The Real Zuleikha

The photo that you see above is of Zuleikha, the small cat that lives at WSD. Zuleikha is as adorable as she looks, will run up to people, very inquisitive and mischievous.

Some days ago Zuleikha climbed onto the rain shade parapet of the WSD kennels building and climbed onto a tall Nilgiri (Eucalyptus) tree. Why the fascinations for a climb up the tree? Well she spotted a crow’s nest on top. Luckily for her and the crows, the nest was empty (they had just started building it). So what does Madam Zuleikha do? She goes and perches herself in it. The crows of course were not very amused by this at all and started to peck her. So poor Zuleikha gets spooked and runs off onto the roof of the kennel and disappears into the slum next door.

Getting the wind of this, our ward boys go out and search for her in the slums. They ask people around and after much searching, see her, pick her up and get her back. So a happy ending to Zuleikha’s little adventure. Well was it? At night, they notice that the cat they had brought back is not Zuleikha but a cat with similar markings. They then go back and search high and low for her but can’t find her. They leave word around and come back dejected.

Next morning when they go back, they are directed to a tailor’s home and they see the real Zuleikha happily drinking milk, off a saucer. Zuleikha was actually from the nearby slum so one wonders if the ‘other’ Zuleikha was her sibling. So that’s a happy ending to Madam Zuleikha’s nest adventure.