HOW NOW BROWN COW?

Unlike Australia, where cows will tend to be found in paddocks, Sri Lankan cows can be found anywhere, getting up to all sorts of mischief. Today I thought I would share my favourite cow anecdotes with you.



One sure-fire place to find cows is along the road leading up to the school my children attend. At the start of the road there is a large bull, owned by a man who chops wood to make kindling. He then puts it into his bullcart for the bull to pull and him to sell. When the bull is not pulling, he is usually found grazing across the road from the owner's house. However, occasionally I have seen him tethered to a post out the front of the owner's house. Not such a big deal, except that this bull is massive and the post is small and simple - and supports the house! It's a good thing for the owner that the bull never decides to go walk-about while tethered to the house.



Further along the road you will find a small herd of cows - maybe about 5 - and their calves. They are there every day, without fail, always at the same place, ambivalent to the traffic congestion around them. And why are they there? Well, this seems to be the place that people dump their rubbish. So the cows gather there and munch their way through plastic bags of refuse. Cows love rubbish. In fact, I suspect they actually love rubbish more than grass, as there are places where they might potentially graze on green grass but still they choose the rubbish. Burger, anyone?

Occasionally the cows do go for a bit of a wander along the road but it's not grass they're looking for. A sight that never fails to amuse me is a cow that has wandered up to one of the open-fronted shops that line the street and is standing at the counter as though it is trying to purchase a bun or banana. If it gets a little too inquisitive the shop owner will try and shoo it away before it tries to enter the shop but, more often than not, it is ignored until it figures it's not going to get anything and wanders back to the rubbish pile, where it figures it has better chances of getting something to eat.

Of course, the road to school is not the only place to find cows. In the centre of town, near the market area is an open area that is mostly gravel but does have patches of grass. Recently, a small herd of cows - again, maybe 5 or so plus calves - spent the day here (though goodness knows how they got there). Anyway, in one corner of the open space is a gravel pile. On this particular day the cows were up for a bit of excitement and adventure so they all decided to climb the gravel pile. There they were, all trying to fit themselves atop the gravel pile; the uppermost cows standing very proudly at the peak. I think they needed to plant a flag and claim the gravel pile in the name of all cow-dom.

But my all time favourite place to find cows is in the McDonalds car park. Does any more need to be said? Yes, today's blog was simply my excuse to use my favourite Sri Lanka photo.