Mood: Happy – Sri Lanka in 2 days!
So the family and I have had a couple of encounters with the
local wildlife here. Not all of them pleasant. First there was the incredibly angry hornet, then the attack pigeon (the same day as the hornet!), the monkey that tried to eat my
daughter in Ooty, and let’s not forget the stray
dog that chased me down the street with my asthmatic cousin in law and 2 kids. The
wildlife (meaning anything not on a leash) is better left alone.
Apparently we have not learned our lesson well enough. We
went out to eat with my sister in law and her family last weekend. We went to
New Shanti Sagar. It’s a great place to get Bangalore Breakfast food and South
Indian coffee. Love it. Anyhow, on the way out, we passed 2 cows. One was a
yellowish/tan color and had big horns, the other looked like your standard
black and white milk cow. My husband’s brother in law warned me that the
yellowish one was a Mysore fighting cow and that I should steer clear of those
and not even walk close to them. I
thanked him for the info (I really had no idea). The black and white cow
decided that the spot right behind our parked car was the best place in the
world to be. So my sister in law’s husband decided to force the cow’s hand and
back up very slowly to get it to move. Most of the time this is very effective
– the cows just move out of the way. The cow just sat there with a bored
expression (whatever that means for a cow – it looked pretty passive aggressive
to me!), not moving an inch.
I started encouraging the cow vocally to move it.
Clapping happened. I was still not comfortable approaching the cow after the
advice I was given. My husband walked up and tried to shoo the cow away from a
close distance. The cow apparently had enough and swung its head around at my
husband really fast. My husband is 140 lbs soaking wet; he is no match for a
humongous cow. I was rolling with laughter as he jumped 3 feet back from the
cow. We both just sat there trying to figure out how to get the damn cow to
move. About 2 minutes later, it slowly moved on down the road.
Jeez. These aren’t your typical placid cud
chewing cows like we’re used to in the US. Lesson learned. Beware of the cows.
My sister in-law was almost gored by a cow here once. Luckily she slipped in between its horns and so was only pinned against the wall... although, very very bruised up.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is scary! Cows in the US are so....docile. They usually don't bother to move more than a few inches at a time. I generally take a stay as far as possible outlook for the animals here.
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