The cats
Time Out Istanbul recently published an article about the 10 animals of Istanbul. It was a terribly written, prejudiced bit of work, but I find myself thinking of it today.
I live in a sort of dormitory for employees of my school (it's called 'locman'). Every morning as we all head out to the service bus to start another day of school, we must first go through an obstical course of starving kittens begging for food. One teacher, Emel, feeds them every morning on her way out and they are always waiting for her. The most beautiful litter of calico cats I have ever seen. They are so pitiful. They cry and cry and the sound of their cries follows you like the sound of real babies crying. If you try to approach them though, they run away as though afraid of catching a disease from you. They dig through the dumpsters looking for discarded crusts of bread or chicken bones while they wait for Emel to come.
Just this morning a new-commer joined their ranks. The tiniest little black cat, still young enough that it's fur sticks out in wild spikes, making it look like a small black thistle. I really wanted to take it home. Carl is always joking that we must get a black cat to be the yin to our beautiful Necla's yang. I think the girls would not appreciate such an imposition. A demanding young baby to monopolize all of our time and the mice scattered about the apartment.
Oh well.
Our small corner of the city is a mere sampling of what you see wherever you look in Istanbul. The cats are everywhere. White. Black. Striped. Long-haired. Short-haired. Mangy and diseased. Missing legs, missing eyes. And always some poor female barely old enough to be weaned herself has a belly full of more kittens to add to the crowd. Some make their living from digging in dumpsters and trash heaps. Others are lucky enough to have been born in an area where some kind soul takes it upon herself to feed the cats of the neighborhood. One friend's mom carries a small bag of cat food with her wherever she goes, so that if she comes accross some starving feline, she can give food. Others have perfected their hunting skills. It must be so, becuase I have never seen a rat or a mouse anywhere in the city.
I live in a sort of dormitory for employees of my school (it's called 'locman'). Every morning as we all head out to the service bus to start another day of school, we must first go through an obstical course of starving kittens begging for food. One teacher, Emel, feeds them every morning on her way out and they are always waiting for her. The most beautiful litter of calico cats I have ever seen. They are so pitiful. They cry and cry and the sound of their cries follows you like the sound of real babies crying. If you try to approach them though, they run away as though afraid of catching a disease from you. They dig through the dumpsters looking for discarded crusts of bread or chicken bones while they wait for Emel to come.
Just this morning a new-commer joined their ranks. The tiniest little black cat, still young enough that it's fur sticks out in wild spikes, making it look like a small black thistle. I really wanted to take it home. Carl is always joking that we must get a black cat to be the yin to our beautiful Necla's yang. I think the girls would not appreciate such an imposition. A demanding young baby to monopolize all of our time and the mice scattered about the apartment.
Oh well.
Our small corner of the city is a mere sampling of what you see wherever you look in Istanbul. The cats are everywhere. White. Black. Striped. Long-haired. Short-haired. Mangy and diseased. Missing legs, missing eyes. And always some poor female barely old enough to be weaned herself has a belly full of more kittens to add to the crowd. Some make their living from digging in dumpsters and trash heaps. Others are lucky enough to have been born in an area where some kind soul takes it upon herself to feed the cats of the neighborhood. One friend's mom carries a small bag of cat food with her wherever she goes, so that if she comes accross some starving feline, she can give food. Others have perfected their hunting skills. It must be so, becuase I have never seen a rat or a mouse anywhere in the city.
posted by l8ebug | 8:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home