Ginger Tales: How I Survived a Fall Inside a Tree

The memory is hazy, it’s been about two years now. But I remember enough to recount the incident. Was a kitten then, one among a litter of five. We stayed inside Champaklal building, Mumbai.

When I saw my brother come under the wheels of a reversing car when a month old, I realised kittens are unimportant around here. Two of my sisters too died later, the night before mum had found them drenched under a downpour.

So death was the first thing that came to my mind when I found myself trapped inside the bark of a tree one afternoon. My brother and I were scampering along with my mum earlier that day when we saw a bunch of children come right at us. My mother ushered that we climb up a tree, which we did, but to my horror the branch that I chose was hollow and I dropped right in.

I could hear my mother meowing outside for me. She also peered in through the opening but I could do nothing. The hole was a good three feet in depth. I meowed back and told her it was impossible for me to climb out. She asked my brother to call for help but what could the little guy do; we were both two months old.

It was dark inside the hole, smelly too. I tried jumping out several times only to land back on my rear, each time with bruises. There was little space inside so my body kept scratching the hard bark, which added to the bruises. I must’ve meowed for some two hours. My throat was dry and the darkness inside was unnerving me. I could sense insects crawling near me but did not feel the urge to eat them.

Finally, I heard some commotion outside the opening. Some gruff voices and movement near the tree. My mother by then had moved away though I could hear her faint cries. One more attempt to jump and I got a glimpse of some uniformed men around the tree and a parked ladder near the opening. I jumped again to reach the ladder but fell back with a bang.

Then something came down the hole. I looked up, it seemed like a thousand white bulbs shining at one go. I did not blink and the light disappeared.

The voices around me grew louder and an ear-splitting noise took over. I looked up and a big chopper was attempting to cut the branch in which I was holed up. I stayed put even while sharp wood shavings kept falling on me with the movement of the chopper. After about an hour the top part of the branch gave way and I was much closer to the opening. It was my time to soar. I gathered whatever little energy I had and leaped the highest I could. I found myself on top of the hole and I was out. Badly bruised but free.

Some do care about kittens.