In our
village recently, I saw a funny scene. A boy was being chased by a calf. He was
trying to outrun it and failing in the job, when the calf was stopped in its track
by someone else who shouted at it. The calf backed off and started looking here
and there. Then it made a sound “baaaaan” two times. After a while, it turned back
and disappeared.
Later in
the evening, the boy was seen chasing the same calf by beating it with a stick.
Life had turned full circle in half a day!
Later, I
got to know about the whole thing. The calf was a baby ‘bull’ and here is its
life story.
There was
a death in one of our relatives’ families and as part of the custom, a milk
giving cow and a calf were given away to Pandit ji. The Pandit lived in nearby
village, so the cow and its calf were taken there. But the calf was ‘male’,
which means it was of not much use to anyone. Since the bull was given away, no
one could keep it or convert it into an ox. So, after a month when the ‘baby
bull’ was big enough to survive by wandering, he would have been abandoned and
set free to roam. Or may be the bull was supposed to be left wild as part of the
custom. Now, somehow after being sent away from there, the baby bull had traced
its path and come back to its old home in our neighborhood! Since this family
had given it away, it could not keep it or feed it. So, the baby bull became an
uninvited guest and no one’s liability.
The baby
bull kept living on the land outside its original house. There were 3-4 other
cows in the house who were fed and being taken care of regularly. The baby bull
tried to go near them. Those cows didn’t resist; perhaps they remembered it
from a month ago while it also lived here. I never saw those cows resisting or
getting scared when the baby bull went near them. So, every once in a while,
when the baby bull felt like, it would sneak into the cowshed and eat whatever
green grass and other stuff the cows were eating. But its real enemies were the
men and boys who were employed to take care of cows. They would chase the baby
bull away whenever they saw it. And the baby bull would go away, make a full circle
of the house and come back right where it started. It was an endless game which
is going on even now.
On several
evenings, I saw the baby bull walking away towards the fields and vanishing.
And when it was morning, it would come back to the house. Its skin and fur
which was originally so shining white, became spotted with soil here and there.
Its body language was also confused though steady. The baby bull did not know
its place in this world, and it was painful to watch.
One
morning, the baby bull rose and went away from the house towards the fields, and
then made sound “baaaaan” two-three times while looking towards the house. Then
it went towards the fields and disappeared. I wondered if the baby bull had
finally given up and left forever. But it came back again just after a few
hours!
Although
all stray bulls live a lonely life, I had a closer look at this baby bull’s lonely
life only now. No one cares about it, no one feeds it, the other cows also do
not interact with it, and the small boys from the village start beating it with
sticks whenever they see it. On a few occasions, the baby bull attacked and
dragged a few people, but so far it has not caused any real damage to anyone. I
wonder how long will the baby bull live here. Certainly, it won’t be allowed to
live here forever. May be, they are waiting for it to grow up more and then
chase it away. Where will it go after here? Wherever it goes, will that place
be better or worse than here? Will anyone really care about it in its current life?
On these
thoughts, I shall leave this story open. May the baby bull get to live here for
a little longer before it goes away. And may it enjoy a healthy and safe life and
does not attack anyone else too. That is all I can wish.
- Rahul
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