A MIGHTY MYSTERIOUS MOO.
Sanu lived in Montreal, Canada. Uncle Vinod and Aunty Rita loved it when Sanu visited them in England. Sanu was a good boy, and fun to have around.
This summer too, Sanu had come to stay with Uncle Vinod and Aunty Rita during his school holidays as usual. During this time, one day, a very very tired Uncle Vinod returned home from work. As Uncle Vinod opened his front door, there was an unexpected shock in store for him.
"Mooo, mooo!"
Uncle Vinod could not believe his ears. A cow was actually mooing loudly in his front room! Uncle Vinod went in the house in such a great hurry that he almost forgot to close the front door behind him.
The front room, which was very large for a British home, was on the right. Uncle Vinod turned towards it and tried to listen to make sure he had heard what he thought he had heard, but the mooing had stopped as suddenly as it had started. Uncle Vinod quickly opened the door to the front room.
Everything was just as it should be. There were no cows in the front room.
The TV was on and Sanu was quietly watching a programme about India by himself. Uncle Vinod thought India had lots of cows. Naturally a TV programme about India could have cows in it. So the mysterious mooing was no mystery at all! The mooing must have come from the cows on the telly!
"Mystery solved, thank God! Oh how silly of me to think a cow can be in our front room! What I need is a nice cup of Aunty Rita's tea", said Uncle Vinod to himself.
But then, Uncle Vinod noticed that the TV programme was about Taj Mahal. Now Taj Mahal is a monument in India, built over three hundred and sixty years ago by Emperor Shah Jahan. When his Queen Mumtaz died, Emperor Shah Jahan was heartbroken and so in her memory he had built the magnificent white marbled monument known as the Taj Mahal. Taj Mahal is very famous and people come from all over the world to see and admire it.
Unfortunately noticing the TV programme did not help at all because Uncle Vinod knew, no cows were ever allowed in the Taj Mahal!
Uncle Vinod scratched his head.
Uncle Vinod mumbled: "H'm!! No cows in the front room! No cows on the telly!"
Sanu had not even noticed that Uncle Vinod was there because he was so engrossed in the story of the Emperor Shah Jahan and his beautiful wife, Queen Mumtaz. So Uncle Vinod quietly tip-toed back out of the front room and closed the door behind him ever so gently so as to not disturb Sanu.
Then Uncle Vinod called out at the top of his lungs: "Aunty Rita, where are you?"
Aunty Rita was cooking and she came out of the kitchen, with a rolling pin still in her hand.
"What's all this shouting about Uncle Vinod? What's the matter...."
Aunty Rita saw that Uncle Vinod did not look happy.
"Have you bought any cows today Aunty Rita?" blurted out Uncle Vinod.
Aunty Rita looked at Uncle Vinod as though he had gone mad.
"Yes Uncle Vinod, bought thousands and thousands of cows! What do you think?"
Using Uncle Vinod's voice she said:
"Have you bought any cows today Aunty Rita?"
She continued as she said in her normal voice:
"You may not have noticed it my dear but we are actually in modern day England! Are you going bonkers in your old age or what! What possible use would I have for a cow of my own?"
"Well I don't know Aunty Rita. I thought you bought a cow so that maybe we could have fresh milk or something...."
Aunty Rita went back into the kitchen shaking her head in disbelief.
Uncle Vinod followed her.
"B..b.. but.. well Aunty Rita it doesn't make sense! Sense it makes not! I most definitely heard a cow mooing in our front room and as ..."
"Mooo, mooo!" came from the front room.
Uncle Vinod looked at Aunty Rita, there was no way Aunty Rita could not have heard the mooing this time. But it just was not poor Uncle Vinod's day. What Aunty Rita did totally startled Uncle Vinod.
Instead of being shocked by hearing the mysterious mooing coming from the front room, Aunty Rita was amused and just started laughing.
"I knew it, Aunty Rita! YOU ARE HIDING A COW in the front room!!"
Aunty Rita stopped laughing and said:
"Well Uncle Vinod, in that case let’s go and look in the front room! If you find any cows there, they are all yours, you get to keep them with their moos and all!!!"
They both ran to the front room but again, the mooing stopped just before they got there. Inside Sanu was still there by himself quietly watching the TV programme about the Taj Mahal. No cows were to be seen there anywhere in the front room!
