Once upon a time, I was in London. My days in London were very lonely. I was alone, desolate, and alone. I used to walk on the streets and see homeless people with dogs. I realized that though I had a home, I didn’t have a companion. I had friends, but not fuzzy ones. I didn’t know what to do.

That’s when I came across Lady Dinah’s Cat cafe. At first I couldn’t believe my eyes. Booking an appointment at a cafe with only cats? How is that possible? I checked the appointments and there were only those available at the end of the month. I was in a flux – I didn’t know if this was an ugly joke or a wonderful treasure. Did I want to have tea with feline friends? – Hell yeah!

I booked my appointment for 27th November. I almost chewed off my fingernails waiting for the date. I couldn’t control myself, after all, my days of ugly self-indulgent desolation were finally going to fade away. I wanted to run to Shoreditch and hug those cats. Brush their hair, play with them. (It’s funny how much I am ready to subject cats to my extreme bout of “love and affection” :P).

Anyways, getting back to the story.

I got up on an early, cold Thursday morning and didn’t even care to eat. I knew my cats were waiting for me. (At the back of my head, I still thought it was a joke). I ran to the bus stop, jumped onto the bus and fretted till I reached the stop. I finally reached the cafe at 9:56, in time for my 10am appointment. The secretary instructed me to wash my hands, not wake up any sleeping cats and not give any food to them.

She opened the door for me – to paradise.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were cats everywhere. From the floors to the tables. Some were comfortably sleeping on sofas, some were roaming around. Not just women (as is the stereotype and association of cats with women), but men were also enjoying their time with the ‘feline creatures’!

I could pet them, adore them, play with them. My days of alone-ness were finally over. Cookie, Biscuit, Wookie, and Chester became my companions for the next 90 minutes. Even the ones sleeping didn’t mind me occasionally touching them. They blinked, played, gracefully pranced around, much to the happiness and glee of the other ten people along with me who were granted the privilege of visiting this place. I ordered some tea, sipped it and watched the cats roam around in their abode, with no concern for the world, living life the way they wanted to. (The kittens were the playful ones though – not resting for even a minute). The father- figure cats came occasionally to walk around and evoke awe from everyone with their fuzzy structure and broad tails. This zone of happiness was a different place altogether.

You might be wondering why I am sounding so tranced today. But I am still not out of the trance of my experience. I had come to London to see images I had never seen before, like the Gherkin, or the Shard or the Tower Bridge. But I never knew that this city could offer me the experience of sitting freely amongst animals, love them freely and celebrate the feeling of being free with them. Maybe that’s what makes London so special. Do visit (I mean definitely visit) Lady Dinah’s cat cafe my feline lover friends!

(P.S- Did I mention that their pastries and English breakfast tea is absolutely amazing? :D)