Holy Cow!

With all this tamasha going on in India about cow crusade and 'Gau-Raksha', I am reminded of a funny incident from my childhood related to the 'gaiya' or 'goru' as we in the Brahmaputra valley call the cow.

By the way, 'goru' is also used as a harmless abuse in Assam. We use it to insult anyone who we think has less brains and is an idiotic simpleton.

No offence intended to the RSS and the Bhartiya Gau Raksha Dal (this organisation actually exists and they even have a Facebook page).

 Politics is obnoxious; let's not bring that up.Today I just want to share this cute little story about a cow.

My mother came from a land owning community in Kerala. They had lots of cows, goats, chickens, and ducks around their house. When she married and settled down in Assam, she missed her 'mini Kerala zoo'. And so she kept whatever animal she could in our little house in Guwahati.

 Guinea pigs, hens, dogs, cats, rabbits, pigeons, parrots, fish, all shared space with us during our growing up years.
One fine day my mother decided we had to own a cow too.Our 1200 square yard of grassy lawn seemed a waste with no cows grazing on it, she stated matter-of-factly. The children could get fresh unadulterated milk and butter she reasoned .After a lot of cajoling my dad finally agreed to buy a cow.

 The cow came with much fanfare. A shed was specially made for her and a Nepali help was employed to perform the cow duties.

One summer afternoon I woke up to loud heated arguments between my mother and kancha (the Nepali help).It transpired that OUR COW HAD DISAPPEARED!

My mother was in a fit.She ordered my dad to cut short his much loved siesta and go on a cow hunting spree around town and not return till the animal was found.

After almost three hours of cow hunt, dad was finally back.He ordered my mother to serve him some tea and said he had been successful in locating the cow. Kancha was bringing the lost cow back tied firmly with a rope.

 When the cow finally came home, my mother ran to the gate to receive her. But to her utter horror and shock it wasn't our cow!

It was the wrong cow!

Kancha was then asked to go right back and return the wrong cow from the place where they had found her munching merrily on the garbage. We couldn't keep someone else's cow my mother concluded firmly. 

And so off went Kancha to return the wrong cow. As luck would have it, on his way back, he was confronted by a couple of men who were out searching for their "lost cow"! They saw our Kancha pulling the cow with a rope and walking down the street.

Nepalis in Assam are not very fluent in Assamese or Hindi so although Kancha tried his level best to explain things to them, they didn't buy his story and I guess it was too complicated anyways.

The men beat him up calling him a 'cow thief'. Kancha left our house that very day, "no cow, no Kancha"he said, refusing to take up any other domestic responsibilities.What followed is anyone's guess. My dad remained at the receiving end of my mother's naggings for his failed attempts at Gau-Raksha.

Reposting this to add a lighter note to the newspaper headlines on cow vigilantes. 

My Zen Mode

What does "me time" mean to you? do you think me time is important? how often do you give yourself time #MeTime

This post is being written for INDISPIRE Edition 230


Most of us go through life looking after home and hearth without spending any quality time with ourselves.I think it is very important to sometimes shut everything off from our lives and go into 'Me' mode. Switch off the WiFi, shut the door, lie down alone, close your eyes and reflect. The lucky ones can even take a vacation alone. Silence can be a good companion.

Being with myself and contemplating about life is my favourite hobby. Some people may say I am lazy but I think being lazy is underrated. Being lazy has its advantages. You are at peace with yourself and the world.

Sunset over the river Brahmaputra

This summer I decided to skip the usual touristy stuff. I packed my bags and booked my tickets to Guwahati, the town where I was born. I needed to spend time with my octogenarian parents. I was going to be with them for a month and do nothing except eat, sleep and stare.

Monsoon clouds threaten to disrupt my morning walk

My parents wake up at dawn. They walk 365 days a year, come hail or sunshine. Now since I had decided I was going to spend time with them and participate in their daily routine I too had to wake up at 4 am. It seemed impossible at the start but was wonderful when I got used to it. The view of the morning mist rising across the Brahmaputra and Umananda (the smallest river island in the world) sitting daintily in midstream was worth waking up to.

Umananda 

The flat in which my parents live has a balcony overlooking the ancient Ugratara temple and the Navgraha hills. While I am not at all a religious person, I sat staring at this beautiful scenery for hours. The green cover of trees housed many a heron and egret birds and watching the horizon was therapeutic for my soul.

