Happy Caturday: all the kittens have grown up at the temple.

Some days the weather was so hot and uncomfortable that I was reluctant to travel to the temple (Yannawa temple) to feed those stray cats. But I knew some cats would be waiting for me around the car park. The faces of three young kittens floated into my head. So, I packed up some cat food and got drinking water for Julia, she’s the only cat who expected drinking water after her food. She would lick up about half a glass of water in five minutes. I decided to go the temple after 5 pm as the sun has gone behind thr clouds and condos by the river.

Some cats could recognise the sound of my car’s engine. Samsi would come out from her hiding place to wait in the car park before I finished parking the car properly. Then, Som (means orange) would cry out in greetings and ran towards my car after I slammed the car door. These cats had excellent ears and memories of each unique sound. The kittens at the skinny monk’s quarter could recognise the sound of my footsteps. They would be runnjng down the stairs to greet me.

These happy faces did cheer me up every time; they really made my day. I always felt so good about my good karma in feeding these stray cats. All these cats have become very trusting and friendly towards me. I could stop them from quarreling with new stranger cat who needed some food. It seemed some people still dumped their pet cats atbthe temple at night. These house cats would allow strangers to pet them without any fear.

Several small kittens have grown up very fast; they are almost ten months’ old. These cats have begun to be adventurous and walked around the temple car park and some went to the riverside. I haven’t seen the skinny monk lately, I hoped he’s alright as he’s the only monk who would feed these cats everyday. But he had a limited budget so he could feed them once a day.

Fortunately, some monks would give these cats left over fried fish from time to time. Last week I met a nice Chinese lady feeding four stray cats along the riverfront. So, I was no longer worried that these cats around the pier would go hungry. Some visitors who came to picnic by the river were kind hearted and shared their food with these cats. With our long Buddhist tradition, people have become used to offering food to needy people and helpless animals. People liked to accumulate good karma while they could so they might be comfortable in their old age.

Some rather wild and aloof ginger kittens have stopped hissing at me; their mother (Somjeed) abandoned them too early. So they became overly defensive and aggressive towards strangers. Within two months, they have become very friendly and I could touch them. There’s still one cat who continued to complain loudly about his miserable ordeal of being abandoned at the temple. But he could get along with some cats; his social life has much improved. However, his social etiquette still needed a lot of refinement. At least he was no longer afraid of me though he wouldn’t allow me to touch him.

By the time, I finished feeding all the four groups of cats, the sky has become dark. The temple has become empty of visitors and quiet. The river looked very different at night with dinner cruises traveling along the river. Tourism has started to warm up but the volume has fallen short of people’s expectations. There are about three dinner cruises at night. People would have to persevere a bit longer and hope that the economy would improve gradually.

Stray cats continued to roam the car park and temple at night. Some smart cats went for the rubbish boxes area. But it’s unlikely they wouldn’t be able to find any left over food. So, some cats who weren’t allowed to go near the skinny monk’s quarter would be quite skinny. I tried to give these skinny cats extra food as they would go hungry most of the week. These cats just didn’t belong to any tribe. They just hid under cars and went sniffing around at night. Other cats woukd chase these skinny cats away from their territory. I just wished all cats would unite and help each other out in times of hardship. They wouldn’t listen to my plea for peaceful coexistence in the temple. Perhaps they would understand my message one day.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.