2.BLACK BEAUTY/ BLACKY

I think I was in Fifth standard or so, when my dad brought home our first pet. She was a dark black cow, whom I immediately named as Black beauty (as I just loved that story,I read somewhere). I don’t remember any antics of Blacky. She was a good calf. One day, she was tied in a field near to our house for grazing. Somehow her rope got loosened and unknotted, and she began to roam among crops. The owner of the field was furious and whipped her. She hastily ran back home. But there runs a road that separates the grazing ground and home. While crossing it, a bus hit her and ran over her. My parents and many others went to the accident site (I was at school).They pulled her out from underneath the bus and brought her home. Her spinal cord was affected and she couldn’t move her back legs and her tail. Then began a long treatment period in the cowshed at the back of our house, which was aimed at bringing her mobility back. My father brought ayurvedic physicians and the place always smelt of kozhambu and thailams. My parents and physicians would treat her with ayurvedic ‘kizhis’ and all. And finally one day the the miracle happened. She walked, came to our front yard and cried an “mbaa” as thanks for my dad. Soon she was walking and grazing in our front yard. But the happiness didn’t last long. Her tail had lost its movement and when she grazed the crows began to peck on her tail. Soon it developed a wound and my mom used medicines and clothes to dress it. But the crows continued to attack her and finally the wound was too deep that her tail was in a danger of falling off any day. Finally with tears in his eyes, my father had to sell her (Rather give her away).