Lemon, the Stray Cat Loved So Much By a ‘Gated Community’!

By Niggy

The clouds were clearing up slowly on a rainy morning as I set off to the nearby grocery shop located in the premises of a gated apartment community. As I stepped out after doing my shopping, I spotted Ann (not her real name), the lady who everyday brings food for stray cats and dogs that roam the streets. I often see her in her car, stopping at street corners and placing the food she has brought for the animals. I wondered what had happened today. I walked up to her and discovered that a big cat had got electrocuted on a huge transformer located inside the gated community complex. Ann told me that apparently the cat had jumped on the transformer platform, probably to rest on it, and had succumbed to an electric shock.

Another lady, Clara, was also with Ann. She is a resident of the gated community and part of a Whatsapp group that takes care of stray cats that wander within the community premises, including giving them food. Clara told me that the cat that had died was called Lemon and that he was fond of jumping onto raised platforms, like the top of a car or a wall, and take a nap.

I kept looking at Lemon’s body lying lifeless on that electric transformer and tried my best to hold back my tears. Ann said that she had called for the electricity board people to fetch Lemon’s body from the platform of the transformer. I stayed on with Clara and Ann, watching the effort made by the men who first switched off the mains and then climbed on to the transformer pole and brought Lemon’s body down. A neighbourhood boy—let me call him Fluto—helped with a newspaper and a bag to lay the body down on the ground. By then Ann had called an organization that works with rescuing injured animals to prepare for burying Lemon’s body in their campus. This organization has a cemetery especially for pets. The charges they quoted seemed high, or so I thought, but Clara agreed immediately and said she would pay from the pool money that their group had. There have been times when I myself have struggled to arrange a dignified burial for deceased cats or kittens because in the city it’s not easy to arrange for this. So, when Clara and Ann decided to arrange for Lemon’s body to be buried in the pet cemetery, it was very heartening.

As Lemon’s body lay on the ground, I observed many residents of the apartments giving it their attention. Perhaps they were expressing their sorrow thereby. I noticed workers who were hanging around the gate come and look at Lemon’s body with respect and kindness.

Clara and Fluto put Lemon’s body in a bag and laid it aside as they waited for the animal rescue team to come and take Lemon for the burial.

This whole episode touched my heart immensely, though internally I was very sad for Lemon, a gorgeous orange striped majestic cat with golden eyes. This innocent God’s creature had succumbed to death on a transformer. Imagine what pain he must have suffered as the electric shock hit his body. I trembled at the thought. At the same time, there was a silver lining I could see through the episode as a whole, and that was the kindness and spontaneous attention that Ann, Clara, Fluto, the electricity board men, and even the residents of the apartment who stopped and looked at Lemon’s lifeless body with concern in their eyes. It was a great sign of positivity amidst the dark rainy clouds that would soon gather by evening. While ‘stray’ animals might not have their own home, being wanderers, God has put kindness and love in the hearts of many humans who will take the initiative to care for these lovely creatures of His.

May God bless Clara, Ann, Fluto, the electricity board men and all the onlookers who helped Lemon get a dignified burial!

As for me, as I returned, I looked into the things I had bought from the grocery store. The favourite cake that I had bought for myself did not seem tempting any more. I couldn’t take Lemon off my heart and mind, and I couldn’t eat the cake! In Lemon’s name, I requested my friend Dolcy to give the cake to a more deserving person!

May you rest in peace, Lemon, on God’s soft cushion!