This is a common sight we see in rural India, where cattle is also a household member. Most families would have a thatched shed for the cattle, adjacent to their house and they are taken out for grazing each day. They can’t be let lose unlike in the developed counties, where the cattle live and graze in the enclosed cattle farm. So they would have a rope around the neck with sufficient length to let it graze in the field.
Those who have one or two animals still like to keep them as they provide milk and manure. However it is not always possible to find fodder for them during floods or dry seasons.
We have had floods in different parts of India with loss of human lives, houses and cattle. We have an account of the lives lost and the houses damaged, but do not have any count of the cattle head lost. Those who lost the cattle would suffer even more because the cattle provided them a source of income.
I always wonder whether the civilised society in developing countries has an holistic view of the environment!
I have been surprised during this Deepavali season, which is the festival of light, celebrated in most parts of India that people responded well to a novel initiative. People usually celebrate the festival with bursting of firecrackers. This pollutes the environment with smoke, sound and littre all around. There was a concerted effort from the volunteers of the civil society and the government to dissuade people from using fire crackers in the hope that there would be at least reduction in its use.
We are half way through the season and it is only occasionally I have heard the crackers bursting in the air in this locality.
We are learning and changing. This is hope giving!
One non-government organisation was campaigning with people to donate the money saved form buying crackers, to supply cattle to families who lost them during the flood in the states of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, etc.
We become neighbours to others when we live mindful of others!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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