COW (Gai)
Cattle (called cows in vernacular usage) are domesticated ungulates. They
occupy a unique role in human history. They are considered the oldest form
of wealth. Their ability to provide meat, dairy and draft while reproducing
themselves and eating nothing but grass - in Goa they are also fed penn
(coconut cake) - has furthered human interests dramatically through the
millennia.
Young cattle are called calves. A young male is called a bull-calf; a
young female before she has calved is called a heifer. Male cattle bred
for meat are castrated unless needed for breeding. The castrated male is
then called a bullock or steer, unless kept for draft purposes, in which
case it is called an ox. If castrated as an adult, it is called a stag.
An intact male is called a bull. An adult female over two years of age
(approximately) is called a cow. The adjective applying to cattle is
bovine.
Cattle are ruminants, meaning that they have a unique digestive system that
allows them to synthesize amino acids. This allows them to thrive on
grasses and other vegetation. In those days, we saw only cows, buffaloes,
goats ruminate but now young boys and girls, teenagers and adults, sportsmen
and sportswomen are seen ruminating round the clock. Yes, I am talking
about the habit of chewing the gum which makes one think that they are
ruminating!
Birthing of a calf is a procedure that cows have been doing by themselves
for centuries. A calfs birth is imminent when a pregnant cow pulls away
from the rest of the herd when in a pasture and this is exactly what
happened to one of the cows while she was grazing on the hill close to my
house.
Calves are born with their feet out first followed by its head; the
shoulders are the next big push or two and, finally, out slides the new
calf! The mother quickly gets back on her feet and, with afterbirth hanging
out of her, begins to lick her new baby. The calf shakes its head, slapping
still-wet ears back and forth on its neck once the cows licking starts.
The calf soon raises its head and kicks a little. Within around half an
hour the calf is licked clean and all dried off; then comes the effort of
standing up. If it doesnt stand, it sure cant get any milk! After
several attempts and subsequent failures, the new calf finally finds its
feet, and with its mother licking and encouraging, the colostrum goes down
happily. A sucking calf, its little tail switching from contentedness, and
the cow licking her calf means a successful birth. Whenever our neighbors
or zotkars cows gave birth to calves, they would send us the colostrum
and our mother would prepare nice pudding out of it.
Since our ancestors were basically farmers, until the mid of the last
century, many people in Goa owned cows, bulls and buffaloes. The bulls and
he-buffaloes were used to pull bullock carts and for field work to plough
the fields. Well-built bulls were also used for bull fights. Cows and
she-buffaloes were and still are basically used to produce milk, which was
and still is an important product for a family people use milk for tea,
drink it for strength and also make butter out of it. In the 1950s and
1960s when houses had mud floors, cow dung was regularly used to
treat/cover the floors, and dry cow dung cakes were used for fire.
Cows may be big in size but they are very mild in nature. They give birth
to a calf every year. It takes around six months for a cow to give birth to
a calf. When a calf is born it is beautiful and charming. Just like a
goats kid, a calf also goes through the same process of standing on its
legs at first it can hardly stand up but gradually it gathers strength and
is able to take the first steps on its own while its mother watches on.
Although we did not have cows, our neighbors the Shirodkars had many, and
so did some other people in the ward. As soon as a calf was born, we would
get the news and we would rush to see the new born calf. Oh! How beautiful
they looked! Since the owners didnt wish that the calf drink all the milk,
they would tie it separately and let it loose only twice a day. Thus,
whenever we visited, we were able to play with the calf independently. We
would hug it and kiss it and feed it; it didnt seem to mind whatever we did
to it!
When we came across grazing calves, we would approach them and play with
them; they kept on running and we ran after them. Many a times, they would
suddenly begin to jump vigorously and run around like mad. Little did we
know then that they behaved so because they are sensitive to breeze!
