Cows

Varanasi street cows are photogenic. Many of them are wearing improvised jackets as I take my early morning walk along the Gange's (pronounced Ganga by the locals) ghats. These jackets can be as flamboyant as Liberace or as utilitarian as a burlap sack. Either way the jackets are put on at night when the Varanasi's night time lows can dip to a bone shattering 50. Goats and dogs are also prone to this treatment. Which is all unsurprising seeing that winter jackets, wool scarves, and ski masks are part of the average Indian wardrobe when the mercury dips below room temperature.

I've spent many months in India. And not until this trip have I been keen to this fact that is now very facinating to me; the vast majority of the cows roaming docile and seemingly sedated through the whole of India belong to someone and are used in India's vast dairy industry. Maybe this seems like it would be obvious, but I always thought they were strays like the dogs.

India has more cows than any other country. Milk is easy to come by. Curd, like yogurt, is a staple. Paneer is all the cheese you will find, unless you really dig deep. Both curd and paneer are quite bland standing alone. But in the case of curd, add some bananas or other fresh fruit, milk, and sugar and yum yum eat um up, you have a lassi. A ceromonial lassi drink is also made with bhang (marijuana) and partaken by Hindus devoted to Shiva. Lassis can alsobe salty. There is no bhang paneer, that I am aware of, but paneer is also a great staple of Indian cousine. It is the perfect vehicle for the many spices here to ride on, the paneer acting much like tofu.

So, I have noticed the milking schedules of a few of the cows in the neighborhood we are currently in. One woman has been fairly tolerant of my oogling. I still have no idea as to how these cows get enough to eat. Aside from house hold refuse, wilted temple flowers (marigolds for the most part) and street garbage I haven't witnessed any particular feed being dealt out. And as far as water, still baffled. A favorite past time of mine is to eat a banana and feed the peel to a cow.

Up until this point in the trip I had never noticed bulls. I most likely was just not as aware as now, especially after my time on the farm. But here in Varanasi there are quite a few. And they are huge and docile. Many seem to be very old. Several have cataracts. Maybe the young studs are kept contained while the old bulls are free to roam the streets. I am excited to learn more. A curious sight the other day, I saw a bull. He had his testicles but he also had four udders. Is this normal? Of course I got a picture.