When I saw this cat in a Mumbai market, I thought (obviously), “a cat.” What I didn’t think was, “an Indian cat.”
Yet when I saw people in Mumbai, I thought, “Indian people.”
This raises the question of whether cats or people are more similar across cultures and continents.
On one hand, it’s an easy cliche to claim that “all people are the same.” And the reason it’s an easy cliche is that most of us don’t act as though we believe it. Instead, we generally act as though we can learn something about people by where they are from.
And as to the cats, how would we know? Is there an Indian feline mentality?
My non-cliche, perhaps non-PC answer is that — despite all we have in common — people differ more than cats.
What do you think?
Absolutely! We grow into a set of biases that make us see the differences in people, and a lot of time those differences scare some people. The dog on the cover of my book last year was from Mumbai. People ask me about that one-eyed dog and I say “oh she’s a street dog from Mumbai.” But when Comet is around other dogs, none of them is looking at her and asking, “Dude, where are you from? Like really from?”
Animals have us beat on grace and acceptance.