My family and other animals

Down in Nana Chowk – that large intersection west of Grant Road station in South Mumbai – next to the fire station – a 2 story bungalow juts out into the road. It’s the corner of the John Wilson Education Society compound and shares the wall with Mumbai’s finest. Every morning at 9 AM our fire-friends would test their air-raid warning siren. And every now and then a bell would peal and firemen would run pell-mell to the big red Bedford fire-engine – which would go clanking off to quell whatever fire had been reported.

We lived in that building. For over a decade. We arrived there by God’s grace when it was time for me to start my 1^st standard of the Cathedral and John Connon Infant school on Malabar hill. We left when I finished my 12^th at Woodstock School in Mussoorie.

In between were many amazing years.

This picture is from somewhere in the early 80s.

photo by Karen Swan

Our Nana Chowk house was a small ark.

Our home was the home to scores of animals. Pets which we acquired over the years. Most did not survive long. Some like the cats were multi-generational presences.

All were loved by us. As kids we would earnestly promise to look after the newest pet. But of course it was Mum who did all the work.

She would come in at the cat feeding time and have them tumbling over her feet – running ahead and behind her – making small jagging sorties with their tails held high like so many flags. Food time. They knew who it was who fed them. Never did our feline friends show such excitement to us kids.

Shall we count the animals?

In no particular order – and certainly not all at once – we had (ergo – Mum fed and tended for):

1. Cats (lots of them – sometimes as many as 4 at once – depending of the fertility of the then current mother cat). The originals were Snowy and Tiger – which were our first pets – right when we landed up in Nana Chowk.
2. Dog – one ½ Labrador (inherited from a Scottish missionary family). A real heart of gold. Would waggle her entire rear end when excited. Good rat catcher too.
3. Doves – 2 – they laid eggs – but they did not hatch – possibly because I put a crows egg in along with them…
4. Parrot – 1 – very loud.
5. Guinea pig – 1 – inherited from a family of German hippies who drove around the country in a modified truck. His original cage was a plastic milk carton.
6. Hamster – 1 – a birthday gift. He managed to escape and lived under the wooden floor for sometime. We managed to recapture him and loved him dearly.
   
7. Rabbits – many. They lived in a hutch outside. Sadly, they were eaten by folks when we went away to the US for a year in 1977. We were heartbroken at the news.
8. Fish – lots – mainly guppies. Some angel fish. A few neon tetras. The occasional "fighter" fish too.
9. Tortoises. A few. Another set of hand-me-downs. Never really bonded with these. Today having them would be illegal.
10. Chipmunk. 1 – I really loved him. Very sweet and small. Did not last long from what I can recall.
11. Budgies. A few. Didn’t last long as far as I can remember.
12. Owl – one – but that was in Mussoorie and that too only for 2 weeks before he decided to fly away – so it does not really count
13. Snake – one – but that also does not count since it was when I was in college. George was a boa from Venezuala that the infatiguable Nathaniel Tuggy smuggled into college – and then was banished to our off campus home. A very gentle fellow.
    

Hats off to Mrs. Noah – I mean Mum – for handling this vast menagerie (barring the last one of course)!

It was wonderful to grow up with animals.