Essay on Cow

Some times our slight neglect results in sealing the fate of a living being.

During my childhood days in school, we were frequently asked to write essays on "cow". We always began with the sentence "cow is a domestic animal". We were asked to write sometimes 10 sentences and some times 15. How to do that? We used to increase the sentence count like this: A cow has four legs. A cow has two ears. A cow has one tail. A cow has two horns. A cow has one mouth too. Did you laugh? But I didn't stop there. We prepare sweets from cow's milk. We prepare curd from cow's milk. We prepare butter from cow's milk. We prepare ice-creams from cow's milk too. I would go on like this until the required number of sentence count was over. 

This was my original one. Now some years back, I witnessed one of my cousin brothers write an essay on cow. He had lately caught fancy with the phrase by the grace of God, and loved to use it everywhere. He writes: By the grace of God, cow is a domestic animal. Cows give us milk by the grace of God. We prepare sweets from her milk by the grace of God. His teacher just crossed his essay in red ink, by the grace of God. 

Now this was on lighter side. Now I narrate something more serious. 

The day goes back to 2005 when I was posted in a plant near Raipur. It was a fine Sunday morning and I was going towards society's shops for a hair cut. I found that it had rained heavily last night and branches of trees were lying here and there; indicating a storm also. While passing in front of the guest house, I noticed something in the drain by the side of the road. The drains were open and very deep, mainly carrying waste water. To my surprise, there was one young cow lying there, her legs up and head down, stuck in the narrow walls of the drain. Was she alive? I saw her neck was twisted, but her nostrils were out of water. Water flowing through her faced disturbance because of her body, and formed a small waterfall as it passed. Her four legs were out in the air, while most of remaining body was immersed in water. She was tightly fixed in the drain, and didn't move. There were some flies moving around her body. I could sense she was dead; but who knows? I wanted to help her, at least to ascertain if she were alive or dead. But I didn't like touching it. 

I reached the shopping centre. To my relief, I met one officer who was in the administration department. I narrated him the scene and he said that he would call someone to take her out. Half an hour later, while I returned back, she was exactly in the same position. I met one other personnel from administration; he said he would do something. It being a Sunday, there was no one in the colony maintenance office. I called the security personnel at the plant gate; they said it being Sunday, fewer staffs were present, but they would try to help. 

Around 12:30, I went for lunch in the guesthouse. Her body was unmoved. After lunch, I told the guesthouse waiters about her and asked for help. One waiter, Baratu, went with me to see her and said that there is little chance that she would be alive. Then he called the security gate and informed them that a calf had fallen into drain and was alive. I appreciated his practical approach. As he told them that the calf was alive, there was a good chance that they would come.

I was feeling helpless. What if the calf was alive and dying? No body had come to her rescue since morning. 

Next morning, her body was still there. I felt really bad. I knew then for sure that even if she was alive on Sunday, by this time she would have certainly died.

On Tuesday, I called the colony maintenance office and enquired about the cow. I was informed that they took her out, dead, on Monday afternoon. 

I felt very guilty. I was almost sure that she was dead when I found her first. But what if she was alive then? We took her out only after one and half day. There was no chance she could survive so long lying in that position. Through out that period, I only tried to help her through others. Why didn't I pull her out myself? It would have cost me maximum dirty hands and dirty cloths, but I could have saved a life. I still carry the guilt of that day.