When we came to stay in Coonoor in 1963 , there were still a few whites living in Upper Coonoor .Among them was Mrs.Grant who lived in Kievcote , just below Dunmore.
She was waiting to go back to England and her beloved companion was her magnificent black cat, Putoos. Putoos looked like Egyptian divinity and was treated like Indian Royalty . No mousing or scrounging for leftovers for him. Mrs. Grant’s butler used to carry him in from the lawn at dinner time or lunch time . He was served the choicest cuts of meat from the butchers in Lower Coonoor.
I was 11 years old and a cat lover , long before seeing Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. Mrs. Grant let me play with her darling often. She was planning her trip back to England and she told me that since she could not take Putoos with her, she was going to have to put him to sleep. I did not understand the expression at first, but when I did , I was horrified. Without a thought for the consequences, I blurted out that I would take care of him. Looking at the scruffy little boy in front of her, she seemed doubtful, but my earnestness convinced her.
Came the day she left and I proudly carried Putoos home. In all this while ,I had never mentioned to my parents that I had adopted a cat and one which was better fed than us. My mother was horrified and our resident cats (four of them) snarled, arched their backs and hissed at poor Putoos. The inevitable happened and , after a few weeks , Putoos vanished from our lives. He could not have fared well, all alone in the wild. I wished I had done a Joy Adamson and Elsa act for him but it was not to be.
Years later, on a visit to Coonoor , I told my daughter about Putoos. She was heartbroken and shed a silent tear.
Philip Abraham
He is a retired banker, with a fascination for the English language and has been wriitng short pieces mostly based on life while studying in Coonoor. His other passions include travelling and quizzing. Incidently, while at college, he and his partner beat the the team comprising of the redoubtable Sashi Tharoor in the finals of the quiz conducted by in Mumbai.
THE BREW 