hagru

i was in goa last week for my friends' wedding. as usual, i tagged along with a goan friend (this time, with his mom and 4-year-old daughter too), and stayed wherever they were staying. one of the places being, his aunt's home. his aunt has some 8 dogs and as many cats.

(some of) the cats

so anyway, the cats somehow weren't very cosy with me. i'd have to sneak up to them and pet them when they weren't looking, and they'd suddenly jump and run off a few seconds later. except for this one cat, that snuggled in between me and my friend's lil daughter on the sofa. i tried to make small talk with the girl, and the conversation went something like this: (k is me, e is the kid)
k: so you like this cat?
e: yeah, but i don't want to play with him.
k: why?
e: he is hagru.
k: hagru? is that his name?
e: no, he doesn't have a name. he is hagru.
k: but his name is not hagru?
e: no, he doesn't have a name! he is hagru.
k: so if i call him hagru, will he play with me?
e: don't play with him, he is hagru!
k: meh.

anyway, i finally found the same cat sleeping in my bed a couple of hours later.

turned on the light in the room, and it jumped out and ran for the door.

i found it had pooped in my bed.

apparently "hagru" is what they call cats with bowel problems :S

the girl and one of their dogs

child's play

kids always fascinate me.

they can do everything from the cutest to the weirdest things without batting an eyelid. and their sense of innocence is refreshing.

so yesterday, i went to church for the 6pm mass. as usual, the church was packed by the time i reached, so i had to be content with standing in the parking lot. which wasn't all that bad really, thanks to the pleasant weather and the fact that i had a pal for company. as usual, there were a few kids running around their parents.

there was this one kid who caught my pal and my attention. he was pretty young as kids go (probably around 2 years old) and was livelier than the rest. his liveliness wasn't what caught my attention though. it was the way he interacted with the kids around that did.

to cut a long story short, he would walk up to every kid girl who was playing in the parking lot, and try to chat up with them. he would also chase them around till they got scared and ran and hid behind their parents. and he did that to pretty much every kid girl in my sight. and probably a few who i didn't spot either :D

unfortunately for that kiddo, every attempt he made ended up in pretty much the same way - with the girl running off, crying for her mommy.

then he got lucky.

there was this one girl, slightly older than he was, who apparently wasn't frightened. she started making faces at him. he made faces back. he turned up his collar till it covered his ears. she did the same. he ran up and down the flight of steps separating the graveyard and the parking lot. she did ditto, but faster.

half an hour later, they were walking around holding hands. she was attempting to talk to him, and he was staring at her and trying to make sense of what she was saying, though it was pretty obvious that he could not. she taught him how to climb up and down the steps without holding on to the rails. and introduced him to her mom (without using names, i guess :P)

kids will always fascinate me.