Beef has been banned in Maharashtra, an Indian state, under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act; the ban is effective March 2015.
The ban naturally led to hue and cry that basic rights of people (especially people belonging to a minority community) was being curtailed; after all, eating is a personal habit that should not be dictated by the government. Of course, the other side of argument was Cow is worshiped by people (read it as majority community) and hence eating a symbol of worship would tantamount to killing one’s God thus hurting sentiments of (majority) people.
Well, here is a story of triumph of human nature over subtleties of basic right versus religious sentiment.
Motorists in Bangalore, rather Bengaluru, are a notorious lot; nothing can come in between them and their destination; they honk to get their right to pass; they squeeze through any space defying science of dimension and what it can fit in; they do not mind, and more importantly others should not mind, any collateral damage that may occur during this endeavor; in short, they will brook no resistance to reach their destination.
A week or two back on a late weekend evening, a motorist with his usual strong sense of belief for right to passage was driving on a busy Bangalore road. On the side of road was a Cow, a pregnant one; being an animal and hence lacking a basic understanding of human nature, especially that of a Bangalore motorist, the Cow started to cross the road without either looking for a Zebra (another animal!) crossing or a pedestrian light to turn green.
Mercifully, some motorist realizing the fact that it was a pregnant animal, slowed down and stopped their vehicle to let the animal cross the road. But there was one Bangalore motorist, who did not want a pregnant Cow to come between him and his destination. So, the motorist maneuvered through the vehicles that had stopped to let the animal pass and tried to squeeze his way through. What happened next, was science of stupid in action.
The motorist believed there was enough space between the pregnant Cow and edge of the road for him to squeeze his vehicle through; unfortunately, it was not the case; the side of his vehicle hit the Cow and given the condition of Cow, or maybe otherwise too, it could not take the impact of vehicle; it was knocked down; the impact was so high that animal fell down, rolled over and hurt itself; the injury was deep and it started to bleed heavily immediately from the deep cuts it had along the right side of its body; the skin on one side of its body was ripped off.
Once the Cow fell, the road was clear; the motorist without a second though about the condition of the Cow, just sped away leaving the screaming animal lying in a pool of blood.
People who had stopped to give the right of passage to Cow were shell-shocked; people of Bangalore, who are gentle and kind in general, could not believe what they were witness to; a few quick-witted people, chased the (coward) motorist who had hit and drove off; others started to gather around the injured animal to see how best to help the Cow; some tried calling various animal welfare associations but luck did not favor them as their calls were unattended; it was already 9.00 PM in the night and it was a weekend.
By sheer coincidence, one of the passerby was a veterinary doctor; one look at the animal, the doctor realized the animal was in a really bad shape and if it was not attended to immediately, survival chances of both the Cow and yet-to-be born calf would be nil. But how could the Cow be attended to? There was no medicine available at hand, nor were there any medical instruments to conduct an operation; added to these complications, it was dark and the road hardly had any streetlight.
It is in such adversity, the nature of human character comes to the fore; it was a true example of triumph over adversity.
People just discussed what needed to be done to save the Cow and its yet-to-be born calf; the doctor gave a list of medicines and basic medical instruments to sew up the cuts; couple of them jumped on to their bikes to get what the doctor had asked for; others brought water from a nearby building/house to wash the wound and give some to the Cow to calm it down; someone else brought a piece of cloth from the nearby burial ground (yes, a burial ground!); others just switched on their mobile phones to illuminate the place so that the doctor could perform the surgery to sew up the ripped skin. It was just as if the crowd had come together to do what needed to be done to save the Cow and its yet-to-be born calf.
The doctor, along with his colleague who was called in to help, attended to the animal; it was a nerve raking 3-hour long surgical procedure that went on well into midnight. By around midnight, one of the animal welfare association had got a pick-up truck; the Cow was gently loaded onto the truck and sent to the animal shelter. All along, people just stayed back to do what needed to be done to ensure the safety of the Cow and its yet-to-be born calf.
For people who attended to the Cow, it was a weekend night spent away from party; but they were party to something beautiful, which was to save life of a Cow and its yet-to-be born calf.
The doctor, who first attended to the Cow, was from a minority community and the (coward) motorist who hit and ran, was from a majority community. It just goes to show, true humane nature is inherent and is not confined to a community.
For a complete news coverage on the story, click here.
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