Part 2: Kannu Kutty's dream

So these four strangers walked into the house which was solely for myself at least till the lady of the house came back from abroad. I felt violated. My personal space was violated. Agreed, that I am tied to the pole all time and have only myself and the flies for company between the time Dharmu leaves me late at night and comes back early morning to untie me even before the neighbourhood hen announces the morning. I love it when I am untied in these mornings and really look forward to these times. It’s a time when I can freely run around the backyard of the house around the cow shed. I meet my mom, the grumpy aunt and a host of other fellow cow / bullocks. The bullocks start getting ready to start their work day and want to nonsense around. I also try not to mess around these arrogant brutes. I love fooling around with my mom. Many a times I go and just try bashing her tummy lightly with my head, gently rub my face just below her face or irritate her by tickling her ear with my tail. She is very tolerant of my playful antics and gives this unflatteringly calm signifying her maturity and my immaturity at its peak. She might really be wondering “I wonder how this Lakshmi is gonna grow up and live up to the pressures of life”  or thinking “Give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me another chance, I wanna grow up once again”! Anyways her mood starts getting worse when she knows I have to quickly have my share of milk before giving it wholeheartedly to the lanky two legged selfish humans in their aluminium tins. I don’t know how generous and self righteous she can be? Why is it that she feels more obligaged for other species to have her milk more than me, her own breed? Anyways…I will perhaps figure that out once I grow up. My freedom time is up after an hour or two with my mom and am tied to a corner of the big house once again to again eagerly wait for the next day morning.

So at night – these human beings were making some amount of noise in the otherwise quiet village. Perhaps they were quickly settling into a well deserved rest after a long day of travel. I can for sure make out that they were from the city and not village. The spexy guy shouted aloud happily seeing the small bathroom inside the house as if I would have moo’ed excitedly had I got the whole time with my mom. Hehe…the specxy guy was struggling to find the light of the house and finally used some kind of a torch to find his way around to get the pillows and blankets and lay it out for  the four folks. It’s funny that the same torch which gave light was kept in his ear the next day morning and he was talking on it as if it had life or maybe the other end of the torch had life. Is it something that they call the cell phone? Anyways – these human beings are too complex to figure out. Like the other day I overheard my mom saying to aunt that Uncle Gobi  (Bull) was jobless now. This is because humans went to get some machine called “Tractor” to plough the farm and would no longer rely on Uncle Gobi.  That’s your reward for serving these humans with your sweat and blood, sacrificing family life and getting the entire whip lashing on your back – come rain or sun or wind or cold. Among the bull’s, Uncle Gobi could literally have been called a timid cow. Though his appearance was like any other bull – with big arching horns, terror eyes and a huge bulky frame where the hide had mud splashed around it like a certificate of his hard work on the fields, his nature was timid. He also had not much company and no family. Now being out of work, don’t know if he will be left to wait for his death, made into a travel bullock cart or perhaps be killed and consumed by humans as “Beef”. Scary thought! Next time I meet Uncle Gobi, would softly go and run by face below his neck as a show of affection.

Once the four strangers had put the blankets, pillows and were ready to doze off, there was enough time for irritation. They started talking to me as if I could reply back to them in their own language. Hello…human beings! Come on! If that happened, we both could have fought with each other just like you humans fight amongst yourselves over religion, caste, issues etc. Its better we understand you and you faintly understand us! Though they were kind and “konjufying” me or pampering me with love and affection, I hated the spexy guy mimicking my “Moo..ing”. Had I not seen him making that noise and had he hidden outside the house and moo’ed…I would have gotten scared thinking it was spirits of the other cows bothering me. Now that I see that sheepish grin on his face after his moo’ing, in the dark I know its him and I am not scared. Stupid guy! Do you want a pat on your back for mimicking me? Kiddo! Stop moo’ing and start sleeping. These guys started sleeping and I got pissed off with the nasal tone of the spexy guys snoring. Plss…stop it dude! My clan after all gives you doodh! How can we give it early in the morning, if you wont allow us to sleep by your snoring? I pity the other stranger besides him - his family, especially his wife. Lady, you gotta get one Noble "Sleep" Prize award for your lifetime achievement! Anyways…soon even I fell asleep and I guess the spexy guy’s snoring worked as a lullaby for me. 

At night I had a dream. It was my ancestors with my mom. In a single frame I could see them standing next to each other – my mom’s grandmother , my grandmother and my mom all together. All three of them were talking to me saying “These humans have been here before dumbo. They are not new to this village or strangers to us. Especially that spexy guy had come with another girl – probably his sister, his parents way back in 1986 when he was as small as you. At that time, I, Rajeshwari, your great grandmother was only alive and perhaps your age. I had two siblings – Raja and Teyanayagi. It was during those times that these humans including his parents and sister had showered lot of love care and affection on all three of us. The kids had made a song – “Anhonee ko honi karde, honee ko anhonee. Ek jaga jag jama hon teenon…Raja, Rajeswhari, Teyanayagi” That is our unifying family song that these guys gave us years back. Don’t you remember? The song though was copied from a song of movie Amar Akbar Anthony was specially plagiarized and customized for us by these Mumbai ites. Now you can’t forget that Lakshmi. Be kind to them and not rude and play with them like you play with us.”