Raya (Eid) Ramblings 2004
Subject: [MERCY Secretariat] Raya Ramblings
I had no idea this year's Raya holidays would be so eventful. So filled with strong emotions and feelings. If I may, I would like to share it with you in a series of short essays. Beginning with this one, about baby cows and baby humans.
We were slowly making our way to the baby cow. Me in front, setting the pace, with my 2 nieces and 2 nephews not far behind in my footsteps. Slow, because we were trying our best to dodge the many cow pats on the ground, and slow because we didn't want to spook them.
I half expected them to bolt - this was no petting zoo mind you. We had stopped my moms trusted but unreliable Volvo by the side of a padi field, 8 kms from Sg Petani town (I still call it a town, even though it has outgrown this moniker a few times over this past decade). But the baby cows, two of them, seemed oblivious to this pack of city dwellers trying to turn their next half hour or so into a Pets Wonderland experience.
We approached the one lying down first - the bigger of the two, and by its posture, the one that seemed supremely confident of facing whatever we could throw at it (lots of small eager hands I can tell you). Its head was nestled on its side, and the next few minutes with the baby cow was pure magic. The kids were all over her as I pointed out the obvious, in me best Attenborough accent. The squiggly skin that could make flies run, the swishy tail that made sure they did, the spots on its head where the horns would in time grow, the two-toed hooves, the lips and lower teeth which looked just like ours. And look below! Look look, its a girl!
As we pored over every inch of her body under the hot sun, other things slowly grabbed my attention, and the teacher became the student. How long fine hair grew to block insects from flying into her ears. How it too had whiskers, like Leo and Bubbles and Snorkels (our cat owners). And like uncle Aris. Long long thick eyelashes that, had it been on a woman, would have dropped men from 20 feet away.
And those eyes. Huge, soulful, wise beyond her age, reflecting back thousands of years of experience and instinct.
As I sat besides her, staring into those eyes, I silently prayed for a miracle. That one day, mankind would not only make peace amongst themselves, but with the other animals in this world. Perhaps Nisaa & Nurina, the 2 eldest, thought along those lines as well. At the very least, perhaps I may have sown in them the seeds of love and respect towards other living entities. Because they have seen that cows, however differently they look on our delicious plate of beef with ginger and spring onions, are so much like us.... and so much a part of this world we call Earth.
And that Nature is everywhere, if only we stop to look and make an effort to find it. We didn't have to trudge into a multi-storey shopping centre and pay RM8 to get into air-conditioned pens filled with rabbits, hamsters, goats and deer.
All you have to do is step outside.
Aris, Raya 2004
I had no idea this year's Raya holidays would be so eventful. So filled with strong emotions and feelings. If I may, I would like to share it with you in a series of short essays. Beginning with this one, about baby cows and baby humans.
We were slowly making our way to the baby cow. Me in front, setting the pace, with my 2 nieces and 2 nephews not far behind in my footsteps. Slow, because we were trying our best to dodge the many cow pats on the ground, and slow because we didn't want to spook them.
I half expected them to bolt - this was no petting zoo mind you. We had stopped my moms trusted but unreliable Volvo by the side of a padi field, 8 kms from Sg Petani town (I still call it a town, even though it has outgrown this moniker a few times over this past decade). But the baby cows, two of them, seemed oblivious to this pack of city dwellers trying to turn their next half hour or so into a Pets Wonderland experience.
We approached the one lying down first - the bigger of the two, and by its posture, the one that seemed supremely confident of facing whatever we could throw at it (lots of small eager hands I can tell you). Its head was nestled on its side, and the next few minutes with the baby cow was pure magic. The kids were all over her as I pointed out the obvious, in me best Attenborough accent. The squiggly skin that could make flies run, the swishy tail that made sure they did, the spots on its head where the horns would in time grow, the two-toed hooves, the lips and lower teeth which looked just like ours. And look below! Look look, its a girl!
As we pored over every inch of her body under the hot sun, other things slowly grabbed my attention, and the teacher became the student. How long fine hair grew to block insects from flying into her ears. How it too had whiskers, like Leo and Bubbles and Snorkels (our cat owners). And like uncle Aris. Long long thick eyelashes that, had it been on a woman, would have dropped men from 20 feet away.
And those eyes. Huge, soulful, wise beyond her age, reflecting back thousands of years of experience and instinct.
As I sat besides her, staring into those eyes, I silently prayed for a miracle. That one day, mankind would not only make peace amongst themselves, but with the other animals in this world. Perhaps Nisaa & Nurina, the 2 eldest, thought along those lines as well. At the very least, perhaps I may have sown in them the seeds of love and respect towards other living entities. Because they have seen that cows, however differently they look on our delicious plate of beef with ginger and spring onions, are so much like us.... and so much a part of this world we call Earth.
And that Nature is everywhere, if only we stop to look and make an effort to find it. We didn't have to trudge into a multi-storey shopping centre and pay RM8 to get into air-conditioned pens filled with rabbits, hamsters, goats and deer.
All you have to do is step outside.
Aris, Raya 2004
posted by aries at
1:06 AM
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