To Kitler

I've always been a cat person all my life so much so that most of my friends fondly call me 'CAT'.

My first cat was Pattan who had two cute little kittens, Kittu and Puttu. I don't remember much of the kittens but Pattan stayed with us for quite a few years. She was one majestic cat and had many tom cats following her all the time.

Pattan made our home, hers. Out of many of her litters few stayed back and soon we had a fleet of cats at our place. This was in my paternal grandparents house, where I spent most my childhood. Few of the cats that I remember are Bunna, a majestic tom cat who was always ready to pick fights with the other cats in the neighbourhood, Bona, who looked much like Bunna, but was a homely tom cat who hated fights, and Chola, the tom cat who lost his way and reached our abode.

Later when we shifted to the 5th floor of an apartment I was quite disappointed that we could not have cats at home. But soon things changed when we rescued a kitten. Pure white and innocent. Simba was what we named him. He too was a tom cat. After we parted with him came the adorable Maggi. My parents treat him like their own son. I must admit, sometimes I do get jealous of all the love that he gets.

After my marriage last year, I shifted to our place and always felt the house was empty owing to the fact that we didn't have a cat at home. One evening after picking our friend from the airport and on our way back we found this angel. Kitler, was being attacked by four dogs and we rescued him. We brought him home. The love that he poured on us is something that cannot be described in words. The name Kitler is because of the cute black mush he had. His purring was so loud that it could even awaken a deep sleeper.

When my husband left to Australia and I had to shift to my mother's place we had to part from him and my dear friend Shaila was kind enough to offer him a place in her home. I made it a point to visit Kitler every day. He was the most important part of our lives. He loved Sujay so much that he would purr listening to Sujay's voice over a video call and try and communicate with him everytime.

In May 2017 this little angel became dear to God and parted from us. All of us still love him dearly and miss him every single moment. My dear angel Kitler stay happy and joyful forever.

This sketch is a tribute to the cat that stole many hearts.