Ve Ching

Ve Ching with his favourite gorilla toy

One day in February 2001, my yoga teacher, Helen, came to class and announced that she had a kitten for adoption. By this time, Tigger was already 8 months old, and in serious need of a companion. Despite our hours of mummy and kitty time, he would still wander around the house meowing not just loudly, but persistently, whenever I was on the computer. He would also scratch the sofa to get my attention if I was on the phone for more than a few seconds. He simply wanted my attention all the time. As we had always intended for ours to be a 2-human-2-cat household, we decided that now was the perfect time to adopt another kitten.

The following week at yoga class, I asked Helen if she had found a home for the kitten yet. When she said no, I was very happy and said we would take it. That night Alex and I went over to her apartment at Braddell View Condo to collect our newcomer.

Helen told us the kitten had been found at her condo’s playground by a group of children. They had taken it home hoping to keep it but were told by their parents to return the kitten to the playground. Helen came across this sad bunch of kids and asked to see what was in their box. She then took the kitten from the children and decided to re-home it.

Helen handed over the little kitty, together with a stuffed toy gorilla (in picture above) belonging to her daughter which the kitten had grown very fond of, and the box in which she had found it. She also included some bedding in the box so that the kitten would have some familiar smells in its new environment.

The minute we let it loose in our spare room, this little as-yet-unnamed kitten started to run around the place, bravely exploring every nook and cranny. He was a fearless little thing. As we watched him, we tried to decide on a name for him. Looking at him, it dawned on me that he had very oriental looking, almond-shaped eyes that slanted upwards. I decided right then that he should have a Chinese name. And as he was such a courageous explorer, I though we could name him after the Chinese admiral Cheng Ho. Unfortunately, at that particular point in time, I simply could not remember the admiral’s name. So in the end, we settled on Ve Ching, our anglicised version of weijing or monosodium glutamate. The box in which Ve Ching was found was a box that used to contain MSG. So that is how poor Ve Ching got his name. He could have been named after a great admiral, but instead, he is named after stuff that makes your hair fall out. If only his mummy had a better memory.