Maut aayegi maut aani hai
Posted on: June 29, 2012
We in this blog discuss songs that are typically several decades old. And the regulars of this blog tend to be people who are mature and well adjusted in their lives. While discussing the songs, we also tend to discuss our experiences about those songs and also our experiences about life in general.
Discussing immortal songs created by people who are no longer with us have made us philosophical in our outlook. We all recognise that life is limited and everyone , no matter how immortal and all powerful they may have looked during their lifetimes, have to bow down from the stage of life at sometime or the other. Time and tide waits for none. Everyone had to die one day and with time his memories tend to fade, especially in the minds of the coming generations. Death is a fact, and no one can deny this fact.
Despite knowing this fact, death comes as a rude shock and jolt, especially to those who have known and loved the departed soul.
Regulars of this blog are familiar with my three pets, namely nuppy (the cat), Bholey and Chhote, the dogs. I have discussed them in a few of my write ups, viz. Aaye ho to dekh lo duniya zaraa (Chiraag Kahaan Roshni Kahaan), Jab koi ladki baar baar mere dil ko tadpaaye (Chattan Singh), Ye pyaari pyaari paati (Janmbhoomi), Tu hai mera yaar (Milan), etc.
All these posts discussed the cute antics of my pets.
Life is not a bed of roses, be it humans or animals. I only presented the rosy side of the pets, but their lives, that of the lives of everyone, had their ups and downs.
Today I have to share a sad news about one of my pets to my readers. Nuppy the cat is no more ! He expired on 27th of june 2012.
My three pets, alongwith my wife and daughter normally stay in one town in MP, while I tend to get transferred from one -pur to another -pur in different states. Most of the time I stay alone. But during holidays of my daughter, my wife manages to get leave as well (she is working too), and all of us are then together for that period. And needless to day, our pets travel with us as well.
My wife and daughter stayed in one locality in that town and recently they moved on to another locality. The locality was a “better” locality, though it did not prove that way for nuppy. In the earlier locality, nuppy and the two dogs were known to the street dogs there. There were occasions when a street dog brought Chhotey home after Chhotey had forgotten his way. And in case nuppy encountered a dog, he managed to escape to safety. On a few occasions Chhote came in the way and warned to other dogs to keep away. The dogs of that locality knew better than to mess with the companions of Bhholey.
In the new locality, Chhotey and Bhholey were not allowed to get out and as a result they had yet to strike any acquintances with the street dogs. Moreover, the street dogs of the new area were more hardened. They were like criminals among the dog community. One day a few dogs grabbed a goat kid and they were about to buther the kid, but for the fact that the cry of the goat kid alerted passers by and they rescued the hapless goat kid.
A couple of weeks ago, nuppy, while walking outside may have been attacked by the street dogs. We came to realise it only after it was seen that nuppy was unable to use his right rear leg. On inspection, it was found that the leg bore teeth marks. It was the teeth marks of a street dog that had bitten nuppy’s leg. Fortunately nuppy managed to escape to safety.
nuppy was unable to walk for a few days. My wife dressed that leg and after a few days, nuppy recovered and was able to walk around, jump etc as earlier.
My wife had not seen nuppy on the 27th of june and she had assumed that nuppy must have been wandering in the neighbourhood. It was normal behaviour with nuppy in the older locality where he would sometimes turn up again after a few days, and in some cases even after a couple of weeks. On the evening of 28 june, my wife noticed nuppy lying motionless in the rear of the building. On going near, she realised that nuppy was dead. He may have been dead for one day, without being noticed.
My wife guessed that he may have been caught unawares while being attacked by street dogs. He was used to the company of two dogs at home. This fact, and the fact that he had managed to escape a few dog attacks in the past may have made him a bit careless. Unfortunately, this overconfidence proved his undoing and he paid with his life.
This is what we are assuming to be the cause of his death. We hope that his end came swiftly and that he was spared much suffering. We can only guess, since no one saw how he met his end.