Whenever children suddenly ran around, their parents would say: Paddkulea
baxen tujea kanan varem ghuslam kitem re/gho? (Did breeze get into your
ears, like a calf?) Sometimes, young calves were left to graze with a rope
in their neck in the open space, opposite our house, next to St. Johns
Chapel. This gave us a better opportunity to play with the calves, as they
were restricted to the place. Whatever it was, we really had a great time
in the company of calves. Those calves when they grew up, knew us very
well; so, obviously, they behaved with us differently; much lovingly than
the other cattle.
The cattle were part and parcel of our ancestors lives. They learned a lot
from it so much so that they left us with many adages related to the cattle.
While I am on the subject, I thought I might as well quote some of those
adages here.
Gorvam chodd lagim aslear xingak xing adovtach! roughly translated it
means when the cattle is too close, horns are bound to brush against each
other. Goans mostly applied this adage in the olden days when joint-family
life was in fashion. Obviously, there were too many members in a family.
So, it was but natural to touch/brush against each others body when they
crossed, which sometimes resulted in unnecessary arguments followed by
quarrels.
When a fight between two persons takes place and a third party gets involved
and affected/hurt, Goans use the good old saying: Reddea-paddeachim
zogddim mhuttlear zaddacher kav, which roughly translated means that a
fight between an ox and a buffalo damages the tree in between, as it is the
one that takes the brunt of their horns!
They say, well earned money gives good digestion, but some people think that
amassing wealth by crooked means is the right way; little do they know that
this method though may seem successful, indirectly results in a loss. No
wonder, our ancestors have left us a piece of adage: Kaddi kaddlear, paddi
voita; it means, if you take a match stick, you lose a heifer! In the
olden days, cows were regarded as wealth, and a paddi was considered to be
the future wealth of a family. So, is it worth stealing a tiny kaddi and
lose such a valuable paddi?
Many people are in the habit of talking great things after the fact; hence,
in Konkani we say: Melele moxik, bara xer dudh which roughly translated
means that while a she-buffalo was alive it hardly produced any milk but
after it was dead the owner claimed it produced 12 liters of milk, which was
not true!
When one makes a promise it should be kept. If not, a Goan will remind you
of the old adage: Munxeak utor, gorvak daem; it means, a promise is like
a halter.
In olden days, the flow of money was limited. So, it was not easy for a
zotkar (a person who ploughs field) to buy a pair of oxen. He had to
forego his meals and sometimes was even forced to sell the only gold
ornaments his wife owned in order to buy the oxen. Just when things were
expected to go on well for the farmer and his family, a tiger appeared out
of the blue and killed and devoured both the oxen, and the poor farmer was
back to square one. This is how the old adage Pott marun zoth kelem, vagan
kallem came to be about. Nowadays, savings has become a big vice. Many
people go to the extent of even starving in order to save the result:
Total loss! Is it worth risking ones health?
Half a century ago, our parents/grandparents were not what we are today.
They lacked education and were poor and backward. Perhaps the landlords
then thought that we would never come up in our lives, but times changed and
so did our lives. A person does not remain the same; sooner or later he
comes up in his life and when he does, people remark: Xennatlo kiddo
xennant uronam.
MILLIPEDE (Kottarli)
Millipedes are very elongated arthropods with cylindrical bodies that have
two pairs of legs for each one of their 20 to 100 or more body segments.
These animals are herbivorous, slow and non-venomous; unlike the somewhat
similar and closely related centipedes, which can be easily distinguished by
their single pair of legs for each body segment. Most millipedes eat
decaying leaves and other dead plant matter, moisturizing the food with
secretions and then scraping it in with the jaws.
The millipedes most obvious feature is its large number of legs. In fact
its name is a compound word formed from the Latin roots milli (thousand)
and ped (foot). Despite their name, these creatures do not have a
thousand legs, although some rare species are close enough with an amazing
750. However, common species have between 80 and 400 legs.
Having very many short legs makes millipedes rather slow, but they are
powerful burrowers. Waving their body length and with the legs moving in a
wavelike pattern, they easily force their way underground, head first. They
also seem to have some engineering ability, reinforcing the tunnel by
rearranging the particles around it.
