MILK OF MEMORIES

After a long day in the office when I came home the little flash of our house came to me with his speed force and clashes with my legs, He loses his balance and I hold him, watch out buddy!

He smiled and tried to lift my bag with his little hands it was too heavy for him but, somehow he managed to reach the table put the bag and said, see.. dad, now I became old enough for big and heavy responsibilities.

All these seemed quite unfamiliar to me I sat on the couch it feels so good after a long day I was just relaxing when Rohan asked me again, What do you think dad? 

Off..off course you are very intelligent and responsible, but why are you asking this?!

Meera came up with a cup of coffee and offered to me, He wants a pet dog and I refused that’s why he is doing all this stuff to convince you.

Rohan was looking at my face with hope, Dear son I know you are very responsible but having a pet animal is not like having a toy it is a very responsible duty to take care of him. Rohan tried to convince me but I postponed the topic till the next morning.

That was enough trial that night but this little incident recalled some very nice memories of my life. When I was eight years old I lived with my grandparents. My grandpa used to pet a cow named “Gori”. As a child, I did not like animals but my grandpa, He spends most of his time with Gori that’s why our ideas didn’t meet at all.

One morning when he called me in the backyard to get his coffee, I slipped on cow dung and messed myself. Ahh, that was a quite bad memory but now it makes me smile. At the moment when I slipped, my grandpa came to me and started laughing and said, “Watch out buddy” and offered his hand. I was at peak of my anger and after his laugh, a volcano burst inside me. I stood by myself and just burst on him in anger,

“What makes you laugh so hard...what is funny here just look around what have you made here, a piece of shit. I am regretting why did I come here. Grandpa tried to calm me, You’re overreacting son don’t worry about it will get clean.

I look at his cow she was staring at me it made me angrier I didn’t remember what happened to me that day I just didn’t want to listen to him. Perhaps my hatred of animals was making me angrier. That time I wished that maybe this cow would not exist at all in front of my grandpa I also said that I hate that place and never came back.

And all these things took the smile off my grandpa’s face. I still regret it a lot. That was the last time I’ve seen him smiling and the memory of his smiling face gives me so much affection. 

That evening grandma came to me and offered a glass of chilled chocolate milk. I was sad but a glass of chocolate milk was enough to bring a smile to the face of an eighth years old child. She assured me not to get bothered by that cow from now. 

The next day, Grandpa was out of town I was playing with a ball and it went to the backyard. I went to the backyard but this time I was very careful surprisingly, the backyard was clean I picked up the ball and while returning I saw the mammary glands of the “Gori” were swollen.

When I told grandma about that she thought it had a bee bite nothing serious. I thought God punished for her yesterday’s mistake. She promised me for ice-cream and we forgot about it.

When grandpa arrived, He saw “Gori” and he started sweating he didn’t drink a glass of water after his arrival he just wanted to know what happened to “Gori”. Grandma was trying to make him calm but he didn’t care about anything he called the doctor. I was thinking why he is overreacting she is just an animal.

When the doctor came grandpa was behaving like a child he was assisting him everywhere. The doctor diagnosed her and concluded that it was “Mastitis” an infection of the mammary gland and it infected a large area even the navel area of the cow. Grandpa became very sad it was like his daughter became sick he curiously asked the doctor for its treatment. The doctor prescribed six injections now and three for three days because the infection became very big so we have to get rid of this as quickly as possible. When the doctor was injecting the cow grandpa was holding her, one of the injections was intravenous when it punctured the vein of the cow she got tears in her eyes and so do in my grandpa’s eyes. When the doctor was removing the extra milk from her breasts to clean up I saw the milk was watery. That night “Gori” and my grandpa both didn’t eat anything  I was feeling terrible that night. Since I cursed the cow yesterday it was like I was responsible for her condition. I was in so much guilt that couldn’t even face the sight of my grandpa and got hidden from him. I returned home without meeting him and never drink milk after that incident.

Now it feels like she was not just an animal or just a cow, she was a part of his life as a family member to him. I was unable to understand the relationship between humans and animals. I feel Rohan is right I should allow him for the pet dog he could learn those things which I couldn't in childhood. He could develop a love for animals. Perhaps it will be a chance for me to correct my past mistakes. I hope all will be good tomorrow morning.