Sacred cow

It was a usual pleasant morning and I was hurrying to my work. Nowadays I drive to my work, but driving in a small town as Lakhimpur is way different from driving in Chennai, where traffic is more systematic. In addition my blood pressure always begins to rise when it comes to either parking in a small place or taking a reverse gear in the car. The single roads without dividers, with bidirectional traffic are one of the major drawbacks of small towns. It gives me goose-bumps, when people land right in front of my nose on pretext of overtaking.

So when I took out the car and turned in the next lane, two cows were sitting on the road, one in corner and the other right in the middle. I started giving horns, but the one in middle looked at me with her large black eyes as if refusing to give up. I constantly honked for few minutes but she kept sitting. Finally I got out of the car and started ‘hushing’ her with both my hands. But she was far more determined than I thought. I started getting desperate. I looked around but no one was out there. I again sat in the car and started the engine trying to scare her. I slowly started moving the car and reached very close to her. For once she moved her face away but there were no signs of giving up. I was also sacred that I might not hit her. Finally I stopped the car and started calling for Ashu. He came smiling and tried the same trick of pushing the car towards her. But the clever creature might have understood our desperate attempts to scare her and hence sat there undisturbed.

Finally we ended the battle when Ashu took a long reverse and took up another lane. It was the time when he told me that a cow is considered to be the symbol of “soul”, and one of the most peaceful creatures on this earth. Hence the name ‘kamdhenu’ i.e the one which grants you all your wishes. And I drove to my work contemplating on this mystical experience.