The Cats' Lives

We go to Nizamuddin, an old neighborhood in Delhi, to check out the band of cats in Nilanjana Roy's 'The Wildings' (first published in 2012) and 'The Hundred Names of Darkness' (2013). The author writes about these cats who could link up and talk to one another across distances. They're split into clans of wildings who live by rules and courtesies, and kill only for food. There're also the fierce feral cats who kill for fun and listen to no reason. Then there's the legend of Senders- powerful 'telepathic' cats who are rare and appear once in every other generation. All cats could link and share thoughts, but Senders could link further and share images and memories. There is also Junglee, the polite universal language that all animal species speak. Three chapters in and I knew the books would be a hoot. I sank into their world, and read and read.

The author introduced us to the wildings in Nizamuddin, and Mara, a very young kitten who was taken from the streets to live with humans known as 'Bigfeet' in this story. Mara is a very powerful Sender. She doesn't even know what it meant till later. Every cat heard her distressed thoughts when she was taken from her mother to her journey with humans, and her thoughts about butterflies. She belongs to no clan, but Beraal, a young adult queen who's a ferocious fighter and hunter took her under her wing to teach her to control her 'sendings' while using the Nizamuddin link. We have Southpaw, a young tom, who's mentored by Nizamuddin clan leaders Katar and Hulo; he struck up a firm friendship with Mara.

'The Wildings' take us to the fight between the wildings of Nizamuddin and their allies (the cats of Dargah, and cheels led by Tooth, and oddly a mongoose by the name of Kirri), and the crazed ferals of Shuttered House (led by Datura). I shed a little tear when the brave elder Siamese warrior Miao was ignominiously set upon and killed in battle. This first book ended ambiguously, of how peace after the battle is tenuous, and would be broken anytime.

Ozzy roared again, and the Sender seemed to shimmer in the air. "Beraal," called Mara. "I can't hold on any longer. I'm taking Ozzy back home." The black-and-white cat watched her student leave, remembering the tiny kitten who had interrupted their sleep with her howls. And then she was fading, the Sender of Nizamuddin who had summoned a tiger to the grounds of their greatest, bloodiest battle. The kitten bobbed tiredly ahead of the tiger, who followed like an ocean liner in the wake of a tugboat. He roared one last time, just for the fun of it, and then the air shimmered around the unlikely pair, and they were gone.

Started on the second book immediately. 'The Hundred Names of Darkness' is the sequel and conclusion. Thank goodness. There isn't a third and final book yet to be written. This book begins with the seven Sender cats in all of Delhi that form The Circle of Senders. They need young Mara to join them and to fit in. Mara has finally ventured out to meet her clan- the Nizamuddin cats, and reluctantly accepted her ‘job’ as their Sender. Times are lean and dire, and the Nizamuddin clan is in danger of being wiped out before the next winter.

What follows is an exciting chain of events of a whole new generation of Nizamuddin cats shifting out of their homes because humans have decimated their hunting grounds. Mara has grown up and could use her powers to sift out a new home for them. Mara is still a house cat, but she has now ventured out to the alleys of Nizamuddin.

When her Bigfeet moved to another locale near the golf course, she follows. She sounded out the cats and peacocks who live at the golf course, understood the problem of bandicoots, and as Sender, she took the leap of shifting the entire Nizamuddin clan over to become the 'Golf Course Cats'. There's yet another fierce battle chasing out an ambitious population of bandicoots who were wrecking havoc with their tunnels under the greens.

There's also a little story of cheels Tooth and Claw, and their children Mach and Hatch. We already met Tooth in the first book- he has a friendship with Katar and battled alongside the cats to kill the crazed ferals. This book talks more about Tooth's son, Hatch, who refuses to fly and keeps waddling along the ground. Hatch would eventually strike up a friendship with Mara, fly like the ferocious raptor he is meant to be, and help the Nizamuddin cats move to a safer home at the golf course. The Circle of Senders return to help too, conjured up with Mara's powers as she's the strongest Sender in all of Delhi. It's a sort of happy ending. I really enjoyed both books, and how the stories flow. Hurhurhurhur.

"Quite astonishing, your little Sender, I don't think we've had a group sending or summoning in Delhi for centuries. Katar, we Senders will stay low enough in the sky so that you can tell us to slow down or hurry up, depending on how fast the clan's paws can carry them, and we'll tell Hatch to fly fast or slow as you need. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get on with this before dawn breaks and the Bigfeet find you out and about." 

"To the Golf Course!" mewed Katar, feeling his fears ebb from his whiskers. His tail was up, and though they had already walked some distance, he felt that he could lead the clan all night, if necessary. The grey tom's paws clicked on the pavements, tapping out a happy tattoo as he followed the wheel and the brisk, shimmering figure of Begum, the Sender of Purani Dilli. And the cats of Nizamuddin followed him and Begum, their paws taking them further and further away from home.