Due to their lack of speed, millipedes primary defense mechanism is to curl
into a tight coil protecting their delicate legs inside an armored body
exterior. Many species also emit a somewhat poisonous liquid secretion
which has a peculiar smell, or hydrogen cyanide gas, through microscopic
pores along the sides of their bodies as a secondary defense. Some of these
substances are acidic and can burn the exoskeleton of ants and other insect
predators, and the skin and eyes of larger predators. As far as humans are
concerned, this chemical brew is fairly harmless, although it should never
be eaten or applied to the eyes. Because of this, caution should be used
when handling millipedes.
As soon as the rainy season begins, plenty of kottarleo (millipedes) begin
to crawl everywhere outdoors as well as indoors. The millipedes are very
sensitive; the moment you touch them, they bundle up into a coil. As
children, we practically kicked anything and everything that we came across
thinking it was a ball and we surely didnt spare the millipedes. The
moment they coiled up, we kicked them from one end to the other; sometimes
they even got smashed; yet they would not open up. We would then place a
small stick in the center of the coil and throw them out. Here is something
I was told I did with a kottarli as a toddler. My sister and I grew up
playing together; I was the most mischievous. My mother told me I was not
scared of any crawling insects or reptiles; I am still not. This being the
case, I would catch anything that passed by me. When I was around 2 years
old, my mother told me I caught a millipede, played with it for some time
and then gave it a bite. Luckily, my sister raised an alarm and my mother
reached the spot within no time. The moment she saw what had happened a
mothers reflexes work faster than anyones - she immediately placed her
fingers in my mouth and removed the piece of kottarli. She then washed out
my mouth several times until that stink disappeared. If my sister wasnt
around and if my mother didnt arrive immediately on the scene, I dont know
what might have happened to me!
During the monsoon season, all sorts insects and reptiles crop up and though
they are a sight to watch, they can be dangerous and sometimes life
threatening. For instance, thousands of ants exit from loose mud and go
about marching like huge military personnel inside and outside the house.
As children, we thought we were giants compared to their size; with this in
mind we would sometimes attack them with our feet, the result: They would
immediately climb on our feet and begin to bite us, and with that our smiles
would turn into shouts and cries for help. Some of the ants were really
dangerous and their bites left swellings on our bodies. So, not everything
that crawled was a natural joy, though we wished it was!
GLOW-WORM (Kazulo)
The kazulo (glow-worm) was one of the insects that we loved to play with.
They arrived in large groups and practically filled the atmosphere around
us. We had always seen the stars shine in the skies but glow-worms were
something that we saw from close range - it was a kind of comparison between
the stars shining so far away from us and the little glow-worms blinking all
around us, sometimes landing and crawling on us as if someone was walking up
and down our bodies with a torch in his hand, switching it off and on! If
doors and windows were left open, dozens of them would enter the house and
create a little celestial world within the four walls of the house, and, did
we mind their intrusion? Not all! Once enough glow-worms entered the
house, we would close the doors and windows so they could stay with us.
Oh, I loved the glowworms so very much! As soon as it was dark at night, we
would come out of the house and watch hundreds of them blink all around us
and fly past above us like tiny jets. It seemed as though they were in
charge of the whole universe and second in command after the stars which in
any case were thousands of miles away from us.
Every year, we waited for the glow-worms to arrive and entertain us with
their flashing light, which was the only light we experienced in those days
in villages besides the kerosene lamps that we used in the house, and the
fire in our kitchen; petromax arrived at a later date. When kerosene in a
lamp was about to exhaust, the wick would begin to dry and the flame became
weak. Finally, the flame would begin to flicker and if kerosene was not
replenished, it would die out. When this happened, the elderly would say to
children: Agho/arre, tea diveak polle, kazulo kosso apa-lipa korta; tantun
veginch ghaslet ghalat nam zalear to palovtolo! (Hey children, look at
that lamp, it is blinking like a glow-worm; refill it immediately with
kerosene otherwise it will extinguish)! Sometimes, when people are on high
drinks, their eyes turn red and shine. In Goa, when they notice a person in
such a state they say: Tacheam dolleank polle, kazule koxe zogzogtat!
