The Long Trip to India - The Dancing Bull

I woke up to a loud and awful noise - like bag pipes. I had heard this noise before and so knew what it was. I leapt out of bed and rushed to the gate, where a teenage boy, his younger brother and a small bull were walking by. They each had some kind of a wind instrument to their lips and were producing this awful noise at an impressive volume. All three were decked up in their finest (if threadbare) clothes. Quickly I called them into the yard and they gave me a "performance". Here they are:

The bull was a "dancing bull". With a lot of cajoling, pushing and shoving, they got the bull to "salaam" by raising its front right leg; they got it to bow down to me; and finally, they got it to give me a "kiss". My mother-in-law found an over-ripe plantain and tossed it to the bull who darted for it with speed that would have made a cobra envious, and gobbled it up, skin and all.

I was profoundly struck by the "business model" of the two youngsters - it appeared to consist of nothing more than making the rounds of the same houses, once a week or so, with this bull. But look at the optimism and sense of purpose on their faces!


They asked that I give them a few photographs and the least I could do was say yes. In fact, I felt I owed them some kind of payment for posing so nicely and so gave them about Rs. 100, ($2.50) without telling the others as apparently, this was an atrociously high amount to pay them.

The finale was that the bull would "kiss" a person at its masters request. As the bull came towards me, I happened to look at its eyes, and a sudden sense came upon me that the bull was perfectly aware of what was going on - that it was conscious that it was the center of attention; that it had to perform; that I was the person who was the "benefactor" and that I was the person he had to "kiss". Seeing this level of intelligence, I have decided not to eat beef any more. If I do, I will consider it a failure - a moral lapse on my part. Here is a picture of the bull "kissing" me:


A few weeks later, I had the pictures developed, and when they came again gave them to the two boys when they next came by. They had also asked for "ornamental cloth for the bull", but I didn't know where to get any, so gave them some money instead.

This consciousness that the bull seemed to exhibit suddenly reminded me of something I had read in Jim Corbett's "The Chuka Man-Eater" (Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon, Jim Corbett, Oxford University Press, 20th Edition 2002, pp 84) where he writes: "The killing of the second boy (by the man-eating tiger) was evidently witnessed by the cattle, who rallied to his rescue - I have seen this happen with both cows and buffaloes..." I.e. cows/buffaloes will charge a man-eating tiger to protect their owner.

It strikes me that in early India (and to some extent even today), people lived very intimately with their cattle and so must have been well aware of their intelligence. This may explain why vegetarianism started out as a lifestyle in India, but not in America, where the native Americans did not live as intimately with their cattle, but hunted them instead. In India, as people lose their intimacy with cattle, non-vegetarianism is on the rise.

In 1999, I had some minor surgery done under local anesthesia. Though not in any pain, I could feel deep tugging and pulling within me, that psychologically had me almost passing out! I noticed that after that, for a year, I could not eat non-vegetarian food other than fish or eggs, even if I wanted to. Over the years, as the memory of that operation faded, I have begun to eat meat and chicken.

I try my best to resist, but keep failing. I suspect, like the hippopotamus, that is usually vegetarian, but which once in six months or so MUST have red meat, humans too, once they become non-vegetarians, periodically need to feed some kind of a need within them with non-vegetarian food. I now equate my desire for meat with something like alcoholism in the sense that if one is to be vegetarian, then, non-vegetarian food should be nowhere in the house. Only then is there some small chance of not failing and eating meat.

For me, my interaction with the dancing bull turned out to be a very fortunate, spiritual experience.