Inspector Lalya sits on the inspector’s chair in the detection room
at Cuffe Parade police station the whole day, does no work, eats only
imported food and gets angry if meals are not served on time. Still, no
one dares say anything to him; in fact, everyone adores him.
He
is no ordinary policeman; he is the orange tomcat that strayed into the
police station a year ago and has been looked after by the policemen
since..
He earned the name ‘Lalya’ (red) because of his colour
and the designation of inspector because of the choice of seat — the
inspector’s chair.
Lalya pulls on the trousers of the nearest officer to indicate he
is hungry and must be fed immediately
And it isn’t a one-sided affair.
Lalya has fallen so
deeply in love with the policemen that he refuses to go back to his
original family — that of Jaslok Hospital psychiatrist, Dr Rajesh
Parikh. When Parikh sent his servant to fetch the cat from the station,
not only did the cat refuse to come, a policeman also threatened the
servant with immediate imprisonment if he dared to take him away.
“I
was so touched to see the love between the cat and the policemen that I
let him be there,” says Parikh, “I provide the food and medication, but
it’s the policemen who give him love and care.”
Nine good lives rolled into one
Today,
it is difficult to imagine Lalya living anywhere else. Like the cartoon
cat Garfield, Lalya is lazy, fat and selfish. He sleeps all day on
sub-inspector Anil Kamble’s chair and wakes up only when he’s hungry.
He
tugs on the trousers of any policeman, who happens to be nearby,
indicating that it’s time for a meal. He then literally drags the
officer to the detention cell where his cat food is kept.
“If
we are unable to find the packet, he indicates with his paws where it’s
kept,” says inspector T B Mane. “And if you don’t feed him in time, he
walks into the station-incharge’s cabin as if to complain.” And once he
is satiated, Lalya never forgets to nod a “thank you” to the feeding
hand.
“And never give him water in a saucer,” says assistant
police inspector Sadiq Bagwan, “He won’t touch it — he only drinks
fresh water from the tap. We have to lead him to the courtyard tap
after every meal.” When meals and naps are taken care of, Lalya heads
to the lawn to sunbathe... and fall asleep again. “He is very snooty,”
says constable Sunil Jangam, “You can’t even cuddle him too much
because it irritates him.”
Senior inspector Arun Wable doesn’t
think the policemen are doing Lalya any favours. “In fact, he is a boon
to us,” says Wable, “Our work is hard and stressful and Lalya’s antics
provide us with much-needed comic relief and fill us with positive
energy. We are only projected as a brutal force, but we are also human
beings.”
Dr Rajesh Parikh
LALYA BAN GAYA POLICEMAN
In
October 2002, Parikh found a kitten being attacked by crows while he
was taking a walk in the Colaba woods in Cuffe Parade. “I felt bad for
him and brought the kitten home and called him Tiger,” he says, “He
soon became a part of our family.” However three years later, Parikh
developed allergy to cat hair. To recover, Parikh went live in a guest
apartment, as the family refused to let Tiger go. He was even shifted
to Parikh’s mother-in-law’s home, but had to be brought back when he
refused to eat. In 2006, the Parikhs, who live on the 12th floor of
Jolly Maker Tower-3 saw Tiger leaping to catch birds at the window.
They feared he would fall down. The only solution was to keep Tiger in
the garden near Cuffe Parade police station. In 2007, Parikh left Tiger
there, but he went missing the very next day. A hunt was launched which
led the Parikhs to the police station four days later, where Tiger had
assumed a new name and the status of a uniformed officer!
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