When I was conveyed this news by my wife in the evening on phone, I was at a remote place in Orissa at that time. I tried to be philosophical about it, though I could not do a good job of it.
The next morning, my wife phoned again, and told me that our daughter cried a lot the previous night. Indeed, nuppy was family to us. He was the seniormest of our three pets. Hearing that our daughter cried at the death of the cat made my eyes to well up likewise. Nuppy was with us since he was about one week old. In the beginning, he was hostile, but soon he learnt that he was in good company and he became attached to us the way few cats do.
In fact, nuppy made us revise our views about cats. The fact that cats are not loyal to humans unlike say dogs was proved wrong by nuppy. He tended to remain inside the house all the time including relieving himself at home. My wife naturally disliked it. She wanted him to go relieve himself outside like Chhote. Whenever Chhote felt the urge to relieve himself, he would give this indication and would seek to go out. Likewise, whenever nuppy felt the need to relieve himself, he wanted to come in ! So when the door would be opened to let Chhote out, the tiny nuppy would come in through the same door !
The pets were like family to us. My wife liked the three pets in the revese order of their ages. She liked Chhote the most and Nuppy came at the bottom, mainly because of this relieving himself inside the home habit. I on the other hand liked the three pets in the order of their age. nuppy was my favourite, followed by Bhhole and Chhote. Our daughter had no clear favourites among them.
No matter how much or how less we liked them, there is no denying the fact that they were inseparable parts of our lives. They brought unimaginable amount of sushine in the lives of those who came in their contact. In a typical situation, a person or persons would visit us and be greeted by the blood curdling bark of Bhhole, followed by the lip syncing of Chhote. My wife would assure the people that these dogs were harmless. Just then ,a tiny little nuppy would come out nonchalantly. My wife would point out at nuppy and tell the visitors, see even this tiny cat is not afraid of these dogs.
In another typical situation, we would be driving away with the pets. People would look and exclaim, see two dogs ! My wife would correct them “two dogs and a cat”. On a few occasions, people would look and would be surprised and thrilled to see a tiny cat snuggled up against two dogs. A few of them clicked this rare sight into their cameras.
nuppy loved to jump into my lap as I was seated on the computer. He would sometimes doze off in my lap without a care in the world. On other occasions, he would try to sit on the keyboard of the laptop. On one occasion, he climbled up on the top of the computer chair while I was typing away at the keyboard.
If given a chance, the three pets would try to sleep on the same room with us. Bhhole would sleep by the side of the bed, whereas Chhote and nuppy would crawl under the bed. While fast asleep, I would find a furry creature crawling around me. It would be nuppy, and I would take him outside the room.
nuppy would constantly demand milk. My wife would control his diet, and nuppy knew that he could count on me to get what he wanted. I would give him milk whenever he demanded. I wondered why all this milk and other goodies were not enabling him to bulk up. He was one of the tiniest cat one could imagine. I fondly hoped that he would bulk up to about 8 Kg from his existing 2 Kg. That would help him to stand a good chance against stranger cats and dogs, but that was not to be.
Nuppy was a very intelligent and cute cat. It had the face of an angel. I have not seen another cat with such innocent face. He cared for his fellow pets. I have mentioned it in the past that nuppy would go out to bring Chhote home. When Chhote was initially brought home as a young pup, nuppy was quite protective of the new arrival . nuppy and Bhhole would sleep huddled together in a basket, keeping chhote between the two. nuppy would communicate with the dogs non verbally, in some sort of telepathy, it would seem to me.
With time, Bhhole and Chhote grew up bigger, about 17 and 20 Kg respectively, while nuppy remained at a puny 2 KG. As a result, nuppy was no longer able to take part in the vigourous games that the two dogs played together. Bhhole for some reasons grew cold and would often growl at nuppy. Chhote on the other hand continued to be friendly with nuppy. nuppy had become rather sedate and withdrawn as a result.
Whenever the pets came to stay with me, they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. When it was time for them to go back, nuppy would be the only one reluctant to leave. He liked to stay with me. My wife would half seriously ask me to keep him with me. My reply would be that nuppy would soon begin to miss the company of his fellow pets and human mistresses once the novelty of staying with me wore off.
