Kitten in the park

Morning jog is a routine exercise during COVID times; there is little chance of going out for a sport or physical activity to burn the burnout. I got into the park for a morning jog; the first couple of laps were always slow. 

Then comes my way, a kitten, when I am catching up on the momentum and not in a mood to stop any time soon. I had to take one-foot lateral movement as a Knee jerk reaction not to stamp on the little canine.  

The snarl has become her morning wishes - at least twice a week, I see her at the same spot. I am not a vivid animal lover nor have experience dealing with them - except the lab rats during my research days. I used to avoid it and never intimidate the little one with my physical gesture. 

Today, the little canine is behaving differently - it is more aggressive and making more sounds to gain its attention. During my third lap, it almost blocked the path - 8 feet narrow passage between tiny shrubs and bushes. I have gone past the little kitten without giving much attention, orienting my posture a little away from the feline. 

I am prepared for my next lap to face this little kitten bit differently. As expected, it stood at the center of the path this time and starting at me. As I came close, it started snarling loudly - I decided to end the relationship by stumping on the ground with a bit of thud with my strong right leg to make a noise to shoo it away. The poor little kitten got scared and ran away into the little bushes. I did not see it again in my next ten laps. 

The next day in the park, I realized it was not me; the little kitten had similar encounters with other visitors. The other has dealt with it differently by whistling, clapping, and growling when they see it. Each person has a different attitude to deal with it.

After the exhaustive run, when I was sitting on steps under the warm sun rays to relax my muscles realized a couple of things:

• We may face new characters/challenges in the face of life, like the little kittens.

• We don't understand what it means until we face them like the little kitten was unnoticed until I saw them while blocking my way.

• It is essential to understand their language before we shoo them away. We often come across many people who want to communicate in different ways. Some of them ask for love in the most unloving way. So we got to invest some time to get in intune with them. After that incident, I did not see the little kitten again - and still have guilty for not understanding what it was trying to communicate.

• It is just not us; our colleagues and many others would face similar challenges. Each of them deals with them very differently. Like the visitors in the park, they dealt with a cat differently. We may have to observe and see if it can help us become better.

Hoping to see the little kitten again, I will try to deal with it differently in the new year...