Story of a Brave Heart!!
When Gushi came on our terrace, for three days, Gushi kept
crying while visiting my brother’s
bedroom window several times in a day. She was hardly 3 months old
cat. I
wanted to shush away the cat with a plastic stick but was scared of getting
scratched by her little paws.
We couldn’t
touch any cat ever since our first pet Billu
died almost a decade ago. Billu, a
beautiful white and black spotted kitten, was hit by some fire crackers set by
our neighborhood kids. I was only five and kept wondering where he had
disappeared until I found a small mound of fresh dirt in the back street where
he was buried by my uncle. I was sad!
Gushi lived with us for almost 3 years. She was our
little angel! She was very close to my eldest sister who used to play with her
most and treated her with her favorite food. Gushi used to wait for her return from school and if ever she
was late, Gushy would take a tour of the entire house with my other family
members who would tell her, “See Gushy! GG (that is how I call my
eldest sister) isn’t home yet”. Gushy
had a grace and beauty like an Egyptian queen. I am yet to come across a
cat with such a grace and beauty. Yet she was innocent, honest and
obedient! She used to play only with the shoes of those guests who were loving
and sincere with our family. Gushy was
only warned once not to touch or go near the food on the table and she never
ever went even close to the table with food
On July 27, 2005 Gushy gave birth to three beautiful kittens. While
all of us were happy that Gushi’s
family has finally completed, at the same time we were scared of our mom’s
reaction. Mom did not appreciate us playing with our cat all day. Now
that Gushi had a family, we were
unsure of her reaction.
Anyway, we named the three
kittens Moshu , Whittoo and Kittu and
started playing with this family secretly in our room. Kittu was very naughty he started walking swiftly
to explore the room.I still remember how he used to swing with one of my
sisters knee long hair braid to touch the Touch Lamp by his claw. Soon we
learned the sad reality that the other two kittens, Moshu and Whitoo could
not walk due to some birth defects. Moshu’s
legs were paralyzed and Whitoo could
only jump while making an effort to walk. Finally Mom came to know about
our “grand-family”!
Moshu, Wittoo and Kittu
now started moving freely in the house but then mom strictly restricted
their activity in the corridor only hence we tried limiting their movement in
the allowed territory with a help of a wooden plank but the naughty kittens
surpassed their boundary and sometimes used the drawing room as their bathroom.
Kittu was a genius of all. He observed where mom
was going to attend nature’s call, so the little genius used mom’s bathroom a
couple of times which was again unacceptable. Finally we had to move the family
to the terrace. Gushi ran away instantaneously and the kids missed
their mother rest of their lives.
The veterinarian advised us that Moshu could walk if we massage his legs and body
with warm olive oil. I took the responsibility of giving him massage every day.
When I was giving Moshu his massage I
used to leave Whitoo with Kittu at the terrace as Whitoo
used to create disturbance and distraction during the massage. One day when I
was massaging Moshu
Whitoo started calling out to come inside but
I didn’t pay any attention to him and continued with my work. When I was done I
realized that Whitoo had stopped crying out too. When I came out I
was shocked to find Whitoo vomiting and
in couple of hours he looked shrunk. We realized that the maid mistakenly
cleaned the terrace floor with plant fumigant and the wet floor and a left over
fumigant was drunk by Whitoo.
The doctors tried their best but nothing helped. Whitoo breathed his last in my arms. I
blamed myself for his death! I ignored his cries while I was helping Moshu get better. Whitto could not climb, he was half
blind and he could not differentiate between the good and bad food and drank
the poisonous liquid!
And then there were two! Musho and Kittu were great company together but one day
Kittu was nowhere to be found. Few days later, we came to know
that the local municipal office took away all the cats in the neighborhood and
hence the mystery of Gushi and Kittu’s disappearance was solved.
Moshu,
the sick cat, was left alone and soon became apple of our eye. Poor
Moshu could hardly move thus stayed
on one place. He never went to gardens nor played in the dirt but he became an
important member of our family. He couldn’t live a normal life. He never had
been into his fraternity.
One day, a
tom cat came from somewhere and started living in our home. My sister named
him Matlabi or Mattu which means ‘selfish’. It was
hilarious but true since he only visited to play with Moshu and have food with him. Interestingly, Matlabi would never start eating without
Moshu. Sadly, few days later Mattu also left and never came back.
Once again Moshu was left alone!! We
felt sorry for Moshu.
He never complained, yelled or
screamed for anything. Sometimes he argued but respected whatever we taught
him. Often Mom used to get angry on Moshu,
he patiently listen to her and kept his chin down in her respect while mumbling
something which seemed like a son to his mother. And when we introduced any one
by telling him “Moshu meet a friend”,
he utterly gets comfortable with the person.
My oldest sister and father
continued to look after him. My father gave him bath every morning which Moshu loved. Sometimes used to make
him rest his hands on the terrace boundary so that he could watch the outside
world. But it was not possible to continue or prolong this practice for a long
time and eventually he had to remain on the terrace floor day and night for
months. It was one dry and hot day when I went to give Moshu some water and bring him inside. I
noticed he looked drained out, probably he had a heat stroke! We bathed
him with water and suddenly we noticed that there were maggots all over his
body. Moshu was stung by a blue bee!
We rushed him to the doctor and with lots of prayers and care Moshu recovered and we were happy again!
Moshu was back to his liveliness. He
would attract anyone with his extraordinary attitude and no one could tell he
was paralyzed.
Moshu was a brave cat and had willingness to live
but his bad days were not over. He was getting weaker and thinner. He was
taken to the veterinarian once again. Although his condition was not quite
favorable, Moshu had the spirit to
fight back and live. The veterinarian was amazed to see how we raised a
paralyzed animal for seven years. Moshu’s
will to live inspired her. Moshu was
very sick and half dead. His body was barely responding to any treatment but
the look in his eyes showed he wanted to be with us. Our lively child was
fighting for life once again.
On Friday, 1st Muahharram, 1434 or 16th November’2012, we lost our precious baby….
My oldest sister who used to
pamper him the most didn’t get a chance to give him the last hug.
Dear Moshu,
Listen! You will never be missed
as a pet but as an important member of our family. Everyone cried for you. Today is the third
day since you left us we still feel your presence around us. You were our child
and you lived for us. You cheered us and filled life in our lives. I regret all
those seconds of my life that I didn’t spend with you. But during the last
couple of months you stayed inside the house and we played together a lot of
times. We will save those moments for the Day of Judgment when we meet in
front of the Almighty Allah and see you rising with your healthy legs and arms.
My dear child, GG just
threw away the leftover hair on the brush. Its midnight and you are missed like
hell! Why did you go Musho why
did you go? But I am thankful that you are not in pain anymore. It seems,
whatever we did for you was not enough. We couldn’t give you a normal life. We
still have your ice cream cup in the fridge. There will be no substitute of you
because there is no one like you. We are thankful to you for the time you gave
us. Forgive us for whatever we couldn’t do for you. But I am happy nothing can
hurt you now. You are in the safest place. You were given to us by Allah and He
took you back. You will always be missed our brave heart!
I request everyone to always
value what you have. Always give importance to your time and love to those who
are helpless to do anything for others because you never know one day they can
do a thing which no one could do for you!
R.I.P Moshu!
Oh cielo ... por favor dénos corazón para los animales!
(Oh sky... please give us heart for animals!!)
( Above: I clicked this photograph when Musho was 4 years old. Top: Picture taken three months before his death )
