The black cat seems to follow me…

A couple of days back I was trying to explore Windows Vista which we have recently incorporated. Having found nothing new or exciting to learn I was on the verge of giving up and totally stamp it as a loser when I came across “Gadgets”. The numbers of free gadgets available are quite impressive. No doubt most of them are useless but they do make your desktop look handsome.

So while I was feverishly downloading the gadgets one by one, I came across this watch gadget which is a black cat. It’s called a “Kit- Cat Klock” and has this huge clock inscribed in its belly. Its eyes and tail seems to sway in a complete synchrony. A terrible smile is pasted on its face. And as compared to its body, its eyes seem to be popping out, making it look out of proportion. It seems stoned. But I liked it for its weirdness, apart from the fact that I like cats. Of course I like cats that look normal and cute.

So while it was sitting there and merrily swaying its tails and hovering its eyes in synchrony, I wondered whether the idea of downloading a black cat seemed all that good. Someone mentioned “Oh!! A black cat, that’s 7 years of bad luck”. Oops I thought, well who wants that. Of course shani in my kundali was supposed to have moved on and wouldn’t appear for a long time again. So now what was this new method of obtaining bad luck? In any case, I couldn’t allow the thought to keep banging its knuckles on my brain so I religiously removed the gadget. Gone is the cat, and gone is the bad luck with it. Easy, aint it? I thought of how my mum was all worked up when someone told her that shani maharaj has chosen my kundali for a comfortable stay for 7 years. Woah!! She came up with a list of things I would have to do from that day onwards till the very last day when Shani Maharaj would be pleased and would decide to move on. Happy as he would be since I would act as a perfect host, he would bless me with lots of good luck and good health. For those who don’t know what Shani means, here is the Wiki definition of it:

Shani (Sanskrit Śani शनि) is one of the Navagraha which are the nine primary celestial beings in Hindu astrology (that is, Vedic astrology), Shani is embodied in the planet Saturn. Shani is the Lord of Saturday; the word Shani also denotes the seventh day or Saturday in most Indian languages.
Shani is actually a demi-god and is a son of Surya(the Hindu Sun God) and his wife Chhaya. It is said that when he opened his eyes as a baby for the very first time, the sun went into an eclipse, which clearly denotes the impact of Shani on astrological charts (horoscope).

Now that you know what Shani means, would you even try and challenge him or my mother? Of course I didn’t dare, so there was going to Hanuman temple on Saturday with oil and leaf garland, no non veg food on Saturday, chatting of mantras.

While I considered discussing with my mum about this whole idea, I thought of the thousand other things she could think of and had chosen not to. At least she didn’t want me to wear black clothes on Saturday or light a lamp near peepal tree at night (that’s scary) or offer black grams to a buffalo (now who came up with that) or offer ladoos to crow (ofcourse they would be pleased and will appear every Saturday) or offer jaggery to monkeys (where would I find one in Mumbai baring the multiple humans acting like one around). Did I get distracted from the theme of this post?

Coming back to where we started, so well I had deleted the black cat and bamm!! Gone was the ill luck. Now at peace, I was living my life as ever. And then one fine day, after a week when Chritmas and all holidays were gone by and time for everyone who went on an extended holiday came to an end, a colleague came back from Thailand. And he was kind enough to have considered everyone in office and brought a gift for EVERYONE!! So round he went from person to person distributing gifts and I was all hoooo haaa over the cute little weird stuff toys he gave everyone. And then he gave me my stuff toy which was, guess what “A BLACK CAT”. A freaking black cat again. Ohh dear!! So there she was sitting in my palm and smiling at me, while I wondered what do I do now. I hung her near my table not thinking about the cat. Next day I went to buy a shower caddie and guess what guys, the only one I liked was a cat. I say what the heck? I will get a cat one if I like one. So cat caddie arrives with me home and is now hanging from my shower. Yesterday I went to my friend's office and guess what, one of his Egyptian colleague brought him a gift from Egypt which is now sitting on his table. Well, you guys would have to find it in the mess of innumerable papers and pens and food and a partly eaten or broken stress buster. By the way guess what the gift is- ITS AN IDOL OF AN EGPYTION GOD. It had a head of a cat and body of a human. Though her feet feel like paws. Woah!!

I looked up on Wiki about a black cat only to find:

Historically, black cats were symbolically associated with witchcraft and evil. In Hebrew and Babylonian folklore, cats are compared to serpents, coiled on a hearth. The cat was worshipped in Egypt and to kill one was considered a capital crime. When an Egyptian family's cat died, the cat was mummified and the family went into mourning. Romans, also, considered the cat sacred and introduced the animal into Europe. In Europe, apart in Italy or Spain, a black cat crossing one's path is considered good luck; however they were also seen by the church as associated with witches. Black cats (and sometimes, other animals of the same color, or even white cats) were sometimes suspected of being the familiars of witches. By the 17th Century, however, the cat began to be associated with witchcraft and its luck turned from good to bad in many areas around the world. The black cat was still usually seen as good luck; however, in the USA and parts of Europe (e.g. Spain), which saw witch hunts, the association with witches caused them to be considered as bad luck.

While I read this, I was beaming with happiness.

Well I guess, a cat is a cat, white or black. And whether it gets good luck or bad is up to you. So all my cats will continue to be with me and of course bring lotsa luck!! But can’t be ignored the fact that the black cat seems to be following us around, isn’t it?