I was born in 1982, and I spent my childhood in a large joint family of ten members. Until around 2000, we all lived together under one roof, sharing our happiness, responsibilities, and countless memories.
My grandfather was a true entrepreneur and an extremely disciplined person. He ran an iron business and was also a successful farmer. In the early 1980s, under a government scheme, he received 18 cows. He took excellent care of them and gradually developed our farm with great dedication.
He was also among the first batch of Development Officers in LIC. Punctuality, honesty, hard work, and discipline were the qualities for which he was particularly known.
One of my most beautiful childhood memories is of the evenings I spent with my grandfather. Every day, he would teach us Sanskrit shlokas and tell us stories and lessons about good values. Those teachings quietly became a part of who I am, and even today, I can see their influence on my life.
Fresh Milk, Buttermilk and a House Full of Cows
Because we had so many cows at farm, fresh milk was always available. We enjoyed fresh milk, buttermilk, and curd almost every day.
My mother and aunt would often give free milk or buttermilk to people in our colony who needed it. Helping others was never considered something extraordinary in our family—it was simply a way of life.
Our farm was also a place of constant excitement for us children.
Whenever one of our cows gave birth to a calf, my two cousins and I with my sister would be overjoyed. The newborn calves looked incredibly cute and innocent. Watching them run around the farm was great fun.
We loved watching the mother cow gently lick her newborn calf clean and then feed it. There was something incredibly beautiful about the bond between a mother and her calf.
Whenever a new calf was born, we would watch everything with great curiosity. The experienced members of our family would carefully remove the soft covering from the calf's hooves. They believed that this would help the hooves develop properly and prevent difficulties while walking in the future.
We would also call a veterinary doctor whenever a calf was born. The doctor would examine both the mother and the newborn calf and provide the necessary medicines and injections to keep the cow healthy. Proper care after delivery helped the mother cow recover quickly.
Once the calf had finished drinking enough milk, we would bring some milk home for the family.
I would often wake up early in the morning, go to the farm, and bring fresh milk home.
A Memory I Can Never Forget — 1994
But one incident from 1994 remains particularly vivid in my memory.
One of our cows had given birth to a beautiful little calf just 15–25 days earlier. Unfortunately, due to health complications, the mother cow died.
I was deeply saddened that day.My biggest concern was the little calf.What would happen to it?How would it survive without its mother?
The following day, my father brought the calf home. He taught me how to feed it milk from a bottle.For the next five or six months, I regularly took care of that little calf.Slowly, something very special developed between us.
Whenever I returned home from school, the calf would happily shake its head and make a distinctive sound as if it were welcoming me home.There was so much affection in its eyes.Wherever I went, its eyes seemed to follow me.
I would play with it, talk to it, and somehow I felt that it understood everything I was saying.It was no longer just a calf.It had become a member of our family.
“What About Me?”
There is one tiny incident from those days that I still remember with a smile.One day, I brought some prasad home from a temple and distributed it among everyone in the family.But in the rush of things, I forgot to give some to the calf.The calf made a sound and looked at me in a way that seemed to say:“What about me?”
I smiled, gently stroked its head, and placed a little prasad on my hand for it.The little calf slowly licked the prasad from my palm with its rough tongue.The sensation was completely new to me.At that moment, I felt a strange mixture of happiness, curiosity, a little fear, and a ticklish sensation in my hand.The calf happily finished the prasad.
It was such a small moment, but it became one of the sweetest memories of my childhood.Even today, whenever I think about it, I can almost feel that little tongue touching my palm.
🐄❤️
From a Little Calf to a Grown Cow
Eventually, the calf grew bigger and became capable of eating grass and dry fodder.It was then taken back to the farm.
Whenever I visited the farm, I would always make time to meet it.It would recognize me immediately. It would happily shake its head and, sometimes, lovingly rest its head against my chest.Those moments gave me a kind of happiness and peace that is difficult to describe in words.
What My Childhood Taught Me
Looking back today, I realize that those experiences taught me some of the most important lessons of my life.
They taught me love, responsibility, compassion, patience, and care.More importantly, they taught me that affection does not always need words.
But we had something priceless—time, nature, family and cattle .
❤️🐄🌾
whenever i saw, just clicked.
No comments:
Post a Comment