The View From The Balcony

The best part was eating my mother's delicious fish and rice (Masor Tenga) and the post lunch siesta that extended to dusk. I did absolutely nothing for a whole month. No social visits, no shopping, no WiFi and no TV. It was as if I had reached my nirvana. I returned to the world rejuvenated and feeling like the Buddha.

 #MeTime

A Brief Sojourn At Pine Mount School

My eyes were brimming with tears that threatened to roll down my cheeks.Sensing this  my sister tightened her grip on my hand.I was 6 years old and my sister was 10.We were in a Meghalaya State Transport bus winding our way up the khasi hills towards our boarding school.

Pine Mount School with its red tin roof is a residential school for girls,build upon a small hill surrounded by pine trees.It was established in the 1900s and has a reputation of producing well mannered girls with etiquette

I was the younger pampered one in my family,always up to mischief and playing pranks.When my parents decided to pack me off to boarding school I thought I was being punished.I immediately hated school and everything related to it.

I was homesick, sad and hungry all the time. Although we received healthy sumptuous meals, my mind would always revolve around food; maybe it was the pure mountain air that made me hungry all the time.

I disliked studies and the only book I loved to open was this big book of pictures that said ‘Scratch And Sniff’. It had bright colorful pictures of cakes, pastries and chocolates and I loved to sniff out the pictures.They threw me into a magical world of yummy grub.Ironically inspite of my dislike of reading and learning my favorite period turned out to be the library class.

During study hour we were supposed to sit quietly for an hour and do our homework but all I did was play with pebbles, grass and wild flowers.The teacher in charge could never catch me since I would hide all my treasures very cleverly under the desk and all she saw was an open desk top.

That's me standing behind the teacher!

My  four years in Pine Mount were mostly spent in the outdoors exploring the play grounds .I would engineer  all types of games ,conjure up stories for all and sundry to hear and design hunting sprees  for me and  my friends.We would go looking for all sorts of things from pine cones, nuts and wild berries to elves and fairies.I loved chasing dragonflies and butterflies but my favorite game was Hide and Seek.When the clouds rolled down the hills we would run and disappear into a cloud to reappear and surprise the others.What fun we had!And when it rained we wore our gumboots and mackintosh and splashed and jumped on the puddles.

The seniors at the boarding school would tell us scary stories to frighten us. They would say that the school was haunted by the spirits of the British soldiers who were housed there during the world wars. They told us that if we wandered about alone we would hear footsteps follow us and whispers in the corridors. These tales would be enough to make us pull our blankets above our heads at night and not think of breaking any rules.

I was too clumsy to take care of my belongings and although every clothing had my initials inked into them I would still end up losing most of my clothes. My sister however was the smart one. She became the head girl of the school. I admired her and pride swelled up in me every time her name was announced in the Assembly. I was a contrast of my sibling. I dragged on in academics till finally my parents made a decision to take me out of the boarding school to live with them in Guwahati. But this decision came at a cost.

Me and Kaberi,my sister

One beautiful summer day, when the sun was shining and everything around the little hill on which the school stood shone in its pristine beauty, I decided it was time to build a gigantic castle. To do this I needed a large amount of dried pine needles, dried leaves, twigs, mosses and grass. I employed all my friends in this enormous task of collection and we ran around all morning very engrossed in our business. When the formidable structure was near completion I stepped back and admired our handiwork .Now the only thing missing in this art installation were some bright flowers and I knew exactly where to find them. I went racing to the flowing tree and jumped and shook the low branches but unfortunately for me along with the flowers fell a whole bee-hive right on my head .

The next thing I knew I was in Shillong Civil Hospital and my face had swellings as big as custard-apples! The medicines eased the pain but the best part was that the whole school trooped in to wish me speedy recovery and I basked in all the attention and almost felt like the Duchess of Sussex sitting up on my hospital bed bee stings and all!

And thus was cut short my primary school years at Shillong and I was put in St. Mary’s Convent in Guwahati.  As my mother would say, ”Qui Sera Sera- whatever will be will be”.


Photo Credits-PINE MOUNT ALUMNAE 
and My Own Collections