Story of a Mumbai stray

Out of the millions of stray kittens born each year in Mumbai, once in awhile one is lucky enough to find a home. This little black and white kitten was discovered in a cardboard box by a British journalist living in Mumbai. She asked around to see about rescuing her, called the SPCA, but encountered just about the same amount of enthusiasm as if she'd been asking after a rat or a pigeon. In the end she adopted her (and ended up with a second kitten as well, before she was able to get her spayed). And eventually brought both cats back to the UK when she returned home. Another adventure in itself!

Now no one would imagine that these sleek beautiful cats were related to the scrawny creatures you see on the streets of Mumbai. You can read more about her adventures with adopting cats from India here.

photos: Naomi Canton

The Cats of Infosys

According to this article from the Bangalore mirror there's been a rise in stray cats and kittens at the Infosys campus in Bangalore causing "alarm" and "a great deal of discomfort" among the workers. I'm not sure how stray cats and kittens, who are usually very shy and run away from people, could be causing "disruptions in work" and frightening people.

At least the article ends with Mr Babu, who seems to have a good grasp of the situation:

Experts say that cats are not dangerous and the relocation exercise may have been triggered by psychological reasons rather than any serious damage or attack by cats.

 

 "Cats are present everywhere and they rarely attack humans, said Sharath R Babu, honorary wildlife warden, Bangalore Urban. “They don’t trouble anybody. It’s natural for them to turn up at green spots since they are predators of rodents. However, some people are scared of cats and not comfortable when they are around. This must be the case at Infosys since no serious attacks have been reported there in recent years,” Babu added."

Here's the article:

Cat-astrophe on the Infy campus

The Infosys campus at Electronic City is turning out to be a catwalk. And the women are not enjoying it one bit. After all, which woman would like a cat padding up to her noiselessly, making her spring out of her chair at an inconvenient speed?

A hindrance

The management decided to take action when employees reportedly took the issue of cats disrupting their work to higher-ups. The sudden spurt in cats and kittens running around the campus led to a great deal of discomfort among employees, particularly women.

Maanzar (The Cat) - short film

A short Marathi-language film called "Maanzar" (Cat) was screened at the 3rd International Film Festival Ahmedabad (IFFA)

from Indian Express:
"Maanzar is inspired by a short story written by city-based writer, Bharat Saasane. The story revolves around two old friends who are at the twilight of their lives and are engulfed by the fear of seclusion and death. They are on the border of reality and hallucination, as a mirage of a black cat plays hide-n-seek with them"

Kerala coconut-walla's cat