Rains in Bengal make you feel like someone opened the tap and forget to close it. It goes on endlessly throughout the day. No one likes to go out in such a weather leaving the comfort of home. Even the cats. So, one day, Junglee needed to pee and could not go out. He was waiting at the entrance looking at the rain. I had to get something from the garden and took an umbrella and steeped out in the rain. Junglee came running along with me under the umbrella. I held the umbrella while His Highness finished his urgent call of nature and then again brought him back- safe and dry. He licked my fingers as a mark of gratefulness.

Junglee always believed that he was a far more superior species than the dumb humans around him. He believed that we had the honor of him staying with us as an outcome of some good deeds that we had done in our past lives. He always lived life king size. He was very moody and since he was the first cat in our family, he was also quite pampered. I never regarded him as a pet. Since I was an only child, I always addressed him as my li’l naughty brother. I never felt the need for a sibling because he was always with me. I had a separate study room – which was completely my world. No adults were allowed there. Only Junglee was allowed. There was a sofa in my room. He used to climb up on it after lunch for his afternoon nap. Then he used to begin his marathon licking. Cats like to be clean always and Junglee was extremely particular about the way he looked. Sometimes, I used to take him in my lap for cuddling. But, finally, I used to give up bored and frustrated with his never ending grooming. My legs would start aching and all the love would vanish as I deposited him on the sofa and started my own work. He usually slept with both of his legs spread apart facing the ceiling, since he needed the air to flow over his fat little belly. He was always very patient with me. I used to tell him all my worries, fear, happiness and daily happenings. He was the first to know about my crushes. I cried my heart out before him when Rahul Dravid (I was cent percent sure I would marry him one day) got married. Funny as it may sound, before every Maths exam I used to touch his feet and say, “Please let me pass this time. I promise I will study harder the next time.” Well, the next time never came and this became a ritual for me. I had this notion that I would surely flunk the paper if I did not touch his feet before the exam. Later, I started to do the same before chemistry exams too. And you know what? I, miraculously, passed every single chemistry exam, which I was sure to fail in otherwise.

He used to love sitting on my books and notebooks, playing with my pens, chewing my eraser and making paw marks on my just completed homework. I did get angry but that was nothing compared to that one particular day when I got really mad at him. I had finished making a craft project depicting ‘A happy family at Diwali’ after working continuously for two days. It was to be put up on the school board on Parent’s Day. I had gone to the dining room for dinner. When I came back, I saw torn paper all over the floor in my room and Junglee sitting on the top of my craft project chewing away happily. I almost had a major cardiac attack as I rushed to my table. He had already gobbled up the mother. Now, he was half-way through with the fathers head. “Eeeeeeeeeeee”, I yelped, crossing the 60 decibel limit and hit him on the back. He became so frightened that he jumped out of the open window and fled. I was inconsolable after that. Somehow, Ma did some perfect damage control and my craft project looked better than ever. But, Junglee did not return that night; not even for dinner, which he could never live without. The morning passed and he did not come. I could not eat my lunch properly as I was feeling extremely miserable for frightening him like that. Finally, he came back in the evening all brushed up. I was never so happy in my whole life and hugged him tightly and went on kissing him till he hit me with his paw on my nose. I swore never to scold him again.

I was feeling very sorry because he had not eaten for almost a day because to me. I fed him all I could. The amazing part was that Junglee was not fat at all. But, he had a tremendous appetite and was always hungry. Food just vanished inside him. All the time I was feeling sorry for him, little did I know why he was late in coming back home. I discovered it after two days. I was sitting in the veranda trying to solve a stupid integration problem when I saw Junglee with another dirty white cat. Quite unnatural. Usually, whenever he was with any other cat, they were always fighting. Instead, he was going all mushy-mushy over this new feline. No wonder!

A close observation revealed it was a ‘she’. “Junglee’s got a girlfriend”, I announced to Ma happily. After that, Junglee was generally absent half the time. He didn’t even come back to eat. It is from him that I learnt that falling in love can be such a tedious job. He had a number of girlfriends during his life time, and every time he brought a girl home, I thought he deserved a better looking feline.

Junglee always slept in my bed. During winters, he would snuggle inside my quilt and start purring once he was warm and comfortable. I liked it too because the body temperature of cats is generally higher than humans and it felt warm when I hugged him and slept. During the summer, he would sleep at one corner of the bed. When I sleep, I migrate into a pseudo world and don’t expect me to wake up even during an earthquake (just kidding?). So, one day, I was in deep slumber when, maybe, I kicked Junglee by mistake. Well, this was the second thing that Junglee disliked - being disturbed while sleeping (first is PDAs remember?). I will remember, all my life, the bite that I received from him after that. “Aaaaaaaaaaa”, I woke up holding the big toe of my foot in pain. He gave me a, “Serves you right, you moron. That will teach you a lesson or two about keeping your feet to yourself.” look and drifted off to sleep.

Junglee was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me in 25 years. After him, we adopted many more cats (we had 5 cats at one time). But, he was the most intelligent cat I had ever seen. It may sound cheesy but he was my friend, philosopher and guide. I can go on and on about the happiness he brought into my life. I really doubt whether I could have loved a real brother, if I had one, as much as I loved Junglee. He was with me for 11 long years before I went to Calcutta to attend college. It was very hard for me to stay away from him and all the other cats. He was l2 years old when he passed over to Rainbow Ridge. (A name for cat heaven).

I held him in my arms and wished him a safe journey as the last breath left his body. I will never forget that day. It was truly one of the hardest things I had to endure. Because I held him as he passed, I think part of his soul is attached to mine and I feel him with me always. I truly loved him and felt that he was a kindred spirit. While I write all this, every moment is coming back to me and making me happy and sad at the same time. I still miss him terribly even though he is gone for almost five years now. If he is somewhere and seeing me write this, I just want to say that,

“I love you. You are the most handsome man I will ever meet. There can be no one like you. You will always rule my heart.”