: “He is usually composed but if disturbed too much, you have had it. Just like his master.” That’s how Ramaiya was introduced to us. The well-built kangeyam bull is one of the cattle cared for in ‘Thenpennai’, the official residence of Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Greenways Road.
Ramaiya did not appear amused by the commotion around him. Party men and camera-wielding journalists had begun pouring into the sprawling campus from early on Wednesday morning.
“Ramaiya was brought here by aiyya (O. Panneerselvam) some five years ago from his native place. Aiyya is so fond of him that he will come and see him every other morning before leaving. He makes it a point to see all the other animals, too,” says Senthil Kumar from Singampunari. The shed housing the CM’s official car (TN-06 Z-2345) is parked just few feet away.
Mr. Kumar, who maintains that the animals understand every gesture, talks to the bull as he would to a friend.
“Sir, you won’t understand his actions but I know,” he says, with obvious pride in the admiration evoked by the magnificent beast. “So don’t go close to him.”
Unlike the reticent Ramaiya, who was tied to a guava tree, Mr. Paneerselvam’s two Labradors, Simba and Raja, were playing friskily in their kennel and curious about new visitors to the house.
Mr. Panneerselvam may have flown to Delhi, visited the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and eventually promulgated an ordinance for conducting jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. But, “No, Ramaiya is not being raised for jallikattu . He is more of a pet to aiyya ,” says Mr. Kumar, who adds that there are five cows in the backyard, too. Coconut, mango and guava trees, flowering plants like hibiscus rosa-sinencis, and herbs like basil, flourish in the sprawling garden around Mr. Panneerselvam’s residence.
