THE CROW AND THE CAT : DR SAIMA MANZOOR

THE CROW AND THE CAT

DR SAIMA MANZOOR 

In every aspect, they were as extremely apart as possible. Like day and night, like white and black, like flowers and thorn, like river and desert, like beauty and beast, like good and evil. It was never too difficult for her to acknowledge where she stood on that spectrum. It wasn’t even too hard to accept her role. She would be the night as calmly as it was possible. She had no problem in being dark as the darkest hour of dusk. She would accept being a thorn or the desert or the beast or the most evil thing there ever was. The only difficulty was that wherever she stood, it meant that he stood farther away from her. That every step towards accepting herself meant a million steps away from him. That was the problem. A problem that demanded a solution. Any solution. Whenever she thought about this little conundrum, she would close her eyes and see a dark black crow sitting alone on a branch of a barren tree. Quiet, observing, puzzled, troubled, hurt, sad or maybe just wise. The crow that just sat on the branch, maybe contemplating a difficult flight or a troubling journey, barely moving. Like it wasn’t even alive. The crow who had taken far too many ardous flights, gone to extreme lengths and had seen a world far beyond the reach of any mediocre creature. The crow who was able to look at any difficult circumstance and without hesitation had been able to stand with what was right. The crow who had seen far too many struggles, more than enough for its lifetime, more than enough to render it wise. Maybe that is what rendered the crow silent. Under that barren tree, a little further away, she would see a cat. A beautiful, delicate, adorable cat, with deep colourful expressive eyes, a shining coat of smooth silky white fur having strands of grey hair just here and there, rendering the cat’s beautiful white coat of fur to a complete perfection. The cat would walk in the earthy green grass with a gait that was sure-footed, graceful and just as lovable. One would think that the cat had no flaw, it would never tumble or fail or founder or flunk. The cat was infallible. The crow would observe the cat from a small distance, wondering how a creature was able to master perfection so gracefully. The crow was mesmerised by something as ordinary as a cat. But then again, this was no ordinary cat. It was a creature of total perfection, worthy of all love and admiration there ever was. And the crow was intelligent as well as wise enough to understand the difference between the cat and itself. It looked at the cat in admiration and wondered whether the dreams were any different for the perfect and the imperfect.

“What do you dream about?” asked the crow.

“Happiness”, the cat replied, “as it is not only a dream but a necessity, birth-right, to be more precise”.

“True,,,, to some extent” the crow thought. “Do you know what it looks like, happiness?” the crow asked, trying to see behind the cat’s big green alive eyes.

“I know what it feels like”, the cat replied, extremely certain of it’s answer.

“And how does it feel,,,, happy I would guess”, the crow remarked sarcastically۔

“Like every living thing is supposed to feel, there is no alternate way to live other than a happy life. There is no reason one should not be living life to its full and complete glory” the cat answered impatiently.

“And what is it that makes you happy, loving or being loved?” asked the crow with a desire to know the cat more.

“There are more reasons to be happy than just those two. In addition to loving and being loved, I want peace, content, respect as well as admiration. And only when I achieve all of these things, I accept the presence of someone in my life.”

The crow wondered to itself how could just one soul be able to achieve everything! To grant one soul nearly every beautiful and joyous thing while another soul starved until eternity. What a cruel distribution. But maybe it had something to do with the cat’s ability to accept happiness that created more room for happiness. The crow on the other hand had never even known peace and joy and love. The crow wouldn’t even recognise it. Maybe that’s why the cruel distribution. What beauty does a painite have in the hands of a penurious ignorant! One has to be beautiful to accept beautiful or maybe vice-versa.

“Do you love someone?” the crow asked the cat knowing very well that the answer would never be what it wanted and hoped it to be but still wishing that maybe there might be a tiny possibility of a true miracle.

“Mostly myself” the cat replied with a sense of pride and walked away from the barren tree and towards the garden full of flowers and birds and bees. And the crow kept gazing at the cat until it was no longer in sight.

(Dr Saima Manzoor is currently serving as Assistant Professor at International Institute of Veterinary Education & Research, Haryana. She is a columnist, poet, and researcher)