11. THE INDIAN COW
White skin folds hanging loosely,
curved tusks of ivory jutting from skull,
large ear flaps providing drafts of air,
scaring away hoards of flies,
big eyeballs shining in car light,
nasal apertures covered with secreted slime,
long tail attached to a fringe of hair,
projecting from recesses of fleshy hind-side,
hunched back resulting in slow walking pace,
black hooves stuck to leg cartilage,
working incessantly in undulating hot soil,
absorbing crisp rays of midday sun,
with metal liners fixed to its leg,
irrespective of age, time, health,
giving liters of milk in a single day,
squeezed out deftly from suspended teats,
living on mere grass, a pure herbivorous disposition,
sometimes sighted consuming sewage and paper,
eaten as tasty beef meat in some nations,
considered as sacrosanct on Indian soil,
given the status of milk yielding mother,
grazing quietly on grasslands of fertility,
with occasional baths in monsoon rain-ponds,
the Indian cow sure commands loads of respect.