Chutki is a cat who shows her devotion by jumping up on her humans’ shoulders and surveying their house, hovering around their heads like a furry halo.
She first met them four years ago as a miniscule kitten wandering around all by herself in a shopping complex. Sweta Narayanan and her husband Lakshman Vijayaraghavan made enquiries nearby to check if there was a mother cat, and when they found she was orphaned, they dropped her off at a shelter reluctantly, for they already had other rescued pets at home.
Fortunately, they went back. “We went to the shelter two days later and saw she hadn’t found a home”, says Sweta, recalling how the kitten recognized them and went charging towards them, pushing past other kittens in the enclosure. “We didn’t want to leave her there”, she says.
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“I’m glad we didn’t”, says Lakshman. “When I get ready for work, she follows me like a tail till I’m out the door”, he says, adding that she routinely mews her way into conversations. And every evening, the ginger feline sprints to the door at the sound of their vehicles pulling into the compound.
Though the couple had no plans to adopt a dog, fate had other plans. Two years ago, when Sweta saw a pup running around with a visible broken bone peeping out.
She called an ambulance and oversaw his treatment that lasted four months and included surgery. “It was probably an accident, for he still cowers when he sees large vehicles when I take him for a walk”, she says.
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She sheepishly reveals that his name is Hippy. “Because it was a bad hip injury… we were taking him to the hospital; it wasn’t the time to think of a creative name”, she laughs. Today, Hippy runs faster than any other dog, despite one leg being slightly shorter than the rest.
Apart from having a family of rescues, the couple volunteers with the NGO Cattitude Trust Chennai, and also vaccinated and neutered the animals in their neighbourhood so the population cannot increase.
When they once spotted a homeless pup with a grievous wound, Sweta stalked the frantic dog from place to place until an ambulance captured and treated him. “We vaccinated and neutered him too,” she says.
They named him Blackie and returned him to his street, and though he’s still wary of people, whenever Sweta whistles at him, he gives her a knowing look before scurrying away again.
“They rescue you. Life is definitely better with them in it”, says Sweta who can’t imagine life without the pets she adopted.
And as for those animals that are still waiting at shelters, Lakshman has this to say – “There’s a Chutki in every cat. Open up your homes and give these animals a chance – they turn out to be absolute wonders. They make problems easier to deal with and their antics are such great stress- busters… I haven’t had a boring day since 2012!”