The Fight!

 

A mock bull fight in action

Two months passed after Anandi had the traumatic episode ofa prolapsed uterus  just after Somavathi’s birth.  The first few weeks were tough -  administering her medicine thrice a day with all 3 of us holding her down while one of us poured the medicine down her throat, keeping her area spotlessly clean,  applying ointment on the stitches taking care to avoid her well aimed sharp kicks  and ensuring that there was no other unwanted problem.  Slowly things came back to normal and she started looking her healthy self again.  It was time to start letting her out to graze.

Anandi eager to go  for her walk..... the large doorway behind her through which all the cows proceed towards the gate.

During the time when we were not letting her out, she would bellow her protest as the others trooped out of the cow shed each morning.  We did realise that she was extremely upset about it, but there was nothing we could do.  And how upset she was and how much pent-up anger she had was displayed only when we finally released  her one morning.

Our farm hand always releases them out in the same sequence beginning with the left most – and they all make their way  in a peaceful line, out  of the large doorway from the cow shed which leads to the gate.  This day when Anandi was released, she shoved her way   towards the exit and butted Saraswati who was walking out.  Saraswati was taken by surprise, and stumbled heavily causing a little blockade.  The ones behind halted a bit too close to them and Anandi turned around and butted the one nearest her.  The cows are generally unperturbed by a little shoving and butting, but Anandi was persistent and Kaveri got agitated and started flailing her horns menacingly.  There was a bit of a melee but with a bit of yelling and thwacking the long herding stick in the air we managed to sort it out and all of them trooped  out.  I   followed them out with the herding stick as our farm hand proceeded to clean the cow shed.  I just presumed that once out of the gate in the open air, they would all go their normal friendly shoulder brushing way in search of green pasture.  But how wrong I was! 

They walked  out of the gate  and I latched it and turned to get back when I heard a heavy thud and scuffling sound.  I turned around to see that Anandi had butted Kalavati so hard that she had fallen on her side and Anandi was repeatedly butting her as she struggled to get up.  The other cows seeing this started butting Anandi and in a  minute it looked like a free-for-all… everyone seemed to be butting and fighting with someone.  Eight or nine of the adults were raising up  a dust storm and the younger ones were running helter skelter in panic.  All my thwacking of the stick and yelling made no difference – a full-on fight was in progress.  I yelled out to Vivek and our farm hand, both of them hearing the panic in my voice rushed out.  It took a good deal of yelling and thwacking to get them sorted out. I scooped out a tub of water from the drinking watertub and hurled it at them.   Finally peace was restored, the three of us were left  a bit shaken while the cows nonchalantly went up the hill tossing their heads, swishing their tails and maintaining  a ‘I’m not speaking to you’ distance between one another.  Giving each other a  Cold shoulder of the bovine kind.  I was worried that they might get into another nasty scuffle once they were out of sight.  We watched them for a long time and it appeared as if peace was really restored.

Watched them go down this path until they were out of sight

And so it was indeed.  In the evening they were all at the gate shoulder to shoulder with happy expressions.  None of them showed any resentment towards Anandi and none of them wanted to prolong or repeat the fight. 

Cool animals indeed!

Anandi as a baby.