“Moooooooo, mooooooooo!!!”
“Maa…” Mali woke her mother up.
“What’s wrong, Mali?” Mother replied in her sleep.
“Maa, wake up, Rekha is mooing, I think she is ready to give birth,” Mali replied with worry in her eyes.
“What??” The mother woke up quickly and ran towards Rekha.
When she reached her, she saw her husband with the doctor giving birth to Rekha’s baby. Her husband’s eyes were filled with happiness as Rekha gave birth to a baby girl after three baby boys, as milking is a source of income in the villages[, along with farming the fields]. As Rekha was getting old, they needed one more cow to give milk.
Mahawati (Mali’s mother) ran toward Rekha and hugged her, with tears in her eyes. “Rekha… This year I will give you a break from this pain. Thank you so much for this beautiful baby girl.”
However, Rekha cried even more, since now it is her daughter’s turn to go through that pain.
“I can understand your love for your daughter making you cry,” Mahawati said, “but this is what it is. This is the rule of our business and this world. Till the time you breed we will ear. But I promise you the day you will stop breeding I will then also take care of you as a part of my family. I won’t let your sacrifice for my family go in vain like others.”
After a couple of years, Mali got married far away from her village, and , Mali’s brother, also got married, to a woman named Asha. Mahaan’s wife didn’t like Mahawati. She always used to complain to Mahaan about his old mother.
One day, Asha only brought food for the cows who bred but not for Rekha, who had stopped breeding. Mahawati didn’t know that and gave some food to Rekha, despite Asha’s hatred of her.
Asha saw her mother-in-law and went to Mahaan, boiling with anger. She said, “Mahaan, ask your mother to mind her own business, as she is filling Rekha with the food of the cows who are breeding. She always feeds Rekha who is not breeding anymore. Why have we kept Rekha in our house?”
Mahaan calmly replied to Asha, “The house you have come to, the cows who are breeding every year and helping us to earn, the cars you ride to your parent’s house with pride, the gold and the sarees you are wearing, the food you eat, everything we have started from Rekha. Rekha was the only cow in our family, who helped us earn some money when we had nothing. Rekha has kept us alive through our time of poverty. After three baby boys, she gave us one baby girl, who then gave us many more baby girls. Rekha used to go through the labour pain every year just so that she could provide us with milk and give birth to a baby girl for us. So, if you cannot tolerate Rekha, then you are free to go. Rekha is more than family to us, she or anyone from my family is not going anywhere.”
After listening to this, Asha ran towards Rekha with tears in her eyes and said, “ I am sorry, Rekha, for always being mean to you. Just because you are not breeding doesn’t mean you don’t have a right to live with dignity. I promise with the growing income I will give shelter to all those cows who have been abandoned by their owners just because they cannot give them milk and babies.”
Mahaan and Mahawati listened to Asha, and they all hugged Rekha with tears of happiness in their eyes.
Five years later…
Today, Asha and Mahaan have 35 cows, who they brought to the shelter from the roads take care of. Rekha has passed away, and Mahawati kept her photo in the Mandir to keep her alive in their hearts.