I once saw a photograph where my daughter and chhote had posed wearing black glasses. That photo caught my fancy and I wanted a take a picture of me with the three pets. Fortunately we had the requisite number and sizes of sun glasses available. A photo was taken where I, as well as the three pets are seen seated with dark glasses on. The tiny nuppy looked especially cool in his tiny dark glasses. One remark on internet on looking at that photo went “eeewww, kitni cute cat hai “.
We will miss nuppy as an expert mouse catcher. He had come to us as a young kitten and it is highly unlikely that he had been taught the art of catching mouse from his mother. But he was a natural in catching mouse. So it leads me to conclude that catching mice is not an acquired skill for cats, rather it is an inborn skill which is hardwired into the genes of cats.
The dogs too would try to catch mice trying to emulate nuppy, and often with hilarious results. Recently, our dogs, especially Bhhole have developed a fancy for wall lizards. Somehow Bhholey believes that wall lizards must be a dellicacy. He tries very hard to get to them and for that he, along with Chhote, would leave no furnitures un turned. They have climbed up all elevated places in order to get at the wall lizards. Chhote on one occasion has managed to eat one chhipkali, but Bhhole has yet to feel the experience that he would so dearly love to have, a bumbling amateur that he is in such matters. Nuppy on the other hand can non chalantly grab them if they are within his range. On one occassion, Bhhole was intently looking at a chhipkali. The chhipkali fell (helped by my daughter, of course), Bhholey continued to look under the furniture where he saw the chhipkali fell, whereas nuppy caught hold of the chhipkali and swallowed it while Bhholey continued to search for it under the furniture.
Dogs are kept as pets by several people and cats are kept as pets by far lesser number of people in India. As a result, we have far less medical facilities available for pet cats than for pet dogs. Vacceines fo dogs are available with all vets, but that for cats are required to be specially procured and is available only in big places. We had got the dogs and cat inoculated at Nagpur but we found the cat medicine un avaiable elsewhere wherever we looked.
Keeping so many pets had its pleasures but also its pains. We have just experienced the biggest pain- that of losing one of our beloved pets. It is well known that cats and dogs have far less life expectancy that human beings, but still, we would like our pets to keep us company for as long as they can.
I had told my wife and daughter to count our blessings that we had got three pets of rare qualities. Let us not take them for granted, because they are special and irreplaceable, I had told them. I had realised it right away, and my wife and daughter too may have reaised it by now if not in the past.
Breaking the mould and going against the flow is always difficult. Keeping two dogs and one cat against conventional wisdom worked, but such ram rajya could exist only in our house hold, and not outside it, as our hapless cat discovered at his cost.
It is a big loss no doubt, but we cannot help it. It is the law of nature. One small moment of lack of vigil can undo all the care, hard work and lifetime of investment on one’s life. A life of a cat of rare quality was lost. He, in the company of our other two pets could have given us many more years of pleasures. But alas, that was not to be. Time and tide wait for none. I hope that the soul of nuppy rests in peace. At least we knew the fate of nuppy and we can try to come to terms with it, instead of living in false hope, in case we had not been able to discover his body.
On this sombre and sad occasion, I was looking for an appropriate song to discuss. Here is one such song. This song is from “Naghma” (1953). The song is sung by Afzal Hussain. The movie had two lyricists, viz Nakshab and Mirza Shauk Lucknowi. Nashaad is the music director. I have no ide which of the lyricists wrote this song. I have provisionally assumed Nakshab to be the lyricist. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw more light on this matter.
