Written by Dr. Laxmi Iyer

Bingo was a cat with black eyes - rather unusual for a cat but there he was. He had big black eyes and a coat that was striped all over - grey, white and black. Rather unusually, somewhat like a zebra's coat. How did he get that coat? Nobody knew.

All the other cats in his neighbourhood hated him with all their heart. They did not have a good reason. They just didn't like Bingo. It was something about Bingo. May be the very uncat like way in which he carried himself. Perhaps it was because he was so different from all of them.

He looked like a cat who really did not belong anywhere! A vagabond cat! A cat who really should not have been a cat. His coat always had a bedraggled look about it. It never glowed! He never even said Hello! To any of the other cats in the neighbourhood.

He was different even when he said a simple meow! It sounded somewhat like a cross between a grunt and a roar. All the cats laughed at Bingo! " Boo! Bingo!", they said.

Bingo lived with a family - the Crusadales - a family of five - three kids and two parents and besides that three other cats. They were prize winning purebred Persian cats. All the other cats would purr and mew lovingly at the owners - greet them at the gate each day that each one of them returned. They were loved a lot. They had a place to sleep inside the house.

Only Bingo had a small dog's cabin outside in the garden. The owners also did not like Bingo very much. They barely tolerated him. And Bingo was a very quick tempered cat. He bristled at the smallest provocation. And he never, ever ran to the gate to greet the owners. He was the grumpy, grouchy cat who was there in the home because he had been there - always been with the owners, so to say. Bingo was now eight years old - a rather mature cat.

The truth was Bingo did not know how to purr and mew and be friendly. When he was a small kitten his mother had tried teaching him to purr- but he had never been able to quite get the hang of it. Sometimes when he tried purring and being friendly, it amused the whole family!

It sounded so much like something between a roar and a gurgle and a gargle that he felt silly trying to purr and be friendly. They were so used to him being the grumpy, grouchy cat that he couldn't ever be a different cat - even if he wanted to.

All the owners knew is that Bingo loved honey and he loved running to the woods behind the house. Sometimes when they gave him honey, they had seen him holding his bowl in his mouth and running to the woods. If they tried following him, he would bristle and hide.

They knew that as soon as he finished his breakfast at seven in the morning, he would be gone to come back only at six in the evening. This is what the Crusadales hated most about Bingo. That he was such an aloof and independent cat. That he was not even dependent on them. They too sometimes couldn't stand Bingo's aloofness.

The owners suspected that Bingo could get on perfectly well without them and he was actually busy enjoying his life. They couldn't prove it though but they suspected that he just looked like a grumpy, grouchy cat but inside he was a really happy cat.

All the other cats would be cooped up inside the house, getting miserable, sad and lonely, pining away and sometimes getting hopelessly neurotic without their owners. Only Bingo would be away - out for the day just like the owners.

Everyday Bingo would sit in the sun and watch butterflies. The butterflies loved Bingo. Each day he would go running all over the woods and search for all the just dropped flowers with their little drops of honey still on them and pile them up at a single spot. The butterflies - in all their beautiful colours, spots and stripes would come flocking to the spot.

Everyday at ten o clock in the morning - a bright, colourful procession of butterflies would greet the eye. They would come from near and far -from different corners of the woods.

It was the most beautiful sight that anyone could ever imagine - hundreds of flowers in the most beautiful colours would be strewn all over the ground and there would be all the butterflies, drinking the honey and then flying up to Bingo and whispering into his ears before flying away for the day.

One day, to Mr.Crusadale's surprise and delight, the doorbell rang and an army of smiling reporters and television journalists literally charged in. Mr Crusadale and his wife had been outstandingly successful in their business. Of course, their day had come to tell their story to the world. He cleared his throat - happily and called his wife and all the kids and his fine prize winning, purebred Persian cats.

Before the journalists could speak a word, he proudly said, " Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you very much for calling on us. I knew this day would come and it's not a moment too soon ".

He offered everyone refreshments, adjusted his tie and suit and then began his life story, " I was born in a small village near Staffordshire. You see in those days, we were so poor, we actually walked barefoot to school..." Then he looked around and paused dramatically for impact before he continued further with his story of all the tough times that he faced and right till the present moment .

Suddenly, he noticed that the TV cameras were not focussed on him. The reporters were all shuffling their feet and looking around as though they wanted to leave. There was a silence and an awkward pause. He heard someone say ...Uhhhmmm! "

Then a man from the back suddenly rushed to the front and said, " Hi! Mr Crusadale, my name is Joe Sanchez. I am a lepidopterist from Brazil. I study butterflies. We have come to report on a cat who feeds butterflies. I have noticed some rare and endangered species of butterflies thriving here in the woods behind your house. We believe this is the first time in the world that a cat has been seen to feed butterflies.

I have been here for 3 months now and each day in the morning, I have observed this cat with zebra stripes and black eyes running around collecting flowers and feeding butterflies. I was told that his name is Bingo and he belongs to you. By the way, Bingo is really your cat isn't he? ".