Udupi: Feline love: It's 'reign'ing cats and kittens at Geetha's house!

Suvarna Brahmavar
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Mar 6: You would have seen one or two cats moving around houses of relatives and friends. These felines are commonly looked after in rural households for hunting down rats. Cats can be very fierce when challenged, and therefore it is a common sight to witness catfights whenever there are more than a couple of cats around.

Visit Geetha Teacher’s home in Cherkadi near Brahmavar in the taluk for a surprise. Her house is home to over 40 cats, all of which live harmoniously.  You will be greeted by cats peeping from behind flower plants, sitting in the courtyard, giving curious looks from the hall of her house and everywhere else. You cannot enter kitchen, switch on television, open windows or visit cowsheds without finding some cats there.

Geetha Teacher had brought two kittens to her home for rearing about nine years back. They were named Vocha and Vochi. Vocha soon strayed away and never came back. All the cats presently seen belong to Vochi’s lineage. Vochi’s kittens have great-grand children, and the young kittens found in the house belong to her fifth generation.

These cats have been given interesting names, like Chinna, Banna, Neel, Soni, Neeli, Himani, Shimani, Peeli etc based on the complexions, Shashi-Kushi, Midi and some others like these based on their behaviours, Gundu, Siri etc based on their looks etc. Jana, Jane, Munna, Munni, Jirsal, NSD, Military, Panchami, Panchi etc are some other names these cats are known with.

But for Geetha’s tender care, these cats would not have survived for long. Geetha ensures that those who want to rear the newborn litters are prepared to adopt the entire batch together. She gives kittens to others only when she is confident that they get the care they deserve.

Geetha says that tomcats do not mingle with mollies from the same family, and that tomcats from a house go out when their counterparts from neighbouring houses come on a visit. The female cats provide maximum care to the kittens, and even feed kittens not born to it, she adds. She warns that people who rear cats should be careful as they hunt down butterflies, frogs, snakes etc for providing food to their offspring.  She adds that one can get hint about hunted animals being brought in, by the strange sound the cats make.

Two cows in Geetha Teacher’s cattle shed provide enough milk for the family members and the cats. She also gives out the excess milk to the needy free of cost. When the cows stop yielding milk or the yield is insufficient, she brings milk from other households to keep her cats content. Her cats devour rice, Idli, Kadubu etc in addition to milk.

An adage in Kannada says that cats always like to stay aloof from other cats but in Geetha’s house, one sees cats living together, supporting one another, thereby making the family content besides providing entertainment.