Postscript
Selva’s wedding day dawns in the usual way: temple bells clanging, cows mooing, cars honking, and crows cawing. “Good you came,” says Sarala, beaming at me. “It is only a few of us here. The rest will come for lunch.”
Selva is wearing a white silk shirt and matching dhoti. A garland made of white tuberoses and sequins lies loosely around his shoulders. Beside him is the bride, wearing a bright-red silk sari with gold borders. She, too, has a garland and lots of jewelry: bangles, necklaces, waistband, armband, rings, the kind I wore for my wedding.
The priest ushers the couple into the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, right in front of the gods.
After we eat I find Selva by himself, standing in a corner, speaking on the phone.
I wait to say goodbye to him.
“That was my elder brother,” he says in explanation. “He couldn’t come from up north to attend the wedding.”
“It was a good wedding. You have a nice wife,” I reply.
He smiles shyly.
I change the topic.
“What gift shall we give you?” I ask Selva. “Shall all of us—the army wives and my family—pool together and buy you a cow?”
Now he grins. “They are trying to get me out of the milking business and you all want to buy me a cow?” he says. “I am driving a rickshaw these days.”
I smile back at him. “The times, they are a-changing,” I say.
After a pause, Selva confides. “What I really want to do is get a cab on lease and drive for those car companies. You know, like Uber.”
“Oh, really?” I ask, surprised that he would mention the most valued stock in the world.
Later that night, over dinner, I ask Ram a question. “How much will it cost to fund a small cab? A Hyundai or Nissan?”
My husband looks up from his plate and gives me a look—the look.
“What?” I ask defensively, as married folk are wont to do.
“Nothing,” he replies in dulcet tones. “We just need to look into Uber’s terms and conditions.”
Acknowledgments
One of the pleasures of writing a book is that you get to acknowledge the various strands of people and ideas that went into it.
My first acknowledgment goes to the milkmen and milkwomen whom I consulted throughout the writing of this book and who form its anchor and spine. Even though they don’t read this language, they were generous with their thoughts and ideas. My greatest thanks must go to them, and most particularly to Sarala, Naidu, Selva, Senthil, and Sarala’s extended family.
This book began with a series of articles for Mint Lounge. I thank R. Sukumar, and Priya Ramani for the editorial carte blanche that they gave me while writing that series. Raju Narisetti, the founding editor of Mint, has always been a cheerleader of my ideas.
Small sections of the book came from a piece I wrote about Bangalore for Condé Nast Traveler. I thank Ted Moncreiff, my editor, for his support.
For history and mythology about the cow, I thank Shatavadhani R. Ganesh, Vrinda Acharya, T. S. Sathyavathi, K. S. Kannan, Shankar Rajaraman, Michel Danino, Bibek Debroy, Naresh Keerthi, Venetia Ansell, Skanda, Shashi Kiran, Ramaswamy Sastry of Vedadhara Trust, and other Sanskrit scholars who have guided and corrected my knowledge on cows through their books, writings, and conversations. Those who would like to read about how the cow plays a role in Hindu ritual and thought need only to read the unabridged versions of the Mahabharata by Ganguli or Debroy, and the voluminous Brahmana literature, particularly the Shatapatha Brahmana.
For information about desi cows, I thank Sajal Kulkarni, Sopan Joshi, Monica Sodhi of the NDDB, Himakiran Anugula, Aparna Pallavi, Pon Dheepankar, Sagari R. Ramdas, Dr. Shantha Raman of Jain’s Cow Urine clinic, and Jahnavi Pai.
I read and used the research of the following people: Aparna Pallavi’s articles in Down to Earth (downtoearth.org); Sopan Joshi’s article “Why Is the Cow a Political Animal?” for Yahoo News; Jay Mazoomdaar’s piece “The Desi Cow: Almost Extinct,” for Tehelka magazine; D. N. Jha’s The Myth of the Holy Cow; Jan Houben’s Violence Denied: Violence, Non-violence, and the Rationalization of Violence Amongst South Asians; and Ashutosh Varshney’s “Return of the Cow” column, among others.
For books, I recommend The Study of Cow in Sanskrit Literature by a scholar with the magnificently long name Bogavarrapu Venkata Vishweshwara Sita Rama Sharma or B. V. V. S. R. Sharma; Kangayam Breed of Cattle by Dr. B. Pattabhiraman (available at Krishikosh.egranth.ac.in); “Profile of Livestock Keepers (Breed Savior Awardees 2010),” by Seva, an NGO (available at Sevango.in).
My brother and sister-in-law, Shyam and Priya Sunder, and their children, Sangeeta and Harsha, opened up their home to us for over a year when we first moved to Bangalore. They taught us the ropes about life in India and in Bangalore with tremendous grace, generosity, and affection. It is hard to imagine our life without their constant, entertaining, and reassuring presence.
My brother-in-law, Krishnan, an internist by training has been studying epigraphy and ancient Indian texts for years. His knowledge of and help with translations of the Shatapata Brahmana and Apasthamba Dharmasutra was invaluable. My sister-in-law, Lakshmi, has built a Hindu temple in Fort Myers, Florida. Her knowledge of temple architecture, sculpture, Indian music, and ancient Hindu rituals is only matched by her love for and expertise in treating children as a pediatrician. My conversations with both of them are always fruitful and fun. Their children, my niece and nephew Nithya and Arvind, are my pride and joy.
My friends Shailaja and Jayashankar and their daughters Madhura and Durga are great raconteurs who shared many stories about how intertwined cows are with the Indian ethos.