(Look at his eyes; they shine like glow-worms). Nowadays, children are
given all sorts of battery powered toys which flash light guns, pistols,
airplanes, helicopters, cars, etc., but those sparks and flashes cannot
match the natural blinking of the kazule!
Although there was no electricity during our childhood, life was beautiful;
it brought out natural elements much vividly than now. We anxiously waited
for post monsoon season in order to play with kazule and the moment they
arrived our lives would be brightened. When they sat on our bodies, we
would catch them gently making sure we didnt hurt them. Once in our hands,
we cautiously placed them in empty glass bottles and watched them move
around in awe! When we retired to bed, we carried the bottles and placed
them beside our pillow. We couldnt believe that such a tiny insect could
produce that magnificent glow through its natural lighting system. The
moment kerosene lamp was put out it was spectacular to watch the glow worms
glow in the bottle. We wondered and praised the Creator for His creation
and while we did that, we fell asleep! The next morning, although the glow
worms were alive in the bottle, they had lost their glow to daylight and
they looked like ordinary flies. Obviously, we didnt find them useful in
daylight; so, we released them hoping that we would catch them again the
following night. Kazule are still there and they arrive with the season but
their charm and glow is lost to the flooding of electrical light which
supercedes their natural glow. Yes, though kazule are very tiny in size,
they were natural joys for us!
SQUIRREL (Chanim)
Squirrel is the common name for rodents of the family Sciuridae (from Greek
skia shadow and oura tail i.e. tail that casts a shadow). A male is a
buck. A female is a doe. Babies are kits (male) or kittens
(female), and collectively pups. Squirrels also nest; these nests are
called dreys, which may also refer to a group of squirrels.
Despite the popular impression, squirrels are actually omnivores; as well as
eating a wide variety of plant food, including nuts, seeds, fruits, fungi
(for example, mushrooms), and green vegetation, they also eat insects, eggs,
and even small birds, smaller mammals, and frogs.
Squirrels are generally clever and persistent animals; in residential
neighborhoods they are notorious for eating out of bird feeders, digging in
potted plants either to bury or recover food, and for setting up house in
sheltered areas including attics.
Squirrels are sometimes pests because they chew on various edible and
inedible objects; the habit helps keep the squirrels teeth sharp and also
wears the teeth down (rodents teeth grow continuously).
One of the live toys that we were proud of and carried with us was a
squirrel. In those days, while we walked in our property or that of a
neighbors, we always looked up on trees to see if there were any slow
moving pups which sometimes lost hold of their feet on branches and fell
down. When that happened, we would immediately get to it and catch it
before it ran away; we had to act quickly before it regained sense from the
fall. We also caught squirrels by applying jackfruit pank on tree
branches. Sometimes, we located their nests and picked up crawling pups
directly from their nests.
Once I had the squirrel in my possession, I would immediately put it in my
pocket, bring it home and place it in a cage. The first thing that I would
do was to give it milk. Next, I would go to our guava tree, or that of a
neighbors to find a ripe guava, cut it into two halves and leave it in the
cage. Since the food was new, the kit wouldnt touch it. I would then bring
it out from the cage and feed milk with a spoon. The kit gradually got used
to new food. Every now and then, I would bring the squirrel out from the
cage and leave it on my body. Initially, I tied a string to one of its hind
legs and kept the control in my hand just in case it tried to escape; it
moved freely on my body. Squirrels can be trained to be hand-fed which is
what I did. Because they are able to cache surplus food, they will take as
much food as you put out. Once you start to feed, it will come back
day-after-day to get its food. Thus, even if a squirrel goes away, it will
come back to you for food, but you must be careful with your cats; they
wont spare it if they find it on their territory!