Song-Maut aayi hai maut aani hai (Naghma)(1953) Singer-Afzal Hussain, Lyrics-Nakshab, MD-Nashaad
Lyrics
Maut aayegi
ee ee ee ee
maut aani hai
ae ae ae ae
ik na ik roz jaan jaani hai
saaz mein dil ke takte thhe Gauhar
thokaren kha rahe hain unke sar
kam nahin aasmaan zafaaon mein aen aen
dhadakte hain dil fazaaon mein
gham se mazboor aaj milte hain
aen aen aen aen
hai zabaan band honthh hilte hain
jinko ham do janmom mein behlaana
aa aa
ya phir tere dil ko samjhaana
roke rehna bahut tabeeyat ko
o o o o o
yaad rakhna meri waseeyat ko
dekho aahen machal na jaayen kahin
een een
munh se naale nikal na jaayen kahin
yaad karke mujhe bhula dena
aa aa aa
dil kisi aur jaa lagaa lena
dekh lo aaj hamko jee bhar ke
ae ae ae ae ae
koi aata nahin hai phir mar ke
dil mein lekar tumhaari yaad chale
ae ae ae ae ae ae ae ae
haaye duniya se naamuraad chale
ae ae ae ae ae
27 Responses to "Maut aayegi maut aani hai"
June 29, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Atul ji,
very sorry to read about the death of dear NUPPY. death-whether of a human being or a pet as good as a human being-is always sad.I can understand your feelings,as I too had pets few years back.Please convey my condolences to your family too.
RIP Nuppy !
-AD
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June 29, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Atul ji,
This is a rare song which is written jointly by nakshab and Lakhanavi.
-AD
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June 29, 2012 at 11:06 pm
Sorry, Atulji
I am a very bad looser,even if a favourite lifeless thing of mine was lost, it is with very difficulty I get adjusted to the situation. Therefore I am not a correct person to talk about the loss of dear ones.
I can understand your feelings………. sorry again……
Hope TIME will heal the wounds.
Regards & lot`s of love
Prakash
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June 29, 2012 at 11:07 pm
I m allergic to pets and tend to avoid them at all possible costs. But really sorry to hear about ur loss. Its a very sad event, especially for ur daughter. RIP.
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June 30, 2012 at 12:08 am
I have never had any pets not lived in a household with pets. When we were kids, my cousins sometimes had cats as pets. A few days ago i went to a friend’s house, who has taken in a stray cat. She was describing that its behavior is just like a small child and that one should cuddle and play with it as soon as one enters the house.
Incidentally, nuppy is a familiar name to me, as one of my uncles had given me that same nickname. He was fond of calling me “nuppy” for some reason.
Also cats are supposed to have nine lives ! may be it will come back for another innings with Atul ji’s household. Till then RIP.
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June 30, 2012 at 7:06 am
Having witnessed the passing away of three pets a dog and two cats, I can only commiserate. The last one was a cat. I quietly buried it in our garden and when nobody was looking wept. After that we did not have any pets.
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Nuppy was buried and Chhote, the youngest dog watched that. Now he perhaps realises that Nuppy is no more. It seems to have had some effect on him.
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June 30, 2012 at 9:41 pm
The two dogs will definitely feel the loss too…give them extra love from me.
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June 30, 2012 at 8:54 am
We had cats as pet during 1952-70. Having witnessing their passing away during that period, I felt that I could no longer face the emotional drain. So I stopped keeping cats as pet and never thought of having dogs as pet as well. I can imagine the stage you and your family have gone through during the last three days. One can take the loss of dear and near ones philosophically but it is easier said than practiced.
As I can see from the picture, Nuppy was a well grown up cat capable of warding off attacks from street dogs. Perhaps, Nuppy;s closeness to Bholey and Chhotey made him to be complacent while facing the street dogs. Poor Nuppy must have thought that the street dogs were like his friends Bhole and Chhotey and they will not harm him.
RIP Nuppy.
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Close up photo makes Nuppy look like well grown up. In reality he was quite small (just 2 Kg). Because of being quite small, it was difficult for Nuppy to confront dogs who are typically ten times and even bigger. If he was about 8 Kg, he would have been able to fight off dogs.
All that is in the past of course. With experience, now we can see that keeping dogs is perhaps more convenient in the sense that they can survive with bruises, if attacked by other dogs. Also, medical facilities for dogs are available more commonly than what is the case for cats.
