“Rukku, see what I have got for you!” Kishan shouted.
Rukmini, who was in the kitchen, came out. Her husband was standing in front of their house holding a rope at the end of which was a cream coloured cow. “This beautiful creature, whose name is Gowri, is a gift for you.
“Where did you get her?”
“I bought her in the village fair for R 48,000.”
Suddenly they heard a funny sound.
“Did you hear someone laughing?” Kishan asked.
“I thought I did. But there is no one here. We must have imagined it.”
“As I was saying, I paid R 48,000...”
Once again there was a sound of laughter; this time it was loud and clear. “Moo-ha...Moo-haha...Moo-hahaha!”
Rukmini caught Kishan’s hand and shook it roughly.
“Ki…Ki…Kishan. It was Gowri who was laughing.”
“Have you gone mad? Who ever heard of a laughing cow?”
Rukmini was suspicious. Her eyes were still on Gowri when she asked Kishan, “Where did you get so much money from?”
“I have been saving for more than a year,” Kishan replied.
“Moo-ha...Moo-haha...Moo-hahaha!”
Kishan and his wife looked at Gowri and then at each other, their jaws dropping in surprise.
Gowri’s lips were drawn back, her large milky white teeth were bared, and she was shaking with laughter: “Moo-ha...Moo-haha...Moo-hahaha!”
Inopportune moments
“How can a cow laugh?” Kishan’s neighbour Rahim asked in disbelief.
“I’ll prove it. Come, let us go to the cowshed.”
Gowri was standing chewing cud when the two walked in.
Kishan told Gowri three jokes. Gowri looked at him without blinking an eyelid and continued chewing cud.
“Kishan, I told you cows don’t laugh. Are you trying to make a fool of me?” Rahim stomped off in anger.
* * *
One day, the farmer couple was in the cowshed feeding the animals when Birju Lala, a politician everyone hated, walked in.
“Kishan, I have decided to contest for the post of sarpanch in the Panchayat elections.”
“That is nice,” said Kishan without looking up.
“Both of you must please vote for me. I will work 24 hours a day and make our village the most prosperous in the country.”
As he waited with folded hands for Kishan to respond, Birju Lala heard a funny sound.
“Moo-ha, Moo-haha, Moo-hahaha!”
Birju Lala looked at Kishan, his eyes turning red in anger.
“You don’t believe me!” he thundered.
“Of course, I do.”
“Then why are you laughing at me?”
“I didn’t!”
“Then it must be your wife?”
“Lalaji, why will I laugh at you?” Rukmini asked.
“Then who laughed? There is no one else here.”
“Lalaji, sometimes my cow Gowri laughs.”
Birju Lala’s face turned red, matching the colour of his eyes.
“Do you take me for a fool? I won’t spare you, Kishan. First, you laugh at me and then, tell me a cock and bull — or rather a cock and cow — story about a laughing bovine!” With these words he stomped out.
Kishan looked carefully at Gowri who was staring at them poker faced.
* * *
Rukmini was deep in thought. Suddenly, and idea came to her. Unlike Kishan, she was a sharp lady. She was sure her surmise was right.
“Kishan,”she called out, “that day when you told me you paid R 48,000 for Gowri, you were lying, weren’t you?”
Kishan, caught off guard, could only stammer.
“H..h..how do you know — I mean what makes you think that?”
“Every time someone lies, Gowri laughs.”
“I sold the necklace your mother gave you for R 48,000, bought Gowri for R 33,000 and the rest of the money I gambled away,” Kishan said, hanging his head in shame.
* * *
Gowri’s ability to catch a lie, and laugh when she did, became the talk of the region. Every time there was an election, candidates would be asked to make their speeches with Gowri in attendance. If Gowri laughed their fate was sealed.
When marriages were solemnised, the bride and the groom were asked to repeat their vows in front of Gowri. If they passed the Gowri test, they were allowed to go ahead.
Gowri soon became a celebrity and in her shadow, Rukmini and Kishan also became famous.
One day, the correspondent of an international magazine asked Kishan, “Did Gowri’s unique ability ever get you into trouble with your wife?”
“No, of course not!” he shot back.
“Moo-ha, Moo-haha, Moo-hahaha!” laughed Gowri, who was standing right beside him!