In Bangalore, our life has been enriched by Manish and Kavita Sabharwal and their author evenings; Sujata Kelkar Shetty and her Frangipani book club; Shruthi Shetty and her Salon of Ideas; Sejal Shah Gulati and her wine evenings; Stanley Pinto and his Bangalore Black Tie; Ananth and Sandhya Narayanan and their dinners; Devesh Agarwal and his TWC club; Phyllis Fang and Eric Savage and their Ivy Club; Nitin Pai and Pavan Srinath of the Takshashila Institution, amongst others.
Nandan and Rohini Nilekani took us into their home and introduced us to an ever-expanding group of friends. They showed us Coonoor in a way that is hard to replicate. Rohini sent me articles and ideas about cows—animals that she, too, loves.
I also thank Bharati and Jacob, Anuja and Bobby, Rasil and Anurag, and Asha Rai, for their arguments and ideas.
My building features in this book. My wonderful neighbors have all given me ideas that have made their way into my writings. I particularly thank Sumi Cherian who has been my co-conspirator in many cow-related experiments.
Thinking up an idea is one thing. But the long endeavor of writing a book requires a full supporting cast.
Michelle Tessler, my wonderful agent, was enthusiastic about this project from the start. She has been a fantastic guide and champion of the book.
Amy Gash, the book’s editor, has an amazing eye—not just for details, but for flow, rhythm, style, and relevance. Her instincts as a passionate reader have vastly improved this book. Her edits, always imbued with, dare I say, bovine compassion and wry New York humor have made the process interesting and educative. Thank you, Amy.
As always, my parents, Padma and V. R. Narayanaswamy, are my source of strength, character, and ideas. They are my foundation and North Star, giving guidance and direction.
My in-laws, Padma and the late, great V. Ramachandran, are phenomenal role models who set an example simply by the way they live life. I aspire to be like them and have benefited from their sage counsel in all areas of my life, including this book. My mother-in-law, Padma, read through this book, and has always been my most enthusiastic supporter.
Brunson Hoole and Matthew Somoroff have an eye and ear for the English language that I envy. Their meticulous work on this book has made it read “a thousand times better,” as my daughters would say.
My greatest thanks g
o to my husband. He is the brightest man I know, and as a result, I am never bored in our marriage. Our daily conversations enrich my mind and lay the ground for my columns and essays. He gives me newspaper articles, enables my work by giving me coverage at home, and is a terrific father, son, brother, and husband. Most of all, he is the fountainhead of my ideas, and my source of strength and stability.
This book is dedicated to my children.
Ranjini and Malini: dream catchers, heart snatchers, daughters mine. What can I say? With all my love . . . forever and ever . . . To infinity and beyond.
Selected Reading
Ambedkar, B. R. “Did the Hindus Never Eat Beef?” In The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? New Delhi: Amrit, 1948.
Bhandarkar, D. R., Ruth Bollongino, Joachim Burger, Adam Powell, Marjan Mashkour, Jean-Denis Vigne, and Mark G. Thomas. “Modern Taurine Cattle Descended from Small Number of Near-Eastern Founders.” Molecular Biology and Evolution 29, no. 9 (2012): 2101 – 2104.
Chakravarti, Mahadev. “Beef-Eating in Ancient India.” Social Scientist 7, no. 11 (June 1979): 51 – 55.
Dutt, Manmatha Nath, ed. The Garuda Puranam. Calcutta: Society for the Resuscitation of Indian Literature, 1908.
Eggeling, Julius, ed. and trans. The Satapatha Brahmana, pt. 2, bks. 3 and 4. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1885.
Houben, Jan E. M., and Karel R. van Kooij, eds. Violence Denied: Violence, Non-Violence and the Rationalization of Violence in South Asian Cultural History. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
Joshi, Sopan. “Why Is the Cow a Political Animal?” Yahoo! News, May 12, 2015, https://in.news.yahoo.com/why-is-the-cow-a-political-animal-110119929.html.
Laron, Greger, and Dorian Q. Fuller. “The Evolution of Animal Domestication.” Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 45, no. 1 (2014): 115 – 136.
Mani, Vettam. Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Work with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature. 1st English ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas, 1975. (Freely available at archive.org.)
Romero, Irene Gallego, et al. “Herders of Indian and European Cattle Share Their Predominant Allele for Lactase Persistence.” Molecular Biology and Evolution 29, no. 1 (2012): 249 – 260.
Said, Edward W. Reflections on Exile and Other Essays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Salque, Mélanie, Peter I. Bogucki, Joanna Pyzel, Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka, Ryszard Grygiel, Marzena Szmyt, and Richard P. Evershed. “Earliest Evidence for Cheese Making in the Sixth Millennium BC in Northern Europe.” Nature 493 (2013): 522 – 525. doi:10.1038/nature11698
Sharma, B. V. V. S. R. The Study of Cow in Sanskrit Literature. Delhi: GDK Publications, 1980. 68 – 69.
Sherratt, Andrew. Plough and Pastoralism: Aspects of the Secondary Product Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture. Sir William Meyer Lectures, 1938 – 39. University of Madras, 1940.
Zeder, Melinda A. “Pathways to Animal Domestication.” In Biodiversity in Agriculture: Domestication, Evolution, and Sustainability, edited by Paul Gepts, Thomas R. Famula, Robert L. Bettinger, Stephen B. Brush, Ardeshir B. Damania, Patrick E. McGuire, and Calvin O. Qualset, 227 – 259. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Shoba Narayan writes about food, travel, fashion, art, and culture for many publications, including Conde Nast Traveler, the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Town & Country, Food & Wine, Saveur, Newsweek, and House Beautiful. She writes a weekly column for Mint Lounge, an Indian business daily, which is affiliated with the Wall Street Journal. Her commentaries have aired on NPR’s All Things Considered. Narayan is the author of Monsoon Diary: A Memoir with Recipes, and her essay “The God of Small Feasts” won the James Beard Foundation’s MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award.
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