holy cow

march 28, 2008

it seems everyone assumes the presence of cows in india. yes, they are here and very docile and usually just avoid traffic and eat garbage. they even watched the sunset beside the sun worshippers at goa in a very peaceful, south indian way. the cows o far have not taken too much of my attention, but turning a corner and coming face to face (or face to knee) with a camel in the middle of a huge capital city makes me take notice. my favorite part of jaipur is that camels and elephants are a normal part of urban traffic, either transporting goods or people. they are everywhere.

walking through pushkar with my kiwi friends sarah and ben, i was prompted to reconsider the mind i pay to the sacred cow. this cow had an extra, yet flimsy, limb growing out from it's back between its front two shoulders and behind its neck. it was skinny and short, and kind of flapped around as it attempted to hold the weight of the soft and inadequately-formed soft hoof. a birth defect (and a bit nauseating) to some, a reason for further worship to many in india. as the festivals celebrating the anniversary of rajastan continued throughout pushkar, this holy cow's natural beauty was further adorned with capes and flower necklaces in the following days along with an accompanying holy man mumbling down the narrow streets.