SANKARAN ‘KALA’

I recall Sankaran ‘Kala’ (a huge bull of Siva Temple, Kumbalam) used to visit our cows. Those days bulls were used as an offering (‘Nadayiruthu’) at the Siva temple by the villagers. The Hindus believe that bull is the vehicle of Lord Siva. The temple authorities as well as the villagers feed them. He was a huge bull with a big hump on its back. Nevertheless he walked with an elegant sprite on the public road. He was normally very calm and quiet but when children threw stones at him he used to get agitated. Its loud bellowing coupled with gestures like its angry shook of its head and body, lifting of its tail and taking a few steps forward towards them made them run away helter-skelter. He visited all the houses in Kumbalam without any special invitation. He had a high esteem of himself. He considered it his duty to impregnate all the cows of the village; as if to prevent any shortage of milk for children on the Island! Artificial insemination to produce better breeds which give more and more milk was introduced only since 1965; and it was only after this that all these bulls (‘Kalas’) too vanished. They would have faded into oblivion but for this note.

          

Excerpts from

MEMOIRS

An autobiography

by

Joseph J. Thayamkeril

Lawyer, Kochi, Kerala, India.

josephjthayamkeril.blogspot.com

josephjthayamkeril@gmail.com