I have been more wrapped up in myself than usual to post anything half sensible. As of late, I noticed that my cat appeared to have a bit of a problem. Should you pat him anywhere near the rear, he would hiss and scratch and, failing to get you to stop, he would run away. This was a cause for concern. In fact, I became a cause of concern for my family who would see me trying to lie almost flat on the floor and get a peek at the rear end workings of the cat without touching the area. It requires some dexterity, I must admit. What really concerned me was that the cat appeared to have some sort of bleeding issues from the rectal area. If it was a boil or something, that was okay, but God forbid it should be some sort of internal bleeding, so I took him to the local vet. Unfortunately, the vet wasn't in, so I asked the throng of assistants available about the problem. Unfortunately, I've never enjoyed talking about rectal areas in public, not least to a bunch of guys who apparently are not familiar with the word rectal and I myself unfamiliar with what one would call a bum in urdu and a curious yet amused onlooker with a small white dog looking on from a bench on the side.

Me: I think my cat may have some problems. He won't let me get close enough to check, but I think there's some rectal bleeding going on for some reason.

Random assistant: Acha jee. Kahaan se ho rahi hai bleeding, moun se?

Me: Um, rectal? Rec-tal. *impatiently gesturing behind me* Peechay se, yaar.

Assistant: Oh acha, acha.

Anyhow, that being done, we brought him in for a check up. After the usual yowling for which he is famous at the doc's, it turned out to be nothing serious, just a sort of boil that he had irritated by constant licking. Goody. :)