The first reminder I had, that there was more to kuttas and billis than we imagined, was when Cyclone Nisarga was due to hit Mumbai on June 2. Anxious WhatsApp messages flew around—be ready to leave your house immediately with cash, mobile phone, torch, Aadhar card, etc. But, my sister Sarayu forwarded me these messages from an animal communicators' group: "Everything will be OK. My cats are happy, what's the fuss, they ask." "The tree said humans are making a big deal of the cyclone. She told me to 'dance with the wind during the cyclone." Immediately, I relaxed and went to sleep.

Animals and trees, I learnt, are often spiritually evolved souls, who can offer humans wisdom and guidance. They often don't take illnesses as seriously as humans. And death is not such a big deal; they just "drop the physical body" and move to the next form of the 'soul journey,' towards what some animals call 'all-ness,' similar to what humans call divinity.