I woke up with a heavy mass of fuzz on my face. It was early in the morning. The fluffy thing tickled my nose and I sneezed, startling the cat that was attached to the fuzz. It was a routine – I always woke up with a cat sleeping on my face.
I shoved Gopalakrishnan off my head. Gopalakrishnan was my cat's name. Once upon a time, he heard the name on the TV or something and liked it so much that he wanted it for himself. After that, refused to respond to anything else and my family then got used to calling him that.
I quickly had my breakfast and picked up my bag. I then noticed that it was open, zipped it and ran to school. My bag was undeniably extra-heavy and my shoulders were aching by the time I reached my class and sat down. The teacher came in.
In a few minutes, we were all settled; it was one of those times when the class suddenly fell silent without any apparent reason. Our teacher called a boy to the front; I didn't know him, so he was probably new.
"Students, this is Gopalakrishnan, your new classmate. Please welcome him with open arms." The teacher announced, and then made place for him in the first bench. What a coincidence! He had probably seen the movie which my cat had seen too. Not giving another thought about it, I turned to Leela, who was sitting beside me. She whispered, "Have you done the homework?"
I nodded in reply.
"I have couple of doubts about it and I was wondering if I could refer to yours."
I unzipped my bag and carelessly put my hand in, feeling around for the book. Instead, I grasped a furry object. I pulled my hand out in shock and stared at the grey cat hair that had stuck to it. I peered down at the depths of my bag; sleeping soundly was my cat Gopalakrishnan.
"Psst, Leela," I whispered, "Gopalakrishnan is sleeping in my bag."
"Nonsense," she replied, "He is sitting in the first bench. Not in your bag; I don't think he'll fit in there."
"I mean my cat."
"Your CAT?" Leela said, a little too loudly, "oh, no!
"He's sleeping, so it should be fine."
"Don't worry, I won't let the cat out of the bag; even literally. How did he get in?"
I thought for a moment. "I'd closed the zip of my bag only just before coming. He probably got in before that." I was horrified. There were seven hours of school left, and the only fact that consoled me was that cats slept up to sixteen hours a day. The rest of the class, I was unfocused and jittery; who couldn't be if they'd realized that they had carried their pet to school? My mind was preoccupied, thinking about consequences of my crime and ways to keep my cat asleep. For the first time in my life, I wished I had a sleeping tablet for cats. Forty minutes were up, and the bell rang. I had survived the first period.
The next few hours, I was occasionally putting my hand in my bag and stroking my cat, for the teachers' and our class' shouts might wake him up. I even managed to put in a piece of bread I had saved from my snacks.
And then, something I had earlier considered heavenly happened, which might now sign my suspension letter. The extremely loud Recess bell rang, and all the students – not just from my class but from others too – shouted in chorus.
All the students who were sleeping with their faces hidden behind their books woke up with a start, and so did my cat.
Of course, I didn't realize that. I unzipped my bag to put my books in, and out jumped my cat. Fortunately, the teacher had left the class, and the class was noisy, so no one noticed my cat. Unfortunately, he was going towards the door and probably planned to explore the corridor.
I knew with my experience with cats that this was bad; when cats went to explore calling out their name never helped.
"Gopalakrishnan, you silly cat, come back here!" I yelled, gaining the unwanted attention of my new classmate who went by the same name.
"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO A FELINE? I was a topper in my last school, and I do not sleep all the time, nor do I lick myself…" he screamed things that had no relation to each other.
"Shut up, I haven't any time for this." I told him.
"I shall tell the principal, wait. He is my uncle; in fact, I was named after him."
Another wonderful detail I forgot to mention – our principal was called Gopalakrishnan too.
Gopalakrishnan, my classmate, ran out of the classroom to find Gopalakrishnan and so did I; but the Gopalakrishnan I was looking for was the cat.
I had yelled, "Gopalakrishnan!" at least a dozen times before a teacher I didn't know caught me and scolded, "Don't you know that you aren't allowed to shout in the corridors? You aren't even supposed to be out of your class, in the first place. How dare you call the Principal by his name?! It's an insult, a shame school. Have you got no respect?"
"Sorry ma'am; you see, my cat –"
"NO SORRY. DO you know the meaning, the value of sorry?" and she proceeded to say all of the basic dialogues a teacher keeps ready to tell a naughty child.
It was only a matter of minutes before I was standing in the room every student dreads – 'Principal's office'.
Inside stood my new classmate Gopalakrishnan, probably complaining about me to the principal. But what caught my glance was the grey cat sitting on the table like a king. After all, he belonged to the cat family, of which the lion was the King of the jungle. He looked at me with his yellow eyes as though I had forcefully packed him into my bag and brought him here.
AII three of the Gopalakrishnans glared at me.
My principal shouted, "I need to have a word or more with your parents. I shall call them at once, and I expect you to attend the session as well!!"
Of course, there was a frightful PPMCC (Principal-Parents Meeting with/about Child and Cat). But I learned two valuable lessons –
1. Always check your bag before leaving for school.
2. Name your pets properly with a normal pet's name.