The Ailurophile. Umm-e-Huraira | by Ilyas | New Writers Welcome | Oct, 2025

It was a dark, frozen night. I was on my way back home; the time would be around 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning. I was riding my bike at full speed. Suddenly, I heard someone say, “Stop! Stop! Please stop.” I pushed the brake and stopped. When I turned around, it was a young girl, around 25 or 30 years old. She had a very fair complexion and a bright, shining face. There was a scarf around her head, the way Arab girls wear one. She was tall by Pakistani standards. She would be around 5 feet 7 or 8 inches tall. Her eyes were sparkling like crystal.

My initial thought was she was some witch or something. At midnight, when no one was around, she was all alone, stopping a stranger. In a matter of a minute, there were thousands of thoughts. It is a general saying here that the witches had their feet turned twisted. I looked at her feet, and they were normal.

She came closer to me and said, “I need your help. Please, please help me.” It looked like she was in trouble. I asked, “What’s the matter?” She replied, “Please follow me.” I followed her; she was running towards a street. It was dark, silent, and horrifying. I was sure now that she belonged to some robber gang, and I had put myself in trouble by stopping here.

She kept on running till the end of the street. I was a little bit slow, as I was scared. She pointed out, “Please help her.” I couldn’t see what she was pointing out because of the turn at the street. I thought some relative of hers was injured or trapped, because she was in a hurry. She was breathless. When I approached her quickly and turned my face towards that side, it was a little kitten. As the kitten saw me, it started crying, “Meow, meow”.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. At a very late hour of the night, in a very strange, empty street, I stopped to help a kitten. There was a gate, which had iron rods. Inside the gate, there was a sanitary pipe that was broken. The water was gushing out. If the kitten tried to come from the front, it could drown. It needed to come very carefully from a side, but I thought the kitten didn’t know that way.

The girl shouted, “Please do something.” I looked here and there. There was a stick, which was 3 or 4 inches wide. The kitten could stand on that. I took that and tried to help the kitten.

The kitten was scared; he was not doing what we wanted him to do. After a while, a young boy came and stood near us. He had a kitten in his hand as well. Almost an hour passed, but finally the kitten stepped on the stick, and I pulled it. Ultimately, I managed to rescue that kitten.

I gave the kitten to the girl. The young boy and the girl were both very happy. I thought about these rich people and how much they cared for their pets, while we poor people couldn’t even take care of humans.

I asked, “Is it your kitten? How come it went inside?” The girl and the boy turned towards me. The girl said, “No, this is not our kitten. My brother and I were taking our kitten to the hospital; it was an emergency. Suddenly, I heard the shouts of this little kitten. When we entered the street, we saw that this little kitten was in trouble. I instantly sent my brother to the left side for help, and I went to the right side. I saw you coming, and you helped us. Now I will take this kitten to my home.”

The young boy was holding another kitten. I asked, “What is the breed of that kitten?” Instead of the young boy, the girl started speaking. “Breed? I don’t know,” she said. “I saw that kitten on the road. A cruel car driver hit her mother, and she died. This kitten was crying. I took her home, but I think she missed her mother; she got sick. I gave her initial treatment, but she didn’t recover. There is a hospital in that area, and we took her there. Now we were going back, and we found another one.”

I walked with them till the start of the street, where my motorbike was parked. I was amazed. What kind of people were they? It was late; I said farewell and left.

The incident was fresh in my mind. I was thinking, who was that girl? What kind of nature was that? Rescuing a stray cat at night with a young girl and a young boy is totally confusing. People in Pakistan usually don’t have pets. The majority of the people are poor. They couldn’t bear their expenses; how would they bear the expenses of the pet? There are some rich people who have Persian cats and famous breeds of dogs, like Huskies, German Shepherds. Even in the news, I read about a person who had a giraffe in his house. Another one kept a lion as a pet. So, keeping pets is the hobby of rich people in our country. They proudly tell others what breeds they have.

