Nebula is not my pet inter-stellar dust whom I feed twice a day. Nebula is a cat. I named it so. Pity , it didn’t have say in what I called him. Nomenclature is always unfair. Totally. And, since the talk has transcended to totality, we must not ignore the futility of nomenclature in all its attempts of simplifying things. That is so, because there are so many things that can be named (most of them have been) and people do not remember all the names. So, they settle for a less apt substitute, if at all. What good?
Take Nebula for instance. It has been named so, because of all names running in my mind then, Nebula sounded super awesome. No reason. Intuition, may be some. The cat rests in our veranda . The house is south facing, an unparalleled luxury in winter for people in the Northern hemisphere. There is ample sunlight. The cat enjoys a share. We enjoy a share. We observe receding discomfort with each other as the countdown to spring is on the roll. After a week, the cat presumes being our pet when most permanent members of the house have not given it a thought yet.
To increase misunderstandings, the infamous and dubious INDIA TV infiltrated the minds of my parents. Their samvaddaata from some town: “Sai Baba entered a home in the form of a dog, the inmates domesticated it and a lady with back pain was cured“. Feeding a cat is much easier than a dog, and the cat won’t freak you out by barking either. So, feeding him once or twice was worth a go. How ,the hell, will the cat ever know the reason behind this heavenly behavior.
As always is the case with actions sans conviction, the enthusiasm plunged towards nullity. The cat began to outstay its welcome, it still is. It is usually kicked out of the house (veranda is shared though ... no issues there), and only fed when we repent the hospitality. Poor creature, will take a lot for him to understand the complexities associated with unsure love. But, it will handle it. It has the strength to carry on. Animals are far better off in that case. They do not have to think as they do not have to repent.
Nebula is a cat in a 100 square yard area of a colony, in a large town of India. Nebula is Nebula only for me. But Nebula is as nature made him. Unperturbed, unmodified, pure. There is serenity in its calls for love (that meow thing), there is austerity in its playfulness, there is a thought hidden in its blinding warm fur. It has wants,expectations but nothing to repent.
Nebula is a fragment of life. A lesson taught in the strangest of methods. A stone that must be put in the road for the journey. Nebula is an encounter with greatness latent within minuteness. Nebula if you ignore the nomenclature is for everyone. Nebula is not a cat only. It is your friend from the second street. It is that building that stood unnoticed for years. It is that dog, INDIA TV portrayed.
Nebula is not my pet cat, but we all kick it out of our homes.
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