The way she is lying down low and looking intently at the opening, it is easy to take a guess as to what is in her mind. Lola obviously wants to get out. Having found the gap she is probably wondering how she could squeeze the rest of the body also, out.

This picture is from the August issue of the National geographic magazine. The photographer’s note says that the cat is in an enclosure at the SPCA in California.

Unaware that her erstwhile ‘family’ had abandoned her, the poor cat hopes to escape from the shelter and get back home. Like hundreds of other families in the United States, the owners of this cat too had to give up their pet as they could no longer afford to maintain it.

At home you must be hearing your parents talk about the rising prices of food and other commodities. This is a phenomenon that is sweeping the whole world and people everywhere are struggling to makes ends meet. 
But whatever the hardship, would anyone show the door to someone who was like a family member? Well in India we tend to think on these lines because here we have no regulations in place for adopting a pet. You can ‘keep’ the animal anyway you like. Feed it anything and even let it roam around freely and eat from the garbage dumps. But in the US and many other developed countries, taking in a pet is serious business. Once you have adopted a pet, you are bound by law to give it nutritious food, take care of its hygiene, get the nails clipped regularly and have it vaccinated and checked regularly by a veterinarian. And all this costs money.

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on average, the basic, annual cost of ownership runs between $400 to $800 for food, supplies, and medical care. And when the owners go on a two week vacation, they need to shell out an additional 250$ for pet care. Certain ‘routine services’ like teeth cleaning at the vet, cost around 250$.

Voluntary organisations like the SPCA have now opened their shelters to anyone who wants to deposit their pet. With the prolonged economic downtrend, even these homes are becoming become overfull as an increasing number of pet owners have given up their pets.

This sadly is the reality of our modern times. And how that contrasts with this story from another ‘yuga’!
King Sibi was performing a yagna when a wounded pigeon, chased by a hunter, took refuge in his lap. The hunter appeared before King Sibi and told him that he was hungry and needed to eat the flesh of his prey. The king replied, that his Raja Dharma was to give protection to any one, who sought refuge with him, and so as a compromise he offered to give flesh from his own body, equal in weight to that of the bird. Thereupon Sibi placed the bird on one scale and with his own hands tore off portions of his body, and placed them in the other scale. Since this incident occurred because the Gods wanted to test Sibi's sincerity, any amount of flesh from the body of Sibi would not balance the weight of the bird. There upon King Sibi procured a long knife, and cut his body into two pieces and had one half placed on the scale. The Gods appeared before the righteous king and immortalised him as ‘kapootheswara’ in a temple at that place.