A man murdered in Dadri for allegedly storing beef in his fridge – later, it turned out to be mutton though. A boy lynched in Himachal Pradesh for trading in bullocks. Another guy assaulted by a mob in Uttar Pradesh for carrying a hide claimed to be that of a cow. And an MLA assaulted in Jammu and Kashmir assembly by the BJP legislators before being attacked with ink in Delhi merely because he threw a beef party. So, is the good old harmless cow the most powerful animal these days? Maybe. Or the most loved and cared for? Far from it as a walk around the roads of Delhi proves it.
The cow might be gaining political currency but on the roads of the Capital, it is the same old story of neglect and apathy. They are almost as ubiquitous as vehicular traffic in the city.
Like the popular line in a mobile advertisement, wherever you go, it is bound to follow. From the highways to arterial roads, from squares to shop fronts, cows keep you company. At times, it goes beyond that when the otherwise peaceful animal decides to make its bed in the middle of the road and the entire family follows suit. The traffic comes to a standstill, infuriated motorists take recourse to expletives before finally a traffic cop arrives at the scene to cajole, push and shove the animals away.
Or when they risk their life and limb and your vehicle as they try to cross busy roads.
Worse though comes at garbage dumps or behind popular street-side eateries.
The cows nibble at the refuse, the left-over food from the plates casually strewn around the dustbin. They eat from the overflowing garbage carts; the garbage has peels of fruits and vegetables as also pieces of broken glass, plastic bottles and rejected polythene bags.
All this, willy-nilly, becomes a part of the cow’s daily diet – some are luckier as they are fed a roti or two by some devotees, who, however, have to tip-toe through garbage to feed the cow. Also, most cows, if not all, make Delhi’s roads and busy markets their homes. Heat of summer, showers of rain or the chill of winters, they face them all, often only partly hidden against a wall here or a parapet there.
That is surely no way to treat any animal, least of all an animal said to be central to belief.
