I woke up at 5 with a scratchy throat. Nimki who was lying by our feet looked at me as I cleared my throat. As did Baby Loaf. Maybe my croaks mean something in their language. It always freaks them out. I hope it’s not a mating call!
They watched me as I heated a cup of water in the kitchen. I then sat on Loaf’s lounge chair in the bedroom and sipped the water for half an hour and felt a bit better.
I remembered Kolkata in the years 95-97, when I’d get up like this, mid sleep in winter. Desperately trying to breathe through damp and smoky nights. I was a lot younger then and yet fared worse. One of the reasons why I left the city for and rarely went back in winter. Rosy pictures of Park Street lit up for Christmas notwithstanding.
As I began to feel a bit better today and considered going back to bed, I heard crackers being burst at a distance (5.30 am). I thought of Toastie, the senior cat who used to sit outside our gate and who our friends have adapted, and their stories of how the poor thing kept coughing through Christmas Eve.
Pollution is very real. And it’s everywhere. Not everyone has the option to run away like I did 20 years back.
I know that this is a somber note to greet you with among all the Christmas messages, but our planet deserves to have a merry Christmas too and it will help if we all take every little step we can to make things better. Anyway I better get up and try to go back to bed. I am sure Loaf wants his chair back!
#sdg #savetheplanet #pollution #merrychristmas
