Source: TOI
Date: Nov 18, 2013
By: Priya Gupta
Bollywood actors talk about their love for their pet cats.
Let's talk about Pearl, your cat?
Pearl lived with us for seven years, but died last year. A year after we got Pearl, we discovered that it was a male. The doctors told us. My mom got our first cat, a Persian cat named Tiger, who gave birth to Pearl. Pearl lived his life like a superstar. It's quite amazing that he did not need anyone or anything and was content on his own. Cats are happy just being on their own.
Then how do you build emotional connect with a cat?
Thirty seconds a day is all it takes to be able to make an animal want love and enough to feel loved. Pearl loved to be tickled. So on my way out to work and in from work, I would stop and give him that piece of love. I liked the fact that he enjoyed it so much. To be able to make someone happy makes you happy.
What do cats teach you?
The learning that you need to be first content and complete by yourself and only then can you truly love completely.
Is there a difference between cats and dogs?
There is no need to compare. The universe has different type of creatures and there is something good about each one of them. We should focus on what is good. It is said that cats always find their way back home and have a favourite spot. Did Pearl have one? Yes, it's true that a cat will a find its way back home. Pearl used to love the marble floor. He would sprawl there and spread out his limbs and allow his stomach to feel the coolness. That furry animal looked like a rug and was quite immovable. You could actually pull him around and set him as your rug to decorate your lobby and he would not move as he was so content. Duggu's cat Pearl always freaked me out. I'm not a cat person and was shit scared of that cat. Every time I went to Duggu's house, I would get freaked out. Pearl was big and furry and every time you walked past him, he would look up at you. He wouldn't move. He'd just look up from the staircase that he sat on. And he freaked you out because his eyes would follow you everywhere. I was always like 'hi', and his expression was like he's marking his territory, saying, 'This is my space junglee billi, what are you doing here?'