Cats & Dogs

This morning I was woken up at about 2am by loud barking. This is nothing too unusual, but usually it stops after a while. This barking went on and on and seemed to be closer than usual. When it had reached the point when I was fully awake and my curiosity overcame my tiredness, I got up and walked to my balcony to see what was going on. We have a dog called Raja, who is a huge, stinky beast that is usually found skulking around the garden or slumped in the sun somewhere. At first we had some "getting to know you" issues, but now we've become reluctant friends who can bear eachother's presence, but that's about as far as it goes. Manish warned me repeatedly when I first moved in that I should stay away from Raja, because he is dangerous and doesn't like strangers. Seemed like good advice to me.

As I looked over my balcony I was wondering where the barking was coming from and why it was so loud. I soon discovered that this was due to the amplification of being in the bathroom (which is adjacent to the house). I stared at the open bathroom door for a while, listening for noises or human screams, but ould only hear Raja's barking and growling. I heard Manish's wife shouting at Raja from downstairs and I assumed he would shut up after a while. I turned around and went back to bed, burying my head under the covers.

It continued... As the only remaining man in the house (Manish is away in Rajasthan), I felt duty bound to go outside and see what was going on. I put my jacket on over my pyjamas and wandered outside to the bathroom. I crept slowly towards the door and called Raja's name with a tone of what I like to think was authority. The barking stopped for a second then continued. By now, the household was awake so I went inside to see what the theory was. Apparently a dog had got into the bathroom and was therefore in Raja's jurisdiction, and he wouldn't rest until the case was closed. Manish's mother and wife and I stood around and laughed for a bit. I said I thought it might have be a tiger or leopard, and then I went back to bed as it seemed that no action was to be taken (a welcome relief, as I didn't fancy wrestling with Raja or a rabid dog at that point in time). Soon after I had laid my head down, there was a pathetic wail and some scuttling around...then silence.

It turned out to be an ill-fated cat, who had sadly picked the wrong toilet to frequent. I don't know what the moral of the story is, but thought it was worth sharing...