at the risk of shocking some of you, here's how the abyss looks like, seen from the window of my room. we have currently been adopted by these feline rascals who do not like being touched AT ALL. it perturbs me no end, especially when they are sat there in my balcony, are peering at me through that slightly ajar door, gaping at me. as if mocking me wordlessly. we never hear even the slightest meow from them. not a single whimper, to sometimes make us realise their presence, or just that they have arrived and that we should open the door. the two babies are too young to have even developed a proper voice, but their mother is a proper north Indian matriarch. she does not let her kids wander too far, is almost too alert, never even comes close to the threshold if she sees either of us around.

always extremely poised, her grandeur has slightly diminished in the last few weeks since she started taking the kids away from us. i was just beginning to pet one of the kids, and he was beginning to graze against my leg (just once a day though), but she took them away. the fam ended up spending a lot more time away from us, in the wilderness that is the behind of our house and its precincts. anyway, over the weekend the weather took a turn. it rained a bit, not cats and dogs (oh how wish i could ever use that phrase in Delhi's context), but yes, quite a bit.

saturday and sunday it drizzled for hours. a thin drain of rain that is audible but barely visible streamed down as we spent our time doing nothing. soon, it was night and i happened to be in the drawing room. outside the window, on the balcony's sill sat one of them. i opened the door and she started complaining in loud, long meows. i heard her out, and for those brief 20 seconds, i felt a rush of love for her. i felt like picking her up and snuggling with her inside my mom's old shawl. but she was far away. too cautious, but whining still, her fur soaked, standing to its end.

i fed her that night, thinking of ways i could get her to feel warm. but she was gone even before i could finish this chain of thought....