They were born in July 2014, the same month we moved to Binsar. Tanno, their mother, was born and raised at the Retreat. She delivered the triplets sometime towards the end of July. We christened them Smiley, Stripey and Joey – based on their coat – more to differentiate them than anything else. But the names stuck.

Stripey has a striped coat and is the friendliest of the kittens. He has never scratched any of us and is always ready to be picked and petted. Smiley (with a smiley on his head) has moods but loves running around my feet when I walk towards Trishul cottage through the pagdandi next to Tent #2. Joey avoids us most of the time.

Since a few weeks now, a large tom, who we call Billa (tom in Hindi), has arrived at the Retreat and often gets into skirmishes with the kittens, especially Stripey. The staff believe Stripey is a tom, and Smiley and Joey are pussies. Maybe that explains the fights. I have often seen Stripey take a swipe at Billa and duck back. 🙂

Aahna loves chasing the kittens, putting them on her lap and petting them till the kittens tire of it.

Its been a week now since Stripey has disappeared. Billa has had a wound on his side since around the same time. Maybe they got into a territorial fight. Aahna got a touch emotional when she mentioned Stripey today. We hope he has taken up a new residence somewhere else and is safe. We don’t want to think otherwise.

Stripey, Smiley and Joey were our first pets (well, I could say that, though they are really feral cats) and we are glad for their company. A few of our friends and guests have also come to love the kittens, most notably Anshuman Pandey and Pranay Singh. I hope guests to come will love their company at the Retreat.