Cats too deserve to be kept as pets. Too bad that they have not been favoured as much as dogs in this respect in India.
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June 30, 2012 at 11:56 am
Atulji,
During 70’s I had 5 cats as pets. I remember the time when our first cat died. He was just like Nuppy in nature, but almost triple in size. He got some infection and at that time, we were not aware of any vet. So, could not help him. My brother buried him in one corner of our garden area under the “Chameli” flower tree. We all were crying and felt so miserable, helpless. Now, when I see people taking so much good care of their pets, not limited to only cats and dogs, in this country with so many facilities available, I also feel that all pets deserve to get all medical care needed to keep them healthy. I can feel the pain you, your family, Chhotey & Bhole are going through. I am very sorry for the loss. My son, who adopted a cat just few months back, says the same to you and your family.
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June 30, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Atul, you will not believe it but there are tears in my eyes too when I read this write-up. Obviously I have not met Nuppy but I have read your posts about your pets, their life, their antics, with great interest – from first word to last. They have always been written with great passion and love – it comes through very strongly and clearly in those posts.
Today as I read this post, I felt the same passion and love welling up in your writing – only magnified a million times. I think there could have been no more fitting tribute to nuppy than this post.
Like you say, it is the law of nature and none of us can control it. Yes, we can sometimes delay the inevitable – but it is inevitable. I admire the philosophical way in which you have accepted this – it must be very difficult, especially since you’ve had nuppy from when he was one week old. Maybe indeed talking about yesteryear legends who are no more today brings a certain perspective in our own lives.
My heartfelt condolences to you, your wife, daughter, Bhhole and Chhote.
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Thanks for your soothing words. Nuppy was family, and he deserved the best in his life and in his death too as befitting a family member. This tribute is one of my ways to do that.
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11 | Ava Suri
June 30, 2012 at 9:31 pm
Atul, I am so sorry that you lost you cat. My mother had 3 cats in the house, and used to get equally upset when she lost one.
I am sure Nuppy had the best of everything as long as he was alive. The love you and your family and the other dogs gave him, and got for him was the real reward.
God bless.
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Thanks. Yes, we tried to give him the best during his life and also after he died. He was happy and contented with us.
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June 30, 2012 at 9:40 pm
Oh Atul…I am crying now. Nuppy was a special cat indeed, and so lucky to have a family who appreciated him and loved him so much. I think he is making friends with Gemma while they wait for the rest of us to show up. Hugs to you 😦
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July 1, 2012 at 3:37 am
Atul ji,
So sorry and very sad story. The “gilt” not being there to help…that is hard part to over come. But time will heal.
I know all your family members will remember and miss the pur and meow sound of Nuppy forever.
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July 1, 2012 at 12:27 pm
It is very sad to hear about the demise of nuppy. He was a lucky one in life to have people like you and your family.And unlucky to have died this way. I can understand how much all of you must be missing him, expecially the dogs. We human beings find some way or the other to forget sad happenings. Some dogs pine for a long time, their stopping the fight is an indication perhaps. Please give them all the love you can give.
RIP Nuppy ….
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June 17, 2013 at 7:39 pm
Dear Atul
I read the post with big delay now and am feel very sorry for you and your family. It is very sad to lose a pet. Pets come and become a part of the family and leave behind a void, which is hard to fill.
Please accept my heartfelt condolences and convey it to your family as well.
Best regards
Harvey
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
June 29, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Atul ji
I am saddened to read this post. From you earlier posts relating to your pets, we could make out the level of bonding and companionship you have with the three. Untimely, unexepcted departure of a dear one always shakes the heart.
Please convey my feelings to your wife and daughter also.
Please take care.
Rgds
Sudhir
(NOTE: Of the 10 songs listed for this film, 9 are written by Nakshab. This particular song is indicated as a collaboration between Nakshab and Mirza Shauk Lucknowi.)
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June 29, 2012 at 8:11 pm
Thanks for your condolences.
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