Felis, the cat flew away in that white December of 2030.
Life has its own luster and glamour. I experienced the sheen
from a bizarre encounter. While jogging in a neighborhood park I saw a cat, so
brisk and agile capturing mice. Squirrel and cat were two mammals that would
always attract my attention in those green pastures for their steadfastness.
Though squirrel was quite vigorous not to ever look at me, the furry growling cat
sometimes used to look at me.
Pets had never been my forte until that time though.
One evening when the sky was painted with the sunset hues so
dark, the sun and the crescent moon shone at the same time, tree leaves danced
to the sound of breeze, the birds returned to their nests in flocks and Mount
Floyen stared at me, I felt a sense of loneliness in the small city of Bergen.
‘Hey! Go out to a friend’s place’, my smart neuro
glasses told me sensing my cerebral emotions but then my smart
pulsometer, considered my pulse rate and time of the retreating day to
be 10 pm and suggested me to doze off. I
took off all my digital accessories to think alone and indulge in soliloquy.
Woo, Tinder I have had it all and didn’t trust a human at my
home at all. I thought of creating a replica of cyber humanoid Wallis from my office to keep company
and chit chat. “Ahhh! Another machine…..Noooo!!”, shouted my heart in anguish.
I redirected my mind to think differently.
Life has its own luster and glamour. My mind reinstated showing
signs of animation. “Why not explore myself some more on my appetite to deal
with animals which I mostly tend to avoid?”, I whispered to myself.
“Why not lure the wild cat from the garden?”, my mind
coaxed.
In a zeal to follow this idea, I started spending more time
reading and talking about the cats. Moreover, I was also playing lot of guitar
to remove the thought of all the robots who bugged me at work. I was humming ‘Nashville Cats’ by the Louina Spoonful followed by “When he calls me kitten” by The Kelly
Deal 6000 and enjoyed the rhythm. Playing guitar with all kinds of music
became a routine with a glass of red or white wine by my side.
After contemplating on hunting my prey, the cat from the
garden, I went there on Saturday evening and started playing PURR music and sound of chirping birds
on my guitar. I could see the friendless cat at a distance from me but he
didn’t budge from his place. I came back home only to try my luck the next day.
On Sunday, after having my capucchino and croissant I headed to the park again.
After humming and playing some human master pieces, I again plucked the strings
of my guitar to play PURR music. I
didn’t see the pussy cat for half an hour or so but then he unexpectedly appeared
only to gaze at me and my instrument for some time. This became a routine for a
week or so and the tactful chase for a romantic rendezvous with the cat
continued. Then, again on Saturday, I was playing cat tones with lot of
variations for almost two hours now but feline or Felis as I had named him,
didn’t turn up. I started to walk back home feeling jilted in my affair with
the cat. Suddenly, he appeared from nowhere and started to walk to our abode. I was very excited and
believed that I would tame and finally domesticate him.
Life has its own luster and glamour. At first Felis didn’t want
to join me but finally my charms worked and I had won him over. I pampered him with
food and drinks he loved. Moreover,
since it was Christmas month and I didn’t have much work at office I mostly worked
from home, rather worked for home and
spent my time playing around with Felis. Though I had to be careful of his
razor-sharp claws and teeth.
“Meeewwww”, he would say whenever I would gently scratch
him.
“EEEeeeeww”, I would murmur if at all I would be busy and
not paying heed to him as he would be shitting around feeling ignored.
I anticipated fresh and complex work at office starting
New-Year. Thus, only machines could have come to my aid to nanny Felis.
“Why not build a Robo-cat like Wallis?”, provoked my subconscious. He would be of great company to
Felis. I worked for a week and bondi-blue shaded robo-cat, Robbie was ready to pounce upon Felis.
“OOOwwwww”, grunted Felis and snuggled Robbie. But he interpreted
soon that it was not living and lost interest.
“Boss! Welcome home. Today you are back home early”, said
Robbie.
“Yeah, I was missing both of my dear cats, so came early!”,
I casually said and started to look around for Felis.
Robbie was smart enough to understand my anxiousness and
reported, “If you are looking for Felis, he is playing in the lawns”. I saw him
from the window catching his breath and rolling on the grass. I went out to
check if he was fine, but then an owl flew towards him, caught him and flung
him high in the sky and then just dropped him. I was lucky enough to catch him
in time. I was scared but Felis’s green eyes shone brightly, whiskers moved
briskly and ears straightened up in hostility. I couldn’t perceive his strange
behavior, but I had very well deduced that I couldn’t domesticate him and his
wildness could make him indulge in some other adventurous activity.
I programmed Robbie once again that whole night, so that it
keeps a close check on Felis’s movements.
“Alas! It is only a machine in learning”, I thought.
Life has its own luster and glamour. To make it brighter and
fascinating a soiree was on my mind. So, even with mundane busy routine that
followed, I threw a party after a few days and invited all my friends with
their set of pets.
“Looks like Felis is the feisty of all, he is frightening
all the others”, exclaimed Ria.
“That’s true, he just scratched my kitten”, said Joe
painfully.
“Hahaha, but my parrots are making him run all around”, jested
Maya.
When the music system’s thumping beats began followed by
different Purr sounds that I had recorded, all the pets hovered around the
speakers and rubbed themselves against them. Everybody had ounces of drinks and
loads of fun.
As we all bade Good-Byes, Nahan shouted, “Better cage Felis
in your absence”. I ignored his suggestion and slept, with Felis still roaming
around.
Next morning it was snowing and with my gum boots and
umbrella, I left. Since the previous night’s party hangover was still fresh in
my nerves, I returned early by around 1900 hrs.
As an Algorithm etiquette, Robbie greeted me. I lay on sofa
with my eyes on a look out for Felis.
“Oh! He wasn’t there even in the lawns. Where is he?”, I
pondered.
I switched on the CCTV’s recordings but nothing was captured
except Felis moving out of the main entrance door. I shouted for Robbie’s
recordings and was shocked to see him playing with the previous fortnight’s
dark brown owl. While I was watching curiously, I noticed that they both had
similar traits. They both were acrobatic and powerful nocturnal hunters bonding
over their similar nature. I wanted to ask Robbie, as to why he didn’t stop
Felis from loitering out, but knew the answer that I had programmed into him,
“do not force anything on Felis”. Machines indeed learn the hard way with no
emotional logic attached, I reasoned.
Life has its own luster and glamour. I murmured to myself after
seeing the spectacular flesh frolic at display. With heavy heart, I played the
paused video only to see the climax wherein Felis was happily wagging his tail
while being carried away by the owl. “An uncommon union”, captioned Robbie, the
steel. When they were out of sight, all that was left behind was white pristine
snow.
 |
| Courtesy : Google Images |
