Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Of Cats and Dogs

It is often the case that two people in a chummy relationship come across the first occasion when their points of view diverge. Sometimes this separation is apparent and both can see it coming. But sometimes it can spring upon them like a cat on hot bricks.

Now in this latter situation, what with the divergence being so sudden, a debate of sorts can emanate. And as any good debater will tell you, it is not what you are debating about but how you do so that matters. So oftentimes, we come across really heated debates between two really good friends on topics that range from the idealogical (" 'I think men are smarter than women', 'Certainly not!' "), political (" 'The Democrats are the best hope for our country', 'Of course not!' ") personal (" 'I don't think you should meet that %^*$% anymore', 'What do you mean?! I will!' ") and sometimes even going into bizarre territory (" ' Mammooty (The Malayalam star actor) is a big pidingi ', 'You don't know what you are talking about!', 'Oh, so you think he isn't?!!', 'Of course not! I know he is!! But you are prejudiced in saying so!!!'").

This afternoon I had a debate with a very good friend of mine of the contrary gender as my own. This friend and I normally see eye to eye on many issues and so it was a bit of a surprise to me that she and I seemed like antipodes on this particular topic. So different were our points of view that the debate ended nowhere.
But let me add that this debate did not lead to a dog- cat fight of any sort.
Into what category would this classify? Well, it touched upon an ideology, is in some sense personal, and could well be rated bizarre by most. So let me not put a tag to it; I'd rather let you decide.

Now I am quite the pet lover. Actually to be accurate, I am not your rabid, raving pet lover. I am simply not averse to the idea of having a reasonable (and by reasonable, I mean a properly sized, domesticable, and cute mammal) pet at home. Of course this description could have been more tersely reduced to saying 'a dog or a cat'.

Between these two, somehow my preference lies with the cat. To me, there is something more likeable about the cat. Before the dog lovers come after me with a hunting crop, let me explain: while i certainly do like dogs, i just think i would prefer having a cat. A cat somehow embodies a strong sense of independence. Cats don't like being petted against their will, are not needy animals in the sense that they don't crave human attention, are less messy, easier to maintain, eat and poop less, and are in short, low-maintenance.
I told my friend that at one point of time, i had a plan to have 3 cats for company. She visibly winced.
She seemed to be more of a dog-lover. That is alright; after all, we all have our preferences. But a few seconds later came a more candid statement from her:
"It's not that i really like dogs either; its just that i dislike cats!"
From a person who possesses several cat-like features, this admission seemed a little too ironic. Was it dislike or general disinterest? My curiosity was aroused like that of the proverbial cat.
" Well, to be frank, I hate cats! The darned animals!!"
Now this was taking it a step too far. Not only did she clarify that her position was not misunderstood, she now opted to take the extreme end opinion leaving no room for any doubt whatsoever.
usually such an extreme reaction is correlated with a strongly experienced bad experience, especially as a kid. Was there any such....?
"Well, not really...Somehow i have never liked these things at all!"
Now her language cast the cat from the status of 'darned animals' to 'these things'! i had to intervene. If anything, i had to bring it back to the status of 'darned animal'.
Now one method in advertising that works most of the time, is to emphasize upon the positive aspects of the product that is being endorsed. Now i really don't think of cats as particularly useful animals though there was this one time when a pesky, over-animated kid was terrorized by my sister's cat, Mo. Nothing else seemed to control the kid other than the thought of otherwise spending some time with Mo as his sole companion.
The mention of this somehow did the argument no good. If anything it made matters worse! For now my friend seemed to sympathize particularly with the kid. Mo now really appeared to have become Mogambo.
Realizing that i was barking up the wrong tree, i decided to change tactics and now move from the specific to the generic. After all, who can resist a cat that comes looking to be stroked?! a cat brushing against us with its tail upwards and its raised head, waiting, nay, asking to be petted?! or its cute purring? and.....
" Oh that is another thing i hate about the darned animal! It comes suddenly acting so cute and all that!"
another jolt from out of the blue. But at least we were back to the 'darned animal'. But it now seemed like the idea of neutering all the cats of the world (no more cats!) would have appealed to her immensely. This had to be neutralized.
In a manner that might have done the ancient Egyptians proud (well, not really), i rallied in favor of the feline but the female seemed equally strong in her opinion. Soon one thing seemed pretty clear:
My friend + a cat = Catastrophe !

