A few
months back, I had shared the touching story of a baby bull from our village: Hills
That We Climbed: Lonely Life of a Baby Bull (rahultiwaryuniverse.blogspot.com)
After I
visited our village again, this time I did not see him around. I enquired and
then got to know about the anti-climax of his life-story. It is said that the servant
who was employed by the house to take care of cows took the baby bull with him
and sold him to bad people (slaughterhouse agents) and made some money for
himself. People say that the man would have got lot of sin for selling a bull which
was donated in the name of Lord Shiva and was supposed to roam freely whole
life. I am not sure if he would care, since such people have very different set
of values.
I wanted
to feel sad for the baby bull, whom I had seen enjoying life and freedom just a
few months back. But at some level, I was feeling relieved that he had escaped this sinful world sooner than later. If he survived and roamed freely, perhaps
he would only invite hateful bystanders who would chase him away, beating him
with sticks. It is better that he got free from such abuse quickly, with a
prospect of being born better in next life.
I know
that Hindus have been demanding government to make some kind of arrangement to
keep and maintain stray cows and bulls. The village economy of today’s is not
such where such animals could live life of dignity; like they used to do a
few generations back. Now, people do not hesitate to sell their old and unproductive
animals to the agents of slaughterhouses who kill them for beef-trade. I think
governments are not yet sensitized enough and overall; our nation needs to make
enough economic progress to be able to support such animals.
This is
the tragic conclusion of a beautiful baby bull’s life.
- Rahul
Tiwary