If I talk about myself, I hate animals. Especially cats. In Pakistan, poor people live in small houses. These houses are joined to each other. You can easily jump from the terrace of one house to the other. When we were kids, we often did that. Jumping from house to house. Each house had its own exit, but there was one main entrance to exit for all the houses. In Pakistan, we call it “Muhalla” or “Compound.” As it was easy for us to move from house to house, the same was the case for the cats. When I was young, cats used to drink my milk. When I grew a little bit older. They always put their mouths on the food that I bought for myself. In winter, they came to our blankets and slept with us. I usually woke up suddenly and kicked them out of my blanket. They gave birth to little kittens in the drawers where we put our clothes. I hate that, in simple terms, I hate cats. That day, initially, I was surprised by myself at how I could stop to rescue a kitten. But it was the magic of the girl’s eyes that forced me to do that.

I was a salesman. I worked for a famous cold drink brand. I usually travel around the country to get the orders for my company. Once, I was coming back from KPK, the upper northwestern part of Pakistan. I was in a luxurious bus, which we call a coach in Pakistan. It was night; the coach would travel the whole night, and we would travel the whole next day, and then we would reach Karachi.

I was trying to sleep, but it was too noisy. There was an argument going on between the bus conductor and a woman. I was too tired to focus; I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. I turned my face, and to my amazement, it was the same girl, fighting with the bus conductor.

When I saw her luminous face, my sleep was gone. I got up from my seat and went to them. I asked, “Is everything ok here?” The girl recognized me; she smiled at me as she was about to speak, but the bus conductor interrupted, “Sir, this girl wants to carry these puppies with her.” When I looked at her lap in her blanket, there were two puppies. She instantly said, “I paid extra money to take them back.” Then I turned my face to the bus conductor. He said, “Yes, she paid extra money, but the passenger sitting next to her is not comfortable.”

The coach had three seats in a row: one on the left and two on the right side. I booked a single seat for myself. She was sitting on the right side, where there were two seats joined. Another woman was sitting with that girl, and she was scared of the puppies, which was quite a normal reaction from a Pakistani perspective. I offered that woman that if she would like, she could sit in my place, and I would gladly exchange my seat with her. The woman agreed and went to my seat.

For the second time, she met me at night. Her behaviors were strange according to our society; it was all mysterious. Frankly speaking, I was also not very comfortable with the dogs. After the salutation, I asked the girl where she was coming from and why she was taking these puppies to Karachi, although she could find many on the streets of Karachi.

She told me, “I am Pakhtoon. I went to my village for some work. I was going with my brother near a small mountain where these little puppies were crying. I asked my brother to stop. The villagers poisoned their mother; her dead body was there. These puppies were helpless. I took them with me. When I was riding on the bus, they asked me for the extra money, which I paid. These puppies are so sweet, and they are not causing any harm to anyone. I don’t know why that woman was creating a scene.”

I told her, “It is normal for people not to like animals.” She said, “Why, animals are harmless; they depend on us. We should feed them; we should take care of them.” I said, “That means you are an animal lover.” She replied, “Yes, I am.” I asked, “Ok, what about that kitten, which we saved that night?” She replied, “She is healthy now.” I asked, “Do you keep animals at home?” She replied, “Yes, I have almost forty cats, seven or eight dogs, and many birds as well.” I said, “That’s wonderful; then you must have a big house.” She said, “Not really, I live in a flat, in an apartment. It is a four-room apartment. But still not very spacious. But we all love animals. My father was an animal lover. My mother regularly feeds the pigeons and other birds. We don’t put them in the cages. We just love them and take care of them.”

Then she got busy with the puppies. I don’t know when I slept, but when I woke up, we had reached Karachi. The bus was going towards the Taj complex in Saddar. She might get off the bus at Sohrab Goth.

After a few months, I was delivering an order for our company’s cold drinks to a school canteen. I saw that girl again. Near the canteen, there was a small passage. So many cats and kittens surrounded her. She was busy feeding the cats. I stood behind, but she didn’t know that. I jokingly said, “Hello, Miss Umm-e-Huraira.” The word Umm-e-Huraira means “Mother of the cats”. I didn’t know her name, so in a fun way, I used this word for her. She turned to me, smiled at me, and asked, “How come you are here?” I replied, “I worked for a cold drink company. I was here to deliver the order to this school canteen. And how come you are here?” She replied, “I am a teacher here in this school, and I have recently joined.” This was the first time we met during the daytime. It gave me pleasure that this girl was not alien.