Uncle Vinod looked behind the door - no cows there.
Uncle Vinod looked behind the telly - no cows there.
Uncle Vinod looked behind the easy chair - no cows there.
Aunty Rita was enjoying herself and followed closely Uncle Vinod copying each and every one of his moves. She was pretending to double check that Uncle Vinod had not missed any cows.
Uncle Vinod looked behind the curtains - no cows there.
Uncle Vinod looked behind the fireguard - no cows there.
Aunty Rita finished looking behind the fireguard and was very disappointed. She looked at Uncle Vinod for more suggestions.
Uncle Vinod did not know where to look next.
"I know Uncle Vinod, a good detective will now look at the ceiling to see if the cows are hiding there!"
Uncle Vinod did as Aunty Rita suggested and looked at the ceiling - no cows there.
And Aunty Rita thought that it was a great joke!
Uncle Vinod was of course put out by the joke on himself. But he became more determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious mooing. Next, Uncle Vinod, followed by Aunty Rita who was determined to assist him, went right through the house, room by room. But there were no cows anywhere!
"Mooo, mooo!" came from the front room.
They both returned immediately to the front room but the mooing had stopped once again before they reached the door of the front room.
Aunty Rita tried to control her laughing out loud and pretended to be very serious. She looked at Sanu.
"Sanu my dear boy! Your Uncle Vinod here needs our help! Poor dear! Uncle Vinod must be slowly going out of his mind!! He hears things that are not there! May be a cup of tea will help him."
Sanu turned to look at Uncle Vinod and then at Aunty Rita.
"Sanu, your Uncle Vinod thinks that cows live with people in England, in British houses!! He is going bonkers if you ask me!! Now, have you seen any cows in here just now?"
Sanu looked surprised.
"What? Cows? Here? In our front room? Of course not Aunty Rita! How is that possible! Cows do not live in houses with people! And cows stink!"
Then Sanu and Aunty Rita both looked at each other trying hard to keep straight faces. Uncle Vinod was sure they both knew something but were not letting on.
"You do not mean a cat Aunty Rita do you?"
Sanu meowed perfectly like a cat. It startled Uncle Vinod.
"And you do not mean a dog do you Aunty Rita?"
Then Sanu barked perfectly like a small helpless puppy.
"And you definitely do not mean a horse, Aunty Rita do you?"
He then sat up straight in his chair, stamped his feet on the carpet and began to neigh loudly like a horse.
Uncle Vinod was taken by surprise and instinctively jumped out of the way.
Aunty Rita smiled and shook her head. Sanu and Aunty Rita tried hard but could not control themselves and burst out laughing.
Aunty Rita said to Uncle Vinod:
"Well this is so mysterious is it not Uncle Vinod! We hear mysterious mooing in the front room but when we look for cows, well, well, well - the mooing cows have mysteriously 'mooo-ved' on! No cows can be found anywhere. As if magically the cows have 'mooo-ved' on and disappeared, eh Sanu?"
"Yes Aunty Rita! I have never heard any "udder" sad, mysterious, "moooing" story like this before! A mighty mysterious moo without a cow, but - ha ha - how Aunty Rita? How?"
Uncle Vinod said tearing his hair out: "Yes how can there be mooing without a cow Aunty Rita, HOW?"
Sanu and Aunty Rita had another hearty laugh. Exhausted Uncle Vinod clutched his head and just collapsed in an easy chair.
"Please don’t tell Uncle Vinod, Aunty Rita, it's our secret for now and we'll tell him "an-udder" time!!"
Aunty Rita winked at Sanu and zipped up her mouth with her fingers as she left the room to get Uncle Vinod a nice cup of tea.
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SPECIAL NOTE
Where is the mighty mysterious mooing cow? Can you guess what is happening here? Any ideas? If you know, then please DO NOT tell Uncle Vinod!! It is also our secret now!
And you can act out this story with your friends! Draw some pictures based on the story and send copies to Sanu at:
amightymysteriousmoo@gmail.com
Top five pictures, best liked by us, will be included in the future editions of this book (so please give us some brief details about you).
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If you have not guessed the mystery
then read on.
Aunty Rita and Sanu were in it together from the start!! Of course there never were any cows in the front room! Sanu was ace at making calls of birds and animals. His mooing like a cow was so real, his poor Uncle Vinod, who was also very tired at the time, was totally fooled!
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