Early this morning, mommy and I woke up with a jolt.
There were loud resounding booms from the skies outside.
As if the rising sun was splitting the dark dawn skies into a million pieces.
I was scared and huddled into mommy's side.
After all, she is bigger and fatter, and therefore, less likely to be crushed by the falling pieces of the sky.
But instead of grabbing me and running for cover, Mommy furiously muttered a few Fs and Bs at the skies outside our window, burrowed her head under the pillow, wrapped her arm around me and went right back to sleep.
I was still scared.
And perplexed.
So I dug the tip of my claws into her side till she emerged from under the pillow to comfort me.
Mommy said, with much exasperation and annoyance, that the Festival of Lights is here again.
And that I would have to be a brave girl for the next 3 days because it was going to be very, very noisy.
She said I wasn't to hide in her wardrobe like last year because then she would also have to try wriggle in with me and she didn't think she would fit !!
So she said we would dim our lights and curl up on the sofa together to watch cartoons and romantic comedies on the telly.
I like snuggling into mommy's clothes in her wardrobe.
But I like sleeping on mommy more, even though the sofa is a little too cramped with her on it.
So I agreed to her plans...for now.
But, I still do not understand.
Why is the Festival of Lights so damn noisy?
And suffocating?
Mommy says people burst firecrackers to celebrate...That most people think it is fun.
Although she doesn't approve much of it, she still thinks the multi-coloured spirals and cloud bursts in the night skies can sometimes look beautiful.
I think she is crazy.
Firecrackers are bad.
They smell!!!
They make the skies go ba-da-boom till our fur stands on the end.
And the air...oh, crackers makes it smell so bad and harsh that it makes our eyes, throats and delicate noses burn in pain..
As much as I do not like to share my Mommy, Wanda the fish or Alvin the mouse, I cannot help but feel sorry for my sister and brother cats on the streets who have no homes to hide in or mommies to protect them.
Not to mention the big bully dogs, frisky goats and twitching cows on the roadside who suffer as much as we do.....Who ever said size matters?
Heck, I even feel sorry for you humans.
Especially those of you who are prone to allergies like mommy is.
You may not know it, but your noses, eyes, throats and lungs are as affected as ours are.
Mommy says I should not complain because the damage to our throats, lungs or nerves is nothing when one considers the health and life risks faced by the thousands of children who are put to work in very unsafe conditions to make these fire-crackers.
" Think of the little children working in dingy, cramped places to make firecrackers which we burn without a second thought for the little hands that made them" she tells me when I mew to complain "So many of them would cheerfully suffer the raucous noise and acrid stench that you are cribbing about if it meant an escape from their unhappy lives and back-breaking schedules.....I bet most of them wouldn't even mind being you" says she, giving me a long disapproving look.
Trust mommy to sneak a dig at me in the middle of her pontification!!!
But, I guess she does have a point, doesn't she?
So, peoples of the world who celebrate the festival of lights, when you are about to fire that sparkler tonight, do spare a thought for Mother Earth and us poor quivering cats ( and dogs and cows and mice and rest of the Good Lord's four legged creations on earth).
And if that does not stir your conscience, think of the poor little children in their dingy dangerous workplaces whose blood, sweat and tears have brought that cracker into your hands.
After all, it is the festival of lights.
Not some gaudy light and sound show....is it?
Miark!
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