I asked her, “By the way, what’s your name?” She smiled and said, “I loved the name you gave me, Umm-e-Huraira.” I understood it was an alternative way to say she doesn’t want to tell me her name. I smiled and asked, “So, how’s your school?” The smile on her face vanished. She replied, “Nobody likes me here, actually. When I came here, these cats were hungry. I started feeding them. Cats are very loving creatures. They started following me to the staffroom. As they entered the staffroom, the other teachers usually shouted and started running onto the chairs in fear. They were scared of these small creatures. Later on, all the teachers submitted a complaint against me. Our headmistress called me and said that if the cats follow you in the staffroom, you cannot work here. Please feed them in the ground or outside somewhere.”

Although I knew this was normal in our society, I empathized with her. The bell rang, and she said, “The recess is over. I have a class. I need to go.”

Next time, when I went to that school for delivery at the same place, I was looking for her. She was right there and feeding the cats. I paid salam to her and asked her, “Don’t you find it expensive to feed these cats?” She replied, “I spent my whole salary on these animals. On feeding them, on their treatment. So many times they are sick. Then I take them to the best hospital, which is in Clifton. The hospital is expensive, but the doctors there are professionals. But yes, this is life.”

I was impressed by this girl. How can one spend her whole income on animals? I could never do that. She was different from our society. In this country where nobody takes care of humans, she was concerned about animals. Really strange.

I thought, next time when I would visit that school for delivery, I would take a kitten with me as a present. She would be happy, and it would be a positive gesture from my side.

I went to Saddar animal market. It was Sunday. Just in front of Jahanagar Park, many people were standing there with their pets. I chose a beautiful young kitten. It was too cute. I never thought I could buy a cat. In life, we often do unexpected things.

On my next visit to the school, I went directly to the place where she was feeding cats. But unfortunately, she was not there. I asked the person who runs that canteen. I asked him, “There was a girl here feeding cats when I came here last time.” He replied, “Which girl? I have never seen a girl here feeding cats?” I said, “ Look, I don’t know her name, but she is the one who loves cats; she was here last time.” He replied, “You can go inside the school and ask the staff. I don’t know any such teacher.”

I was amazed at how he could ignore such a girl. She was always there. I went inside, and there was a reception area. I asked the receptionist, “I want to meet a teacher who loves cats.” The receptionist asked, “Please tell me the name.” I responded, “I don’t know her name. But she loved cats and always fed them.” She replied, “Sorry, sir, if you would tell me the name, then I could call someone; otherwise, I have a lot of work.” I turned.

“How foolish I was.” I talked to myself, “I never asked her name, nor did I ask which subject she teaches, nor which grade she teaches?”

I was puzzled and confused about what to do now. Where to search for her? But I was more confused about how no one could notice that a girl was feeding cats whenever she had time. Then I realized whenever I met her, there was no one around. Why was that? Was she really a human? Or was she just my imagination? The first time we met, there was no one around except her brother. The second time I was in the coach. At that time, the conductor talked to her. That means she was real. But how could I find her?

Shall I go to the bus stand? No, it is a bad idea. How could I find the conductor? Even if I find the conductor, he wouldn’t know the identity of the girl. I took the kitten and went to my home.

I started feeding that kitten. Months passed in no time. The little kitten became a big cat. I thought it would need a companion. I bought another cat. In a few months, the couple got pregnant, and there were four more kittens in my house. My habits have changed now. Whenever I see a stray cat, I feed it. Still, I was not courageous enough to take all these stray cats to my home. But I feed them whenever I can.

Sometimes I felt she was an angel. She came into my life to change me, to make me love the animals. But other times, I feel she was just an animal lover. Sooner or later, I would see her feeding some stray cats or rescuing them.