Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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Northcote Parkinson said, ‘Work expands to fill time.’ I modify this to include the afternoon nap too. So that day I got up from my nap, which had stretched longer than usual. I prepared my own cup of coffee and sat in my armchair in the driveway. Enjoying the coffee, I saw to my right a house gecko. It was doing a perfect bhujangasana . I was marvelling at the small up and down movements and wished I could learn the asana. Far to my left I saw our cat on the boundary wall. It is not my pet and it knows that. Usually it jumps off the wall upon sighting me. But this time it yawned and moved its neck from side to side in a circumlocutory motion. This would also be an asana but yet to be named. It appeared that it enjoyed the state of being half asleep and half awake. The afternoon sun was moving slowly towards where I sat. Then, all of a sudden, after a few steps on the wall, the cat swooped down on the gecko and swallowed it. I have seen such sights in videos in channels such a National Geographic or The Living Earth, but this was happening in front of me. My spine froze. The cat moved a few yards, burping and shaking its head with what seemed a happy contended look at the whole meal it got. I was struck by remorse. I could have prevented the killing with a shriek or a shout; the gecko would have been warned. Then the philosophy of living and dying, the prey and the predator, and the happiness of one life vs the sorrow of another struck me. Had I intervened I would have deprived the cat of its meal. I looked up on Google for ‘cat vs gecko’. It confirmed the food habits of cats. Reading further I faced another remorse. The bones of the gecko can do harm to the cat’s stomach. Now it is time to feel for the cat. The website, however, added that the cat can spew out the remains of the gecko. The cat will know.
