WELL, THAT'S CUTE

THIS IS WHY ...PEOPLE PICK UP KITTENS ON THE ROAD. IS THERE ANY OTHER CHOICE?! BEING SUPER CUTE IS THEIR ONLY CHANCE FOR SURVIVAL IN A WORLD WITH LOTS OF OTHER PRIORITIES ... ALTHOUGH WHAT ELSE COULD THOSE BE, PRAY TELL?! (Note missing eye liner around the left eye of Soan (right), and to a lesser extent, her brother Papadi, too. They were so much in a hurry to get a home they forgot their makeup. But in a few months it magically appeared, anyway!)

CANE CHAIR CAT

Sometimes cats overdo it with the casual grace thing. Silver tabby UPPALI has once again found a perfect frame for his cuteness.

BIRD BRAIN/CAT BRAIN

A student of ornithology like Uppali can get a little tired of the academic life and sometimes just sleeps it off until he hears the rude click of a camera. What could be softer than a feather pillow?

HAIRY & SCARY!

#2 in Our YAWN Series

It's Fuboo! When you have almost everything you want you just YAWN sometimes. But there's a twinkle in the eye that says I've come a long way from the drainage ditch and intend to keep it that way. Fu is a people's cat; forget about identification with places. Except, of course, the kitchen.

Worshipping, Cat-Style

LET'S PUT THE FUN BACK IN FAITH! It is our belief that nothing we do is wrong and we are forgiven for everything! So here we are enjoying a fashion session with the goddess' gown, with emphasis on the tinsel trim. The less said about the missing arm(s), the better.

SOFT and SWEET, that's Soan (girl, left)

and her brother Papadi,

enjoying their kittenhood together.

LITTLE WHITE NERGI gets a lesson on love from Papadi kissing his sister Soan.

WIZARD WOOTZ

HERE'S OUR BOMBAY BLACK, variously known as Count Dracula, Wootzer, Wootsie, and Suckie Sucker, reflecting his extreme interest in sucking inside arm joints. But there's much more to Wootz than just that! He's extreme, and we like him that way!

CATS WITH STYLE

HERE'S A CLASSIC CASE OF CATS LIKING CAMERAS, starring Suboo-Toobu (orange-and-white girl, silver-and-white boy), the professional cat posers looking for a film contract with this one.

NEED BIGGER CHAIRS

UPPALI, our silver tabby, seems to have outgrown our chairs and is trying to say so in a nice way. Maybe we could put two together, face to face? Wouldn't want to suggest he move to one of the sofas. It isn't nice to ask a cat to move, and cat people are well aware that a cat will not like any place he's relocated to by his caretaker. Non-cat choices are all bad.

VIEW FROM THE "MOUNTAIN"

SOAN girl doesn't notice much difference between a shoulder, a bookshelf, or table. They're all basically "mountains" with a view. This eager-eater copied her brother Papadi in people-mountain climbing. But that claw "axe" equipment for holding on is a little tough on shoulder skin.

12-FOOTED FRIENDSHIP

Here, we have a brother (left, PAPADI) and his sister (calico SOAN), and their best friend, a street rowdy named NERJI, an extremely busy individual but who always has time for his new, just a little older, friends. He didn't offer them his friendship as an option; just jumped right on them, and that was it. The boys rough it up often, and actually hold the long-playing record in our house.

NERVY LITTLE PUNK

nerji

is so young and so small, yet the personality is out there. No time for cuddling with people when the other cats are so interesting. Watches the bigger fellows and then tries to copy them. A tough street-cat environment full of asphalt was his birthplace, and he's learned what's important to survive: being cute and playing!

CASUAL PAWS ALIGNMENT

UPPALI, King of the Kats, in a relaxed moment, one of many. Most cats feel compelled to get all formal with ramrod posture, etc., when they line up their paws, as though someone with a camera were following them all the time (instead of most of the time, like me). Uppali writes his own rules. Paws look like they just got a new coat of white cat shoe polish.Uppali is a silver tabby from the Santa Ysabel Native American reservation in San Diego County, now resident in the state of Kerala in India. There is a rumor that all cats in India worship the elephant god Ganesha, simply because he has a mouse and loves sweets. Reasons enough.

CLASSIC MUBOO

MUBOO, the boy in the brother-sister team Muboo-Foobu, is one of those extra-special ones, a bit uncannily like a person and fascinated with the human face. Experiencing a Muboo is a privilege we know we couldn't possibly have earned, but we'll take it! Look for the butterfly on the head. Maybe that's a sign that an angel on paws has flown into your life, as his sister has similar qualities (a cuddler #1 also).

BEING A GOOD CAT

Here's how you do it: Get in a place where you'll look good. Stretch out and close your eyes. Dream about a fish dinner, and if you live at the Animal Ashram in Cochin, it's likely to come true. Tell all your friends.* Everyone seems headed here!


*On second thought, I, Papadi, would rather everyone else but my sister Soan and best cat friend Nerji go somewhere else and we'll deal with the fish surplus here. Thanks.

Soan (girl cat on right): "I'M ALWAYS GETTING THESE HEADACHES, AND I CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHY! They start on the right side just over the eye. Then suddenly they're gone. What do you advise? Getting rid of my brother Papadi?! You gotta be kidding! What is Soan without Papadi*?"

*Soan Papadi is a famous flaky North Indian sweet.

2 CUTE

WHY BOTHER PICKING UP BABY KITTENS? Here's a good answer: Soan (f., right) and Papadi (m.), now growing up into their gorgeous teens. We have not really seen any sign that cats know how decorative they are, which is one of a millon reasons we love them!

WOOTSER! You've GROWN! Congratulations. Elsewhere on this blog you'll see him as a little blob of black fluff. Now, here's what can happen! Wootser is also know as Wootsie, Woots, Dracula, and Sucky Sucker, the latter due to a kittenhood habit that still persists of sucking human elbowpits (mother substitute) until he falls into a trance with his oh-so-watermelon-colored tongue out and goes to sleep.

HEADACHE REMEDY

FIRST, you put your two feet close up tight ... no, no, no, those are the lyrics to a song much older than this cat boy. First, you brace your rear feet against one chair leg, then you push your head hard against the opposite leg, and presto, no headache. If you wedge yourself right in there, cat physics will do the rest while you relax. Another clever cat contribution to stress management. Thank you, Uppali the Silver Tabby.