Anxiety

To me Cavity was never a mere cat. He was a family member. Ever
since I can remember I have lived alone. True, there was always Bon,
the factotum. But he spoke little and mostly in monosyllables. One
could never have an intelligent conversation with him. But then you
could scarcely have an exchange of words, human words with Cavity. Yet
he was so intelligent. And sociable too. Cavity was never alone. He had
his gang which consisted of four other felines. There was Bull the
dandy, Dindin the glutton, Porus the bearded and finally Junior the
kid. All these cats were devoted to Cavity and they were the scourge of
Belvedere. They ate anything that was offered to them and everything
else. When anyone started living in our area they were trained on a war
footing to protect themselves from Cavity and the gang. Yet there was
no way the cats could be stopped. Cavity ate only two meals a day. He
slept on a special cot in my room. He had a low table where he ate his
meals. Except during meals and night-time Cavity could never be found
in my house. Yet the whole world called him my cat. And I was very
proud of that. But Cavity was getting restless. It was obvious that
these cats had a lot of energy. They wanted to expend this energy
productively. However they had no idea how they must go about it. One
Sunday I was playing cards with Mr Nantoo, my neighbour. We have
invented this game where you require six packs of cards for two people.
Mr Nantoo was dealing the cards. I noticed that Cavity and gang were
watching. As usual their eyes looked eager with excitement. Suddenly
the cats pounced on the cards. Moving as fast as light they began to
arrange them one over the other. Mr Nantoo and I moved away from the
table. In about three minutes the cats had created a huge pyramid with
the cards. I could not help admiring how neatly the cards were placed
one above the other. I opened the refrigerator and gave Cavity and the
gang their favourite food-silver carp. I really should not have been
generous in my show of delight. From the next day there was no stopping
Cavity and his followers. They plundered every kitchen in the city till
there was no silver carp left anywhere. In the end we bought the cats a
cargo ticket and put a gunny bag containing the five felines on a plane
to Bombay. However it was of no use as we slowly learnt. In Bombay
Cavity was adopted by an elderly lady who fed him and his gang the
choicest fish. But they began to grow restive. They were once passing a
factory that made soccer balls. As in our case the cats felt anxious.
They entered the ball factory and straight went to the huge, open
courtyard. With the deft touch of a magician the cats then arranged
thirty balls one over the other till they stood like a tower. The
factory management were pleased and just happened to offer them silver
carp. And there it was again. Cavity and his friends raided all the
kitchens in sight and very soon the silver carp were all eaten.
Naturally this made the cats a lot fatter. The people of Bombay sent
them to Delhi. They did something there for which the cats were put on
a plane to Cairo, Egypt. Yesterday night I saw a television report on
the pyramids in Giza, Egypt. There was also news about a limestone
quarry nearby. But today morning when I switched on the tv I was
shocked and surprised. Shocked because the news said that the limestone
quarry of the previous day had been relieved of all the marble it
contained. Then there was a close shot of five familiar cats near the
biggest pyramid in Giza. Why they were shown I do not know. As the
camera went into long shot the most remarkable sight hit my eyes.
Someone had placed an inverted marble replica on the tip of the
original massive pyramid. There it was, of the same size and shape as
the original and delicately balanced over the pinnacle of the
magnificent architectural marvel. I can make a guess as to who is
responsible for this mischief and why. A warning about silver carp
would also be in order.