The Rescue Mission

I woke up at 7 am this morning, which is very early by my standards. My house was already abuzz with some issue. My uncle, who lives downstairs was talking in a loud voice and my aunt was complaining about something. Then I heard a kitten meowing nearby. It seemed to be in pain and then there was sound of more cats. My aunt was telling my uncle that a cat probably got stuck somewhere and was unable to come out of it.

I rushed to the terrace and found the cat who has made our terrace its home. There was a kitten along with it. But the sound of the wincing kitten seemed to come from elsewhere. I checked the broad rain water pipe which drains the rain water from the terrace into the well. The sound was coming from that. I checked if I could somehow pull the kitten out, but I couldn't see it. It had fallen into the pipe and was stuck vertically inside it. There was no way to dismantle the pipe as it is cemented and the single pipe runs from the terrace till the outlet inside the well. If the kitten were to slip from the current position, it would fall into the well and its death was imminent. I wanted to do everything I could to save it.

I called my mom to the terrace and explained the situation. I went downstairs to my uncle's house and checked the open-to-terrace space where the well is located. I found the outlet of that pipe and lowered a bucket tied to a rope into the well and tied it firmly into the position so that the if the kitten were to fall, it would fall only into the bucket. I then went back to the terrace and took the long tube that we use to water the plants. I lowered the tube into the rainwater pipe and pushed the kitten along the pipe. I pushed it two floors down and went downstairs again. I could now hear the kitten near the well, but it was now stuck in a right angle bend there and there was no way to push it any further.

It was around 9.15 am by now and I was still struggling to get the kitten out. My uncle gave a hand and was keeping vigil if the kitten would suddenly pop out. My aunt went to the terrace and I asked her to pour water forcibly into the pipe. The water drained out through the pipe but the kitten was nowhere to be seen. For a minute, we thought that it had died inside. I wanted to get it out somehow and I asked her to pour more water. She poured a bucket full of water when the kitten was pushed out of the place where it was stuck and looked out from the pipe. It saw daylight after about three hours of being stuck inside.

It was afraid to come out, and went back into the pipe. The outlet inside the well is barely reachable by hand so I couldn't grab hold of it. Now my aunt poured more water and the kitten peeped out for a second time. More water. Now it peeped out for the third time when I bent down into the well, stretched out my hand and grabbed the kitten by its head (or whatever my hand could catch hold of it). It started scratching my hands with its paws and I quickly, but softly threw it out of the well into safety. It was completely wet and shivering due to the cold water. I wrapped it up with a cloth and showed it to my mom, uncle, aunt and granny. Well, now let me show it to you too:

The cute little fur ball that I rescued today!

Okay, so everyone at home seems to have started loving him. But I'm not allowed to raise pets at home, you know. But I hope he sticks around and stays in my terrace (I've blocked that pipe FYI). For the next half an hour after we rescued him, everyone at home was taking turns to cuddle him. I think they've accepted him as a member in our family, but I haven't officially asked the kitten for his permission for being a part of our family though.