 8 months old. Nimki, on the other hand, was born in our building in the last week of May during the rains. We, along with a couple of other neighbours, fed his mother after she gave birth. She looked so scrawny. 

I named her Mishti and him Nimki. There was another kitten too and I name it Chomchom. All in memory of the sweet shops of Kolkata. Chomchom disappeared soon. Taken by a tomcat according to our watchman. Then there were two.

We got Mishti neutered so that she would not litter again. Giving birth so often is not so good for her said a couple of other cat lovers in the building. I listened to the ladies and got her spaying organised the moment Nimki completed 3 months. Nimki stayed partly with us while Mishti was away.

To cut a long story short, Mishti did not recognise Nimki when she returned from her operation (after 3 nights). As it was in the case of Baby Loaf earlier, the situation was not conducive for Nimki to be left alone in the building. That too at such a tender age. 

This was when we were house help-less during the lockdown and looking after another kitty seemed impossible to us. Plus, I felt committed to Loaf. It was as if I would be betraying the trust he had placed in me if I took another kitty in. The other cat lovers in the building who were looking after him had two cats each and could not take in more, so we decided to foster him till we found him a home.

Nimki Pinki Ponky as I call him these days

Nimki is a brave kid who is full of spunk. He is a survivor, as our friend Shas once pointed out. The only one from Mishti’s litters to survive. Unless Loaf is her kid too, which I like to think he is. 

Nimki knows how to make friends. He won my heart the day he held my hand in the lobby when K and I were returning from a walk. He was with his mother and just a month old then. 

“Hello dude, I am Nimki. Nice to meet you.”

“You fool. We meet everyday outside the gate when I feed you and your mum!”

He won K’s heart when he settled on her lap and went off to sleep one evening, when she was on a work call, just after we began to foster him. 

We were falling in love with Nimki but would tell the world, and ourselves, that we were fostering him. Words that sounded hollow to me, but we stuck to our stand.

Nimki began taking his first little jumps around the house and stumbled and fell from the bedside table one morning and yawled like there was no tomorrow. K and I were shocked and tried to console him, as did Loaf, and took him to a vet where the first diagnosis was that he might be paralysed for life. Our little drama king eventually got a grip on himself and the doc changed his diagnosis and said that it was just a sprain. We brought our teeny Braveheart home and the moment went entered the apartment, we knew that it was his home too. 

We dropped the ‘foster’ from the equation and became his parents.

My biggest worry was about how Loaf and Nimki would get along. Loaf was used to having the house to himself, though he had become a bit reserved compared to before before even before Nimki had come in. ‘He is not a kitten anymore’, said Dr Nicol to us. ‘Don’t expect him to be playful.’

Loaf has poise. “Blue blooded,” as my mother in law says. A thorough gentleman. He likes order, peace and calm. A true Cattisatva. He is sitting by my feet on the bed right now. Meditating.

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Nimki on the other hand is free spirited and a bundle of energy and a bit pushy and feisty too. He was just 3 months old then and had been brought up by his mum who had protected him from cats and humans and what not. He knew how to look after himself. K had seen him stand between his mum and the big tomcats to protect his mum. even though he was so tiny.

If Loaf was Shashi Kapoor in Deewar. Nimki was Vijay. K says that I should use references that the boys would understand, but you get the drift?

Loaf would guard his territory when we introduced the two to each other (not what you are thinking, both boys knew how to use the litter box from the start). Nimki would fight back. Even though he was 1/5th Loaf’s size.

I studied internet videos on how to break in cats when you already had an existing one. I received lot of advice from folks who shared their own experiences with me and reassured me that things would work out. They wished that we would take him in but I was clear that we had to be convinced ourselves to do so. It is a commitment after all.

Our vets gave their advice on the matter. Our neighbours Erika and Gia helped us a lot 

It finally came down to K and me though. We did our best to ensure that each got its own time and space and share of love. We began to understand that each had its own personality and would relate to them accordingly. We tried to make sure that they understood that we were there for them both. That we were one team. 

We even prayed for the two to get along! For Loaf to be happy and not feel neglected. For Nimki to feel happy and not alone and lost.

Anniversary selfies

It has been three months since then and a lot has happened in between. The boys still have their share of fights, till Loaf has enough and flings or shoos Nimki away. Nimki darts at Loaf when the latter is having a meal or is in the litter box, and that turns Loaf off. Nimki jumps on Loaf if he sees Loaf settle peacefully somewhere. Just like my younger brother would do when we were kids. 

We are the #KittyKarmakars

Then one day we saw Loaf lick Nimki all over and groom him, holding him tightly when the little one squirmed. They slowly begun to become buddies. 

Now they hang together, wake up and sleep at the same time and at times choose different sections of the house for some me time. 

Nimki still goes after Loaf’s food and pisses him off, but he also goes and comforts Loaf when Loaf sees something outside (other tomcats I suppose) and howls and wants to go out. It’s not all snuggles. Skirmishes happen too. Some of it is play as we have come to realise.

K keeps talking about how happy she is that Nimki is with us, though she wishes that he would get on her lap as often as he did earlier. My mom in law has been won over by Nimki and she feels glad that Loaf has Nimki’s company. Nimki and our cook banu have become buddies though Baby Loaf stays aloof. My mother was feeling low on the phone today and want me to video conference her with the boys and cheered up on seeing them. I tell my granny stories of the boys when I call her and I know that cheers her up. They have brought such happiness to our lives.

My attempts to reconnect Mishti and Nimki came to nought. She chases both Nimki and Loaf if she sees them and we have kept the apart as advised by the doc. Mishti has her guardian angels and is looked after. 

Last evening Loaf looked really worried when a couple of crackers were burst outside. He got into his ‘Loaf’ position. I ran to shut the windows and then patted him. He came and settled beside K and me, something he has not done of late. The poor baby looked so nervous. 

Nimki meanwhile had stepped out into the box grill to investigate what had happened. Like the Gauls in Asterix, he knows no fear. Not even that of the sky falling on his head.

He then came and settled in front of Loaf on the sofa as if to say, “Dada, I will look after you.”

Loaf slowly begun to feel assured and closed his eyes and then so did Nimki. They slept cheek touching cheek, then bum touching belly, then face resting on tail and eventually legs propped on back (Nimki of course!).

…And that is the story of the #KittyKarmakars. 

PS: We had a packet of the new cake mix from Pooja Dhingra’s Le 15 Patisserie. K suggested that I bake it today and I did so. It turned out to be as easy to make as instant noodles, tasted delicious too and we had a nice little impromptu dessert party to remember the day by.

PPS: 13th November is the day I had approximated as the one where I met Baby Loaf for the first time. However, Santanu Roy, who follows Loaf’s every step on Instagram, told me today that the post below was from my Instagram on the 13th of November last year.

13th November 2019 apparently. Hmmm.

This seems to be the first Loaf story I had saved. 52 weeks back!