I don't mean to write all bummers all the time, I actually live in permanent summer. For the past week, however, I have been really bummed, because my cat took a runner.

Pippi is a street cat who walked in off the street as a kitten. One night, almost exactly a year later, I left the window open and he walked out, unbidden. We looked for him all week but gave up because people kept bringing us other cats of a similar jathiya. Then one day Pippi just walked back into our lives, meowing for his dinner like nothing happened. I'm told that this is normal for cats, who are not really domesticated, but I felt painful abnormal. Now the cat is under house arrest, complete with a tracking collar.

It's strange, what pains. I can write about all the death and destruction in the world and feel one level of bad, but what really hurt was losing something so small and personal, which wasn't really lost at all. I write about the wide world but my world is actually very small. I rarely leave my house let alone my spot on the couch. The only thing I'd move my laptop for was that cat, and I missed him terribly when he was gone. I was walking around like my cat had died (which he could've) and was unable to enjoy anything. It's only now that he's come back that I feel anything close to normal.

Someone asked where the cat went and our uncle said WILL CHECK AND REVERT. We, of course, have no idea and never will. The cat wasn't even having a bad time, he was probably out chasing tail, but his absence still consumed my waking moments and I felt miserable. It's the rainy season and whenever it monsooned I felt the worst, thinking that Pippi was out there wet and alone. He probably wasn't, he came back well-fed and only a little flea-infested. But not knowing means imagining the worst. There's no particular insight here, it's just my view. For me, a good day is looking out the window and petting the cat. That's all I do. When he was gone, for me, everything was ruined.

But now, in one bit of good news, everything is all right with my world. We actually have two cats now, because we had another kitten arrive in the interim (pre-planned, coincidental, and even more guilt inducing). I couldn't really enjoy this new kitten without my old cat, but now that he's back I can, though I can't say they enjoy each other.

I won't say that all is right with the world, because my writing is certainly not about that, but all is right with my world. The cat came back. Mashallah.