Goat and Gauri

Goat and Gauri
P K Routray
The title may look odd and strange,
The name is typical for a girl in an Indian village.
The weird combination of goat and a girl,
yes, your inquisitiveness, this poem is meant to unfurl.
In Indian villages even now domesticated animals are source of livelihood for many,
As you keep pets for fun, love and as a hobby, the Indian scenes may look too much a fantasy for you to agree.
Like your cats and dogs goats and cows are kept domesticated,
Helping in the income to master they stay with love reciprocated.
In one house in a certain village in Odisha,
A poor family lived with their daughter Gauri and son Bidisha,
Please bear with pronunciation of names differing from you,
Names from one country to another are always tongue twisters and appear always new.
The family was poor and had hard time to earn its bread and butter,
All possible methods were resorted to save and to earn by each family member.
As the son Bidisha was two years old, Gauri a six year old girl had to aid her parents’ earning,
She was engaged to earn in possible ways for survival without going to a school for learning.
Her father once brought for her a kid of a goat,
So that when it grows up, it can be sold to earn for family support.
Gauri took charge of the kid to look after,
She fed it and took it to forest for grass and leaves with care proper.
Gauri used to collect dry leaves and dry woods for family support,
The goat grazes plenty up to and beyond its throat.
Gauri loves the goat more than her younger brother,
She bathes the goat, sleeps with goat and took care of it more than her brother.
she named the goat as Haria out of love and affection,
sometimes she called it with varying emotion as Hari and Harekrishnan in different tone.
The goat responds to her love by licking her,
runs to her at her call whether it is at far or near.
It searches for Gauri when Gauri leaves it for other jobs,
After some days it accompanied her to the river where Gauri goes for her daily chores.
Both developed love for each other with divine intimacy,
Gauri does not leave the goat either while in awake or asleep as if with lunacy.
Once Gauri fell ill, the goat did not leave her bed side,
it stopped grazing and eating, tears from its eyes could not hide.
Same thing happened to Gauri when the goat did not take food for some days.
Being a girl and a goat with immense difference surprisingly they stayed, shared and played together always.
Within a year and half the goat grew up to full growth,
With shining skin and fleshy body he was of many dollars worth.
Many buyers came and offered higher and higher price for the goat,
Gauri was not made aware by her parents of any such plot.
The parents had seen the bondage between two with love and affection,
hence they could not think of Gauri condition on separation.
One such attempt of separating the two failed,
As gauri refused to go without Haria and ensured that her insistence prevailed.
For any harm or danger to Haria was thwarted by Gauri’s hunger threat,
Everybody was aware that the bondage between Gauri and Haria was the thickest.
As ill luck would have it, Gauri’s brother fell ill,
Her father had no money to treat her brother paying the medical bill.
The parents had no alternative but to sell the goat,
with this money, medication for Gauri’s brother were to be bought.
In the night under darkness they tried to separate,
but they failed as near Haria Gauri had slept.
Ultinatly with force the goat was separated and sold,
But the pathos of cry of both was so inhuman, no poetic words can unfold.
Gauri was told the reason of sale to save her brother,
but all cajoling and wise words could not penetrate her deaf ear.
she left food and cried loudly calling the name of Haria all the time,
rolling on the dust with psyche shock and expression of love the sublime.
Many days and months must have passed with Gauri’s such precarious condition,
Her brother recovered and tried to play with her on his own
but she remained psychiatric patient to her parents’ torture,
Many such Harias and Gauris’ love stories are found in Indian rural culture,
While nurturing cows and goats they fall in love
But the poverty of family and cruelty of time bulldozes their love as touched above,