Cats of Kalaghoda

The best part about Mumbai, is town. And the best part about town, is well, that it's the best part of Mumbai. It's clean, neat and has breath-taking architecture. Almost every lane, corner and chauk in town is pretty iconic and very well-known for something. One of these places is Kalaghoda. 

Kalaghoda is known for the Kala Ghoda it carries, Jehangir Art Gallery, Samovar cafe (which I think has shut down now, but I'm not sure), Khyber, the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Max Mueller Bhavan, David Sassoon Library and an optician's store that has such a comically obscene name I can't even mention it. Go and see for yourself. 

But now it's known for something more. Presenting the cats of Kalaghoda

A few steps from the David Sassoon Library, right outside a major apparel brand store, sit with great pride and nonchalance, about 6 or 7 cats. They just litter themselves all across the footpath like waste  plastic bags - some sitting, some sprawled, some pattering about, and passers-by have to weave through them and occasionally also avoid bumping into them. People walk on unfazed though. How everyone can pretend this is absolutely normal and ordinary is beyond me. 

The cats don't seem to mind though. They seem to put on a good pretense about not giving a tiny rat's ass about anybody who waltzes through their little soiree. A few of the younger (looking) ones are slightly hungry for attention and will often go and rub up against people like me who stop to pay their respects. The older (and fatter) ones don't give a beep though. They've had much better. Meh.

See this fellow? I must have stood there taking pictures for 10 mins. Did he turn around even once? No.

None of the cats look actually hungry though, or act as such. They all seem pretty well fed and from the looks of it, very well rested too. I wish I had some close-up shots so that I could share their smug faces. They owned the footpath and they knew it. But they are nice enough to let you pass. You've been warned though. These are the Cats of Kala Ghoda. This is their land.