One thing however transpired. It appeared she was spooked by cats for some reason and i think Hollywood and Bollywood have their share of blame in all this. What's up with equating cats with devils and witches and all that?!! The cat has suffered at the hands of these people for way too long! It also has to fight the tag of being a selfish being, as opposed to a dog which is all faithful and man-friendly! Ahaa! its all to do with man and being man-friendly! A cat wishes to live life by its terms and suddenly it is an embodiment of evil!

The day did end with both sides (mine and hers) not relinquishing their stands.

But there is still hope for the cat. I do believe that one day the cat will capture a place in her heart when she sees the cat in the manner i do. and why do i have this hope? because i believe that one good example can change one's mind. She isn't an unreasonable person. I said this aloud.
She believes such a thing (namely, a cat wooing her) is not possible but i reminded her that stranger things have happened. After all, a couple of months ago, the two of us were perfect strangers living half the world away from each other and in a couple more months or so, we would be husband and wife! if that is possible, so is anything!!

As John Cleese once said ('Fawlty Towers'), Long live the cat! Hurrah for the cat!!

3 comments:

anindam said...

Well, I guess its a real tacky (maybe not so catastrophical though) situation to be in, I guess. But I will leave that issue to you and your friend.

Regarding the cat and dog issue, well, I am definitely not an avid pet lover, but am tolerant, mainly to dogs though. However thanks to a friend (whose cat supposedly got upset everytime she was on a long-distance phone call with me, I never figured out how the cat ever realised it was me on the other side of the phone) I did my bit of study about our feline companions.

Well, going back to the very beginning, as per a newly discovered chapter in the Book of Genesis which provides the answer to Where do pets come from? Adam and Eve said: Lord, when we were in the garden, you walked with us every day. Now we do not see you anymore. We are lonesome here and it is difficult for us to remember how much you love us.

And God said, No problem! I will create a companion for you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love me even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish or childish or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves.

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve. And it was a good animal. And God was pleased. And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve and he wagged his tail. And Adam said, Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal.

And God said, No problem. Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG.

And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them and loved them. And they were comforted. And God was pleased. And Dog was content and wagged his tail.

After a while, it came to pass that an angel came to the Lord and said: Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well.

And God said, No problem! I will create for them a companion who will be with them forever and who will see them as they are. The companion will remind them of their limitations, so they will know that they are not always worthy of adoration. And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.

And Cat would not obey them. And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat's eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings. And Adam and Eve learned humility. And they were greatly improved. And God was pleased. And Dog was happy. And Cat didn't care one way or the other.

Derek Bruce once truly commented, "In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him."

Well, as you may have had already realised, I definitely am a shade biased to dogs, if I am compelled to make a choice. I have my inhibitions for pets who do what they want, who rarely listen to you, totally unpredictable. who would whine when they are not happy. When you want to play, they want to be alone and when you want to be alone, they want to play. They expect you to cater to their every whim and are so moody. They leave hair everywhere (my parents always used this excuse to fend off my sister's longing to have a cat as pet). They drive you nuts and cost an arm and a leg (I hear one of my colleague complaining about this everyday about her prized possesions, 8 of them, who are of some amazing pedigree and she would still go to japan and nz every few months to get a new one).

I rather prefer a pet which looks lovable and dumb at the same time. A pet who would love me forever if I just rub its tummy. Someone who wants to play all time, does not matter if I want to play or want to be left alone.

In short, I prefer a pet who behaves more like a human than a pet who behaves like god!!!

anu said...

This is probably the most humorous blogs I have ever read. Totally enjoyed reading the article and I like your style of writing. Am also in the process of reading your previous blogs - interesting stuff you have out there so do look out for my comments. And hey, what are the several cat-like features I possess? I still can't even think of one.

reflections said...

well, if the cat in question is like this, then i'll sympathize with the cat-like person.... on the other hand (i hope im not crossing lines here) if the cat-like person is such, then prey, start looking for a Sequoia :-)))))