All in my family love pets. When i was very small we used to have parrot, pigeon, Dog (Tommy) many cows and i fond of two white and light coffee color. Particularly my father is very fond. We also used to keep hen, goats, ducks and even a tortoise etc.
Nearer to my house our agricultural lands were used to be there and around we used to have a very big pond. I and my younger sister Sujata used to take the ducks to the nearby pond and at times take to our river which is also very close to my house. I still remember one day when we took the ducks to the river since they are large number, we used to play with them – if one ducks goes this side the other used to go the other side and it became difficult for both of us to keep them together. The ducks used to take dip in the river and also ponds.
We used to have a large number of poultry and the used to give eggs frequently. As i mentioned initially, since my father was a doctor,, the villagers used to give agriculture produce, hen, goats etc. when they are satisfied with my father’s treatment.
There are a number of incidents to share. One with tommy our dog and this you will find in a separate article.
The parrot used to talk and call by names and used to sing songs. Also we used have a Kokila.
We used to send our cows alongwith herd and they used to take monthly charges. The place where the cows are kept are nearer to my house. However, we used to keep our cows in our house – outisde a thatched hut where the cows used to sleep. Morning when the herd goes we used to drop our cows with them and evening when they return we go and collect them. Since the number of cows in the herd are in hundreds at times some cows miss. The same thing happened with our both cows in different time and we used to go around the village and agricultural fields even in the evening with torches otherwise foxes, dogs etc. will attack them. some times we found and sometimes we do not find them for few days. Later on they come on their own.
At time i used to take both the cows for grassing outskirts of the village and even i used to cut grass and put it in jute bags and used to bring home when i bring the houses back home. I used to use sickle to cut the grass – while cutting some times i find different types of creatures/insects and at time even cancer, small snakes etc. that life was different – i used to go deep into the fields and i used to have scratches all over the body. I used to keep a stick with me. While going with cows, i had to tread the mud and its very bad during the rainy season as everywhere you will find water logs and mud but once you are inside you will forget everything.
While going with the cows i used to pluck ground nuts from the plants and used to eat. Also variety of jungle fruits are seen. Custard apple i used to pluck and eat as in the forest you will find many trees and sometime you will find ripe ones. Same is the case with mango, gua etc.
I was told my elder brother Tiru (Tirupati Rao) used to drink directly from the cows and one can understand how much we love the cows and the cows love us. We used to take utmost care of them.