Kittens and a Trip to the Zoo

This evening as I was reading about the newspaper revolution in India I heard a strange sound coming from outside. Two tiny kittens were huddled in the corner of a box marked Pune in black marker. They were climbing on top of each other trying to keep warm or maybe in hopes of finding their mother. They must be only few days or a couple of weeks old because their eyes are still shut and their paws look almost translucent. I went to the store and bought milk. They don't seem to know how to drink it. Mikael came to over and suggested I bring them into the apartment for the night as they are so thin and it is cool here at night. The kittens are mewling in the kitchen now and every time I hear their cries my heart aches. I feel so helpless. I remember rescuing a bird when I was small and feeling its heart beat in my hands. We buried it in the garden. Let's hope that this story has a happier ending. Mikael just wrote to give me some advice. I will let them suck watery milk from a towel and warm them in my hands...his cat-expert friend also suggested I have them sleep on my stomach...we'll see.

What to do...(but really, any advice?)

This weekend Viviana and I put coconut oil in our hair and watched the sun rise on her beautiful terrace.
                                           

We ate fruit salad and sweets and I tried to ride with her on the back of a bicycle, but we tipped over, so she carried me instead. I seem to be the passenger a lot lately. In return I sang some of Dido's songs to her, "Stacey would Waltz" and "I'll be Loving You" and "We Three"...all the classics. The house where she lives is beautiful and she took such good care of me. It was lovely and just filled me up.  I spent the next night at Alice and John's, after a movie and a delicious dinner of cheddar cheese, salami, and tuna (none of which I had eaten in months). I guess I am rotating houses after all, to help ease the emptiness of the apartment now that Eliza is gone. Our rose seems to have taken it especially badly and I worry that I won't be able to revive her.

Yesterday was wonderful. Mikael and I went to the zoo! I think John may have said that it is impossible not to smile when you ride on the back of a motorbike and he is right. I even smiled during out minor mishap about five minutes in when a police-man pulled us over at a traffic light. He said that motorbikes weren't allowed to go over the bridge, which I now grudgingly admit might be an actual rule as retrospectively we both agreed that we hadn't seen any other motorbikes on the bridge. At first he told Mikael something about taking away his license, but soon he was on to the money. Six hundred rupees. Mikael said all the right things, apologizing profusely and saying that he was a student. I smiled and told him in what I hoped was a placating voice that we were heading to the zoo (which now that I think about it sounds like the most innocent activity we could possibly be venturing out to do...though a trip to a temple may have softened his heart still more). In the end we paid two hundred rupees and the police officer told me kindly to cover my head because the heat was intense. At all of the stop lights that followed I tried to look inconspicuous because really, we are the perfect targets. They can make up any excuse and we will have to pay. But luck was on our side, or maybe I am just underestimating the honesty of the police force here in Pune. We arrive at the zoo and paid the foreigner fee to enter. The animals were pretty sleepy, but it was so nice to just walk on the shady paths, so peaceful after the traffic and hot sun. The snake park had a funny sign that warned that teasing the snakes could result in a jail sentence of up to a year. The elephants were being given a bath and kind of obscured from view...as soon as we left, we saw an elephant only inches away from us on the road. I guess we don't really need to go to the zoo to see such sights here.

"Keep Watch on the Kids"...

We went for lunch at a mostly empty restaurant. The only other customers were doing some early afternoon drinking, but the food was good. I somehow ordered icecream when I meant to get the bill, but it was straightened out in the end. We went next door to get icecream and they had a chikoo flavour. Maracuya has now been replaced by chikoo as my favourite fruit icecream. I can't take a bit without exclaiming. It was too delicious to hold in, or maybe it was just another delicious day. We then went to Koregaon Park so that I could see some of the huge old houses and look with fascination at the entrance to the Osho Ashram. What goes on in there?! Then we went to see a movie. We ended the day with a nice plate of thali, a cup of butter milk (though I still can't stomach the salty, sour taste), and a mango lassi. What a day!

The kittens are mewling. I had better go tend them. I don't think I am ready to be a parent.