Village Trip, Animal Farm and Neelu

Back in my childhood, one of the many reasons why I used to look forward to my village trip during the summer holidays was the fact that I got there all kinds of animals to play with. In villages, the animals usually serve the household and trade purpose. But for me, they served the purpose of a play companion. Majority of them were unwilling though, only the dogs used to be friendly enough. But it didn’t matter, I used to get hold of anyone I wanted to play with, whether it wanted to or not (I was a kid, all my needs were taken care of in my Nanihaal 😛 :P)

So among all these animals, everyone had their individual understanding with me. The cows knew I had a chhapati in my hand, when they saw me approaching. “Feed me and then I will ignore you” was their philosophy. I never troubled them much though, courtesy their perfectly shaped sharp horns. Then there were these chickens, for whom I was there no.1 nemesis. Still once I got hold of them, they were helpless and used to give up. Dogs were, as usual, very friendly and shared a special bond with me.

There was just this one thing that didn’t go very well with me. It was a baby goat, hardly a month old, and a special point of attraction for me. Baby goats are usually set free, since they don’t go too far from their mother, and hence it was very difficult to get hold of him. Dogs helped me a few times though by terrifying him to submission. But he never grow very fond of me. I continue irritating him though.

Kids and logic don’t go very well together. Though the baby goat was jet black in color, I named him “Neelu”. Don’t ask me why, I don’t remember. I was hardly 10 back then and only two things I understood was when to eat and when to poop.

My village trip used to be very predictable. Running all around the farms, doing stupid stuff, getting injured at least once, breaking my spects in the process, being cured and then beaten up back to injury by my mother. But this time something out of the line happened. One day when I woke up, I saw that mother goat was not there, and Neelu was tied up. He was bleating like anything. On doing some R&D, my grandpa told me that she was sold away. Neelu, obviously, was kept back to be grown for sacrifice.

I was unsure how will he survive. He was just a kid. But that’s how it goes with them. I went towards him and something unusual happened. He didn’t shy away from me and let me touch him without any struggle. He continued bleating though. I grew very sympathetic towards him and from then onwards, I used to spend almost all my time with him. Feeding him, taking him out on a walk (like a dog) and even letting him free at times. I had grown a lot of affection for him. Slowly, he had also grown very fond of me.

Time passed by. And our bond grew so strong that he couldn’t let go of me. If he didn’t see me around, he would bleat uninterruptedly. And won’t stop until I came back. I somehow used to sneak him into the house at night and tie him close to where I sleep. On waking up I would find everything around me completely chewed up, even the clothes I was wearing. He was generous enough to let go of my skin though. This didn’t used to go very well with mom. She used to kick him out and start thrashing me. This was that one time of the day when both of us used to share the same emotions and shout together. One bleating outside the house and other inside the house.

The things continued the same way. Going all around the village together. No one tied Neelu now. I was the new mother goat. Thankfully they trusted me just enough not to tie me down. Sneaking him in continued. We were now beaten together for any mischief done. I used to feed him from my food (He never returned the favor though) Playing along, I never realized that the time to depart had come so near. We had to leave the next day and I could not imagine how would he survive without me. Or for that matter, how would I survive without him.

That day came. He was tied the same way as the day when his mother went away. He was bleating in the very same way. I took a promise from my grandpa that he will sell Neelu when he grows up and will not sacrifice him. It was an emotional departure. I could hear his voice a long way after leaving the house. The voice slowly died as we went away. The memories didn’t.

Thankfully I was a kid and didn’t make a lot out of it. I was back to normal in a few days. Neelu also found a companion goat and was doing fine, as I was told. An year later. Once again it was time for the village trip. Neelu was sold away by then. On reaching village, all I wanted was to go and meet him. Anxious to see him, I was taken to the field where he was. I ran towards him and to my utter disbelief, he ran away from me. He recognized his name but didn’t recognize me. Heartbreak? Not exactly, but I was not able to understand what exactly happened.

I was told the reason then. “Golu, he is a goat. Not a dog”. Well that was true. A goat and not a dog. I felt angry at him back then and came back to home and continued my normal village trip. Running all around the farms, doing stupid stuff, getting injured at least once, breaking my spects in the process, being cured and then beaten up back to injury by my mother. No Neelu happened this time around. I maintained a distance from goats this time. I was angry at their entire species. But again, I was a kid. Life was much easier back then. I could understand only two things. When to eat and When to poop.