Growing up amidst a variety of flora and fauna, animals have always been close to my heart. During my childhood years till I left the nest, we always had a brood of cats in our house. Over the years we have had several generations of Cats whose illustrious list include Lovely Kumar, Annie, Einstein, Charlie Mon, Copper Kunju, Pumori, Moses, Lucky, Keya, Tukaram and Tulsidas.

The house we lived in at Erandavana is more than 60 years old now, a lone, painted-only-once structure in a one acre plot, fully wooded, with an eerie, 20 feet wide open well at the farthest corner of the plot, sunlight never managing to peep into the well due to the thick foliage overhead.

The mongooses had set up their home along the cavities in the well-walls and we were told that there are crocodiles in the marshy bottom of the well, though we never got to set our eyes on one. In our backyard one could always hear war cries of an internecine battle between our Commander Charlie Mon Cat and Riki-Tiki-Tavi the belligerent mongoose. On more than one occasion I recall having to intervene between the intense mongoose and cat fights with stones, sticks and shrieks. Apart from the cats and the mongoose we were often privy to rare snakes. Vagrant monkeys would perch on our kitchen window-sill or swing and jump from the neem tree in front of our house into our balcony. I also recall sheltering what we thought was an orphan calf from the streets. Needless to say the next day we incurred the wrath of the calf’s owner who said we had subjected the mother-cow to needless grief at the loss of her beloved calf. Then there was the day when a wise old owl decided to hold durbar in our electricity meter room. An over hour-long eviction process was undertaken lest the poor owl got electrocuted.

The most heart wrenching animal story of my childhood was that of the dove we called "Misfit". As my sisters and I were playing we saw what we thought was a mix between a dove and a crow limping along. We also noticed that the bird was being heckled and chased by a large group of vociferous crows. The Charlie’s Angels team immediately rescued Misfit. We nursed her and fed her and within a week she recuperated and was able to walk without limping and even fly. Then the day came when Misfit decided it was again time to fly the blue skies. She perched on the balcony and took her flight into the blue skies above the road in front. We felt happy that we had helped Misfit. But soon the hell broke loose and we heard a pandemonium of crows and when we rushed outside it was too late. The crows could not accept the fact that Misfit was back, she was almost a crow but she was white like a dove. In their world she was a misfit and she had to die. As Lord Byron said “Whom the God’s Love, Die Young”. After this incident we decided to give animal sheltering and rescue missions a reprieve.

So all in all Noah’s Ark instilled the ‘born free’ spirit in me with an insatiable appetite for travel and adventure, which continues to this day. Now the mother of a 1 year old boy, a recent trip to the Zoo with our son made me nostalgic about my childhood years in a Noah’s Arc at Erandavana with my two sisters.

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