Last year when I visited the Second Born, I noticed how he and his girlfriend would always stop to pet a ginger cat lolling outside an apartment. The cat also seemed to enjoy their attention, meowing and rubbing himself against their feet for more scratches behind the ears. Needless to say, I was delighted to make his acquaintance as well.

Not long after my return home, I got a call from the Second Born. That was unusual. The boy is tardy when it comes to calling. I am the one who does the calling most of the time. Trepidation filled my heart. Was everything alright? Or is it that he just needed something done from over here?

I need not have worried, for what met my eye when I answered his call was his excited face.

“Amma! I want to show you something!”

What could it be, I couldn’t help wondering. It was obvious he was not at home but was in a car moving through the city. Obviously his girlfriend was driving. Had they got a new car? Or something for their home? A book? A painting? What could it be?

I didn’t have to wait long. He picked something out of a box (or was it a basket?) on the back seat. It was a cat. And what’s this? He had put it back and picked up another one to show me. Just like that they had become cat parents to not one, but two cute little cat brats. Julian and Jean Pierre.

On this side of the call, miles away in India, I couldn’t contain my excitement. And disappointment too. Oh why did you not bring them home when I was with you?! Now I’ll be waiting a long, long time to see them. Bummer!

In the following days there was a steady influx of photos and stories of the naughty kittens. How they were woken up in the mornings, the way they tried to jump on the kitchen counter, the blanket-beds they had on their work desks (they both work from home) for each of them…

Now when I call them, I ask after my cat-grandkids and enjoy seeing them on the screen.

©️ Shail Mohan 2026