The Creature / Everlasting

Sitting on the balcony last night, sipping tea with Mom, I spied the creature.

Thought it was a cat at first, climbing a tree, so stealthily – walking along the ledge, trying to get into the kitchen window of the flat opposite.

But as it made its way down we realized it was much too heavy to be a cat, more furred, shorter legs, bushier tail – and a snouty face.

Six months ago the weird Mrs. Jain in her deadpan way came up to my mother and asked her if she had seen the ‘jaanwar’.

‘Itna bada hai. Raat ko ghumta hain.’

My mom thought she was mad.

It crossed the road and made its way to the park opposite, and we saw Aunty dog chase after it at top speed. (Why is she called Aunty dog? Long story.) We heard her yelp a few times. Then the chowkidar got there with his torch too. I went in but mom says she saw eyes glowing on the wall. And heard a strange animal sound, which she couldn’t describe or emulate. (Kraz – another ‘e’!)

We considered that it might be a very large mongoose. But mongeese (don’t care if that’s not the plural, I like that word) don’t climb trees, plus it was much too large. Mom thought it might be a bandicoot, so we looked up pictures of bandicoots on the net – but they didn’t look right. Also looked up ‘wild cats’ but it didn’t have a cat face, more of a snout.

Mom says it must have escaped from the zoo. But how could it negotiate all the traffic? The zoo is about 15 kms away. ‘Poor thing – do you think it has family?’ ‘No mom, it seemed like a loner to me.’

I’m glad I saw the creature. I’m glad he (she?) lives in our colony. I’m glad it’s mysterious. I feel as if I found out what it was, all the mysteries of life would be revealed.

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Last night I went over to my in-laws for dinner. They recently got back from Mumbai and my father-in-law as usual, had been busy with the handycam.

This time he had put together a ‘music video’ starring my mom-in-law. Based on an old Bengali song, the words of which I could not understand, but he explained them as ‘You and I have been together so long, but I still do not know you and you still do not know me. Let’s discover each other.’

My mom-in-law is in her late-fifties and my father-in-law is over sixty. He’d shot her in the hotel room. She snuggling in bed and smiling at him. Combing her hair and adjusting the pleats of her sari in the mirror. Drinking tea, contemplating, sitting by the window looking at the building opposite.

It was very, very beautiful.

And she sat beside me telling me how nice the hotel room had been. ‘Sports complex mein. Woh dekho room mein…’ And he would cut her short ‘Deepti chup kor! Let her watch!’ :) And she would nudge me and grin as if to say ‘Hee hee he thinks he’s Mrinal Sen!’

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