The star marked Bull

Harkey, one of the members of the landlord Major Ba (Ba: Father as a respect in Nepali and Major his army title, now retired)’s big family was the first to notice the birth of Tarey (meaning one with star, reference to star mark on its forehead) by its mother Ratu (the Red one, name of the cow) on the wee hours of the dawn. Major Ba was such an encouraging father figure that he wanted to give something extra on his work compared to Mailo or Birkhey who were also domestic helpers of Major Ba. That is why, even Majorni Ama (Wife of Major Ba) complains less about his work; a workhorse herself and difficult to please strict personality. He always was the first to wake up in the Major Ba’s extended family of 13 with 4 helpers. As he had seen labor pain and birth by many cows before, he knew some of the nitty gritty of facilitating birth in case of some anomalies. For Ratu, it was her third time giving birth. She had given birth to two baby cows before, who were members of the illustrious cow family of Major Ba. It was a very short labor this time and he need not interfere. After few minutes, when the newborn stood on its own, seeing the male sex of the newborn calf, Harkey told to himself, “You are possibly guest for a year”.

Cows are elevated to the level of one’s own mother by devout Hindus and are valued for milk, a nutritious food which can be converted to curd (Yoghurt) and then by process of churning to butter and then by heating of butter to Ghee, which can be sold for good money. There is a great demand for such pure ghee, as even the relatively straightforward and so-called naïve villagers had started to adulterate Ghee by similar looking substance like margarine and even boiled taro. Male cows or Bull when they grow up, on the other hand, though worshipped one day during the second great festival of Tihar were not desired. There were some of the proverbs deriding it like “Fight of Bulls, accidental hurt of calves”, “stare like that of Bull” , “it’s like waiting when the big fruit of Bull ( reference to big testicles of Bull) will fall down and I will eat “ to name some. Except for ploughing fields, it had little use including mating cows for procreation if not castrated and offering to temples as a bull. But to plough the field, it must be made servile and hence had to castrate it. The young born Tarey with Red and some white patches as its skin color and the star mark on its forehead was a beauty to watch, but as Major Ba had surplus oxen , Harkey doubted its long term stay in his shed.

It had become habit of Harkey to lift the newborn calves on his cow shed by wrapping around his arms, like people hug their babies or puppies. He did it to Tarey, and from his memory, he could gauge that it was the heaviest baby calf he had lifted. The eyes, the sheer beauty of the eyes could elevate one to another dimension. Now there were the village rituals to be followed. The milking of the mother cow, followed by its cooking and paying obeisance to village gods and guardians of the cow by the so formed semi solid chunks of the pregnant milk called ‘Begauti’.

Major Ba was not particularly happy when he heard Ratu gave birth to baby bull. Days passed, but the eye and the star on the forehead of Tarey was an enchanting sight and prompted Harkey to hug it and lift it wrapping his arms. He continued this ritual everyday during morning. After about 2 months it started to feed on other grains, twigs and grasses and no longer needed its mother’s milk. After about 5 months Harkey had to take a deep breath before lifting it as it had grown heavier and heavier with passage of time. A bond had developed between him and Tarey. He did not remember lifting other calves born earlier except for first few days. Then one day, on seventh month ,it suddenly started to feel much heavier. He took inspiration from Birkhey, the other helper of Major Ba who specialized in carrying heavy loads. With a traditional rope wrapped in forehead and the load in back, he was famous for transporting 100 kg sack of rice in a hilly path of seven days. He thought, the calf is certainly not 100 kgs and Birkhey is past his prime in his 40’s while he is in his early twenties. Besides, it was a chance to impress Seti, the only lady helper, if he could lift one day, say after six months, the fully grown raging bull. He tried it a bit more and could lift it. The daily ritual had its impression on Tarey as well and it remained docile during the whole practice. Maybe it even admired the process.

Now, Harkey had his goal set and started to care about his nutrition. He started to eat a bit more of rice and lentil and quitted khaini (the chewing tobacco). At evening, during leisure he joined class of village wrestler who took delight in passing his knowledge to young enthusiasts. As his primary duty was taking care of cows and water buffalos, it ended before nightfall and could join the class with his boss’s permission. He worked on lifting weights and gaining good grip by hand. The old wrestler saw someone with dedication and potential after a long time.

After about one-year Tarey had grown into an adult bull. One morning, Harkey with added discipline and strength from practice was lifting the fully grown Tarey, as if it was a baby. Seti saw the whole incident and was amazed by Harkey’s strength.

One day the local people specializing in castration happened to pass by Major Ba’s cow shed in the morning and asked if there were eligible bachelors in his shed. Major Ba asked Harkey if it was about time for Tarey. Harkey could recall the cruelty of the medieval process since after the operation the poor creatures could not even stand properly for few days and have tears all over their eyes. Harkey came closer to his boss and replied that since Tarey’s father is from good lineage, Tarey also could be better suited for seed bank for cows. Seti happened to pass by them and heard the conversation and had a subdued laugh which she could not hold. Major Ba nodded and agreed. Love always finds a way.