Dieting Tom.

The pet cat, Tom had grown too big in size for its age. The owners, themselves obese, fed him with fat rich food and leftovers whether Tom was hungry or not.

Initially Tom was reluctant to approach the food bowl, at odd hours, but the pampering owners threatened him with words and deeds. In the end he gave up all the pretence of being a disciplined eater and joined the crowd, happily.

This extravagant life style, of eating and sleeping, had two undesirable effects on Tom. He could not easily get up from the floor or sofa on being commanded.

The joy of walking on compound wall or jumping down from it became out of bounds. He could not understand the effect of force of gravity vis a vis his unshapely build. Even the soft padded, paws stared hurting.

Once he even tried to imitate the mistress of the house to get on to a weighing scale. He did not become any wiser on looking at the swinging needle coming to a stop against some number.

The worst insult was heaped on him by a stray mouse in the garden. A manicured garden surrounded all four sides of the house. Before the days of obesity and inertia, he chased flies and butterflies for fun and to keep fit. Occasionally, he nibbled at the blades of grass liking the sweetish taste of the green stalk.

It never crossed his mind that as a cat he was supposed to go after a mouse or mice. Happy days that were!

This bitterness over powered the nostalgia. He could not digest the fact that a simple, skinny looking mouse gave him the slip. The misunderstanding, the mouse had over the chase was even more excruciating. How Tom could have communicated to the mouse that the chase was just for fun and not out of a killer instinct?

Like a tornado, these two incidents sucked away his tranquillity and peace of mind, leaving him a very worried cat.

One day, Tom noticed from his supine position on the floor, that a stranger was engaged in an animated discussion with the mistress. The mistress was vigorously nodding her head and wildly signaling with her arms.

Once or twice both the stranger and the mistress stole a glance at Tom. This electrified Tom with thoughts of dire consequences for him – eviction from the house or admission to a pet clinic.

He miserably failed to grasp the essence that the conversation was about an exercise regime for the mistress to shed excess weight. He had no way knowing that her doctor had already warned her of impending consequences and declared that now itself, it was too late.

Tom spent the next few days, in unbearable suspense, loosing appetite for meals. The plate was left untouched and the very smell of the food or the sight of the plate, made him to retch.

The mistress was very busy in the gym, sweating it out, breathing fire and romping in the garden. The grass blades bore the brunt of her ferocity and humbly withered away.

Tom did not understand any of these frenzied activities and noticed only one thing – his carving for rich food at all times of the day was slowly diminishing.

He tried to get up from the floor at the footfall of the mistress. Though she did not notice it, she had her own weighty problems to ponder about, Tom felt light and happy.

Then the mistress noticed the nearly untouched plate in front of Tom. She called the maid servant and asked her why Tom was not eating?

Had she asked him, Tom would have told her his version for the hunger strike. Also he would have told her that he was feeling fine and light.

Known for taking exparte decisions, the mistress called for a veterinary ambulance, showed a struggling Tom inside and sat with him for the short drive.

Doctors surrounded Tom, investigated and pronounced that but for a little over weight nothing was there to worry about. For that positive pronouncement, the mistress pulled out few currency notes and brought him home by  car( by that time the car had been sent to the clinic by the alert maid servant).

The doctors must have prescribed some restriction and Tom was happy to see the mound of food reduced to a handful. Toned milk replaced cream-rich variety. Feeding hours got regularized.

Feeling elated, he thought to show his appreciation of her caring gestures. He accompanied her on her garden stomping (still she had not shed a kilogram of her weight) and playfully started giving her a chase. These appreciative gestures went unnoticed and Tom decided to do some thing about it.

After a brief siesta, he drew up two plans for action. One to give her the fright of her life by jumping on to her from a height at the least expected moment. Two, he wanted to teach a fitting lesson to that insulting mouse, in the garden, if at all it was still there.

Tom wanted to prepare himself for these tasks on hand. He slowly got on to the compound wall and, holding his heart in the mouth, he made a slow stroll, followed by a gait and ended up with a trot. Except for a little panting, he was pleased with his efforts.

To give the chase of its life, Tom embarked on sprint running, on the carpet in the living room. He braked himself at the appropriate edges and stayed with in the carpet area. His confidence level rose up like a whale surfacing to breath.

He chose his time well to execute the jump down. He hopped on to the door at the entrance of the hall and lay in wait for the mistress to make an entry.

She came along with a visitor. Timing it perfect to a millimetre, Tom jumped from the door, emitting a contented purr, aiming to land on her shoulder. The landing was perfect, rivalling the accuracy with which space probes land on chosen sites.

The banshee jump produced the desired effect. The unexpected furry landing sent the mistress in to the fright orbits, dropping the costly cell phone to bounce and split open on the floor. Tom felt as if he had watched a horror movie with a comical ending.

Moments of speechlessness passed and she literally shrank in shame for exhibiting fear in front of a visitor. Shaking with rage, she threw her sandals at Tom. In confusion, he ran in to the garden.

Exactly at that time the errant mouse crossed in front of him. Tom needed no other catalyst. The welling anger pumped more and more adrenalin initiating a formula one race. The mouse was out run and out manoeuvred all around the garden. In fright and fighting for life, the mouse forgot the escape routes. Tom chased the mouse to his heart’s content and finally let it survive the scare for that day.

The achiever Tom majestically walked in to the house, careful not to come across the mistress for the present. The mistress of the house instructed the maid servant to cut down further the quantum of food in Tom’s plate.

Tom enjoyed being fit, a little hungry and getting rid of rich food at odd times. The mouse made it a point not come with in chasing distance of Tom.