Moments with My Little Boy Before Work

This morning, my eyes opened to the sound of my two-year-old son crying and throwing a tantrum. I got up immediately. Seeing me rise, he scrambled over and climbed onto me. His tiny hands hugged me tightly, and he burst into a loud smile; instantly, all the exhaustion from the night vanished. Lost in that display of pure affection, I held him close to my chest.

The next tantrum began when I took off his diaper to bathe him. He insisted on having a Milma ghee bottle. I gave it to him, but the very next moment, he threw it away. Then he demanded a small toy car. The moment he got it in his hands, a smile bloomed on his face. Somehow, I managed to bathe him. In the brief time he was in the bathroom, I quickly brushed my teeth. Once he came out, I finished the rest of my morning routine.

Then I went to wake my daughter. She is a little troublemaker studying in UKG. Angry at being woken from her sleep, she gave me two solid slaps! She then lay back down. Meanwhile, I got my son a small toy bike, and he sat on it and played for a while. Suddenly, he picked out a T-shirt on his own and brought it to me. I put it on him. When I asked, "Hey, where are the pants for this?" the little soldier ran off and found the matching pants.

We live in a flat. Outside, it was raining heavily. When I stepped onto the veranda, I saw two other children standing there. One of the boys jokingly said, "Hey, let's play football!" Hearing this, my son started to run. Suddenly, the woman from the opposite house called out, "Don't run there, son! There is water; you will fall." Worried the children might slip on the wet veranda, she wiped it clean.

After that, my son and I went up to the terrace. I stood him on the ground to watch the rain. I captured a video on my phone of the beautiful falling rain and his innocent childhood. After a while, he started crying, so I scooped him into my arms. When I showed him the video I had just recorded, he stared at it without blinking. A moment later, he gestured that it was time to go. When walking down the stairs, he always wants to jump down step by step—he absolutely loves it. A beautiful smile lights up his face then, and he holds onto me tightly. This is our usual routine.

Back in the room, I sat down to have tea. For me, it was dosa, curry, and tea; for my son, dosa and tea. I was shooting a video of him drinking tea and eating dosa. In between, he was running around playing. Suddenly, he took his glass and made me pour my tea into it. He kept it there and went back to playing. Then he dumped that tea out and made me pour my tea into it a second time. After finishing his tea, he wanted an umbrella and a toy whistle (peepli) to blow into. I got those for him too. Just a glimpse of his everyday mischief.

I went back to wake my daughter so she could get ready for school. She simply refused to get up. This time, I got kicked by her! I told her, "From tomorrow onwards, you must wake up at 6 AM. You need to bathe and sit down to study. If you only encourage playing and sleeping, life will just go on like that." I have been saying this for ages, but who listens?

And now comes the twist.

As I was lying on the bed, my wife came and asked, "There is a dead cat lying outside; did you see it?" I replied, "No." She insisted, "There is a cat lying dead right in front, down below. Didn't you look?" I told her again that I hadn't. Around our flat, a lot of stray kittens and two or three mother cats usually roam around. It is beautiful to watch their togetherness.

As soon as I heard this, my daughter and I rushed outside. There was a light drizzle. When we looked, the sight was heartbreaking. The biggest mother cat was sitting beside the dead cat, crying—the lamentation of an animal. The people living nearby chased the mother cat away. My daughter and I stood there watching for a while. The crying of that mother cat was beyond what I could bear.

I thought the older brother (Kaakka) living in that room would move it, since it was right in front of their door. After all, he is a good man. He has helped me in various situations two or three times. His children are superb too. One day, when my daughter went to pick mangoes, they came and helped her. Their daughter always waves 'Tata' and smiles at the kids and me. The son is just the same. It was a family I liked a lot. If I could have done something for those children, I would have gladly... but what can I do? I have no money.

Just then, that kaakka came out and said, "The gate isn't locked at night. Shouldn't the last person who comes in lock it? Who is going to clean this up? There is no one to do this." Saying that, he started taking a video of the dead cat. Why he was doing that, I didn't understand.

I asked the the elderly woman living nearby, "What is he talking about?"

She replied, "This is their regular routine. They sweep up all the garbage outside, take a video, and send it to the owner. This video is just to make it look like the people living upstairs are making the place dirty."

I said, "Oh, so that's how it is." I added, "If I can find a spade, I will do it myself. It's time for my bus, and I need to leave for the shop soon." We didn't have any digging tools in our quarters. I walked downstairs. Even then, he was still talking to

the elderly woman Pointed at me and told him, "If there is a digging the elderly woman tool, he will do it."

To which he replied, "No one around here has one. And there is no place to bury it here either. This will have to be taken to some riverbank to be buried."

I didn't bother saying anything to him. Right in front, there is another quarter with a decent amount of open land. I went there and asked, "Do you have a spade here?" They said it might be on the other side. I went over and asked the gentleman there. "There it is, son, take it," he said, handing it over. I asked, "Can I bury a kitten in that plot?" He asked, "Isn't there space over there?" I told him there wasn't. "Alright then," he agreed.

I walked back to the dead cat with the spade. Just then, the man who was taking the video said, "Don't carry the cat like that; put it in a sack." I didn't stand around to listen to him. I pushed the cat with my foot onto a dustpan. Carrying it, I walked over to that plot. When I started digging the grave, his son came up to me. I handed my phone to him. I dug the earth, placed the cat inside, put stones over it, and covered it with soil. I washed the dustpan clean, thanked them, and walked back. That boy is truly a good kid, you know.

When I reached upstairs, the the elderly woman nearby said, "I gave him a piece of my mind, okay? They sent that boy to you just to make it look like they helped too."

I replied, "None of that matters,the elderly woman "

She spoke again, "It's the people downstairs who usually walk around feeding these cats. And now they claim it's the people upstairs making a mess everywhere."

Without saying anything, I went back to my room. My wife asked, "Didn't you leave for the shop yet?" I told her what had happened. The moment she heard it, she got angry with me. "Why did you listen to him and go to bury it? You aren't the only one who comes in late here!" I remained silent. I was running late for the shop. It was then that she asked for money to pay the school fees. "It's sitting right there; take it," I told her. Then I mentioned a balance of 120 rupees that had to be paid at a shop.

I quickly hurried outside. When I reached downstream, she called out from above, "Where did you keep the fee money?" I shouted back the location. After that, she and the elderly woman continued talking about the matter.

Eventually, I reached that shop and asked for the balance amount. "How much is it?" The shopkeeper said, "220 rupees." Oh dear, I thought I had heard it was 120 rupees. I only had that much on me. I told him, "I thought it was 120. I will give you the rest tomorrow." "Oh okay, no problem," he said.

From there, I continued my journey to the chicken shop.

An ordinary morning. Starting with the love of my own son, fulfilling a duty toward a living being, and moving through the minor financial struggles of my life. Perhaps I gained no profit from burying that cat. But in front of a mother cat’s cry, I couldn't bring myself to turn my phone camera on it. I was able to return it to the earth with dignity, and that peace of mind alone is enough for me.

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