Some unique “lookout” posters have been staring at people passing through Vennala and nearby areas for some time now.
A white fluffy Persian cat leaps out of the posters, followed by a couple of contact numbers and the promise of an appropriate reward for anyone who helps trace the feline.
Behind those posters lie a father’s desperation to bring back his eight-year-old daughter’s missing pet. P.J. Nixon, a welder by profession, hasn’t seen his usually giggly daughter Niya Maria smile ever since the day Chakki, as the pet was named, strayed into the open last Saturday, not to return. “We hope if anyone has taken her away under the impression that she was a stray cat, they will return her on seeing the posters,” Mr. Nixon said.
Niya had taken Chakki under her wings since the day she was brought home as a one-month-old kitten four years ago and it has been her byword to happiness ever since. She played with Chakki during her waking hours and went to sleep with the pet by her side.
More often than not, she woke up to the soft brush of Chakki’s fur against her. Niya breaks into sobs when memories of her time with Chakki come rushing back, leaving her mother too tearful. “I used to play with her before going to school and on coming back. I don’t know whether she will return,” a glum-faced Niya said.
Chakki used to sleep in the same room as the family slept and was never let outside the home. She was shifted to the front hall during the night when the family’s sleep began to be disrupted by her attempts to snuggle onto the bed in the early morning hours.
On the fateful day, Nixon’s father went for a morning walk without locking the door and Chakki strayed out and possibly, lost her way.
Later, some migrants working at a neighbourhood eatery claimed that they had seen the cat being run over by a vehicle. “She [Chakki] was like a younger daughter to us. If she has died, we want to find the body. That way, we can stop hoping that she will walk in through the door one day,” said Nixon in anguish.
Nixon can be contacted on 98472 91060 / 97448 74280
