Companions

“Guard Uncle, don’t you feel bored sitting on the chair for whole day?” A kid innocently asked the security guard of the society who was feeding bits of chapatti to three kittens and their mother.

“These are my companions!” He said with a smile.

I stopped for a moment to look at the babies during my evening walk.

I asked, “Do you feed them daily?”

“Yes. I feed them twice; around 8 pm and 2 am. I also give them water to drink as it is too hot.”

“They seem very hungry.”

“In society, with numerous flats nobody bothers about them. Nobody feeds them. Nobody gives them water. You will be surprised to know that one day, I brought four chapattis for myself in dinner. But they were so hungry that they ate up all. Sometimes I feed them with milk, sometimes I do not have enough money to buy milk for them.”

I appreciated him in my heart for feeding his whole meal to cat and its family and remaining hungry himself. It is easy to feed a portion of meal to someone but it requires really a big heart to give whole meal to someone else.

“Do you have any vessel to give milk to them?” I asked.

“Yes, I have one.”

I fetch a bottle of chhachh (butter milk) from my home for him to beat the heat. And a bottle of milk along with a packet of biscuits for his companions. The kid took the biscuit packet and started feeding the cat family. The janitor fed milk to them with great love and affection. I clicked a photo of him with his companions.

He excitedly said, “Ma’am, why don’t you have a selfie them?”