Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Day XX in Bhubaneswar - India trip 2017

This is some real Bullshit. With the increasing use of tractors for tilling lands, oxens are no more needed. As unwanted female offsprings are known to be left at God's mercy on river Ganga GHAT (bank of the river), similar fate awaits the male kids of the cows. Many leave their young, male calves at the mercy of Lord Shiva to take care of his BAHANA (rider) Bulls. 
The area I live has a Lord Shiva temple in every mile, hence a good number of bulls and bullshit around. There are at least a dozen of them roaming free in our locality - big and small, of different hues and colors. 
They sleep around on the middle of road, non chalantly ruminating, graze and feast around trash at the dumpster. On occasions they're known to goad unsuspecting bystanders. They also cause of many traffic accidents, especially when they get excited at the sight of nubile cows and chase them around, inspecting to impregnate them.

In a scene from the epic silent movie PUSHPAK, the actor Kamal Hassan couldn't fall asleep without hearing the din and bustle from a nearby movie theater. Similarly, I am so accustomed to the our street mongrels that no sooner they start their chorous whining, than I sleep like a baby. 

Invariably around 10 PM standing under the street light right in front of our home, the boss of the gang, a big brown doggie stretches its hind legs, extends its head upwards, clearing the throat would start the melody "Woooo, woof, wooooo, wof", followed by others in and across the street. Lullabied by their melodious yodelling in chorous unison which would put Kishore Kumar to shame, I never realize when sleep overpowers me until the KOYAL (cuckoo) from a nearby mango tree acts as my natural alarm.

The road from my house leading to the Puri road barely a mile long, but gets narrow at certain points. If you are on a 4 wheeler and another one approaches from the other side, the traffic at both ends come to a screeching halt, as  the vehicles struggle to get through.

This morning I saw an old lady crossing the road in front of our vehicle. I told the person driving me to stop and let her go. He duly obliged, but the vehicles around us went on a honking spree. A few two wheelers criss crossed the old lady, squeezing through any 2 feet gap to wheeze past her. It takes only 15 seconds of wait to let an old lady pass, but time is very precious and punctuality is a virtue for many.

3 weeks of my vacation is almost getting over. It seems only like yesterday when I arrived here, reinforcing Einstein's theory of relativity - When you are on vacation or talking to a pretty girl, time flies. Time stops when you are at work or listening to a boring lecture. Everything is relative in life. Over to Bangalore now where I will be spending the next 5 days...

No comments:

Post a Comment