Holy Cows

Everyone knows about the Holy cows of India, cows that wander the length and breadth of the subcontinent, feeding mainly on vegetable waste from the markets, along with paper and cardboard and the occasional piece of plastic. Even in the countryside the cows gather at places where rubbish is dumped. Cows stop the traffic, crossing the road, even lying in the middle of the road, so that the traffic has to go round them.

I began to realise that the cows were a nuisance when I saw a cow approach a table at a cafe in Gokarna where tourists sat. A cow leaned over and tried to take food off a tourist's plate. She swiftly removed the plate. They tried to shoo the cow away but it wouldn't move. One of the tourists took a spoonful of yogurt and tried to tempt the cow away from the table. The cow was not fooled. I didn't stay to see how this ended. But the restaurant owner probably came out with a big stick and chased the cow away.

Next day on the beach two beautiful Norwegian women lay stretched out on their towels, reading their books. A cow approached, leaned down, tore a page out of one the the books and ate it. Outraged, she snatched up the book and beat the cow off. It wandeered over to another group of tourists, knocked over their drinks and thrust its nose into someone's bag, looking for food. A man waved a stick at the cow, which put its head down threateningly.

The two Nowegian women went for a swim, leaving their books on their towels. The cow walked over, tore a mouthful of pages out of the same book, then wandered on munching happily. "I hadn't read those pages yet" complained the woman when she came back to her mutilated book.