Friday, April 20, 2007

Scenes from a foot path

Today morning as I was standing on a foot path waiting for my aunt, I noticed a bunch of cows walking up towards me, one on the foot path and the others walking in the middle of the road. All of them had bells around their necks so I figured they weren't stray. But these cows seemed to be doing as they pleased without anyone to monitor them. Just then I noticed this guy on a motor cycle who was riding rather slowly with no apparent purpose. It then struck me that he could be the guy who was in charge of the cows, in other words, a cowherd. I have always thought of cowherds as these small boys with sticks in their hands running after their cows. But here before me was a never-seen-before cowherd on wheels. It was funny looking at how this guy managed the cows. The brown one was going a little mad crossing the road again and again. Nothing stopped the cowherd from doing so himself with the purpose of getting the cow to behave. He then came close to the foot path as if to park and yelled something at the white cow who was lagging behing chewing something on the foot path. The cows seemed to behave well for a while after which two brown ones decided that the trash in a dustbin on the other side of the road seemed interesting. They crossed without hesitation but the cowherd couldn't. So this time he parked his bike, crossed the road, brought the cows back to the other side of the road and got onto his bike again. It was really entertaining watching this clumsy, lazy, new-age cowherd trying to manage those four naughty cows. I stood observing them for quite a while till I realized that the cowherd was looking back at me like he thought I was attracted to him, which I realized was not something I wanted him to think of me. So, I then turned to look at the old, dilapitated, still inhabited, mossy building next to the foot path which I predict is going to crumble down any day soon.

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