The moment my squirrel found pocket, it would rush inside and remain there;
it wouldnt come out easily; may be it thought it was its hiding place. As
it kept on moving inside my pocket I would feel its claws on my thighs and
get tickled! I liked my squirrel so much that I carried it to school and it
remained inside my pocket throughout school time. I fed it during interval
but when too many friends surrounded, it would get upset and go back to its
hiding place - my pocket. If it came out during class time, I would quietly
redirect it to the pocket.
Squirrels have very fine teeth. However, cautious you may be, you are
likely to hurt the squirrel at some point or the other and it wont spare
you a bite which is quite painful and results in oozing of blood just as
when a finger is punctured to take a drop for blood test.
Just like birds and other animals, squirrels too communicate with each other
in their own language. As soon as they sense any danger, they raise an
alarm and within no time you can hear all the squirrels in the area
communicate with each other. There was a big voddachem zadd just outside
the Escola Primaria at Tembi in Anjuna where I studied as a child. Many
squirrels frequented the tree to eat its fruits. The moment a squirrel
raised an alarm, all the squirrels on the tree would join in and this is
where my squirrel also would join them but it was difficult to tell from
where the sound came; only the student seating next to me knew from where
the sound had come from! For me, squirrels were natural joys and I
thoroughly enjoyed their company.
FROG (Mannko)
Once the monsoon season begins and water gathers in the fields, frogs emerge
and begin to jump around and fill the environment with their croaking. They
may not be big in size but their croaking surely is quite irritating,
especially if you live close to the fields because they wont allow you to
have a good night sleep. While the green frogs rule the fields, tiny frogs
in different colors enter the house and begin to hop around. As children,
it was a kind of challenge for us to catch a jumping frog. However, we
rarely succeeded because they were much faster and leapt a longer distance
than us. If we managed to catch a frog, we would hold it tight in our palm
and immediately place it in a glass bottle and close the lid making sure it
was not completely closed. The poor thing kept on jumping and attempting to
come out of the bottle but it couldnt succeed because the height and space
was limited. We would release it after sometime and it was fun to watch it
escape into a corner without even looking back. Surely, it must have
thanked its stars for escaping from our clutches. These may be tiny animals
but they did serve us natural joys.
In the 1950s and 1960s, we did not have tarred roads; we had only mud
roads, which were full of pot holes. During the monsoon season, the pot
holes on the road turned into small ponds and unless rain stopped for a few
days, the water in them would not dry up. Since water was quite stagnant,
the little ponds on the road became a breeding place for frogs. On our way
to school and back, we would place our hands in red water in pot holes and
catch the tiny frogs. We also brought out frogs from pot holes by kicking
the water out with our feet. Once they were out of water, we caught them
and threw them at our friends bodies to scare them. The girls were very
scared of frogs; they screamed, jumped and cursed us for throwing frogs on
them; the more they screamed, the more we enjoyed the game and had good fun
at their cost! Well, those were the good old days when we walked to school
and played on our way not only with frogs but with anything that we came
across, including stones, with which sometimes we broke each others crowns!
Nowadays, children are picked up from their homes by motorcycles,
rickshaws, cars, mini buses and taken to their schools and brought back home
by the same mode of transportation. They really miss the natural fun that
we had during our childhood!
COCKROACH (Zorlo)
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattodea (the name Blattaria is
also seen). The names of the order are derived from Greek blatta, meaning
cockroach.
There are various species of cockroaches; ours is Asian cockroach. It is
about 5/8 long and is tan to brown in color, has wings and can fly quite
well.
Female cockroaches are sometimes seen carrying egg cases on the end of their
abdomen; the egg case holds about 30-40 long, thin eggs, packed like
frankfurters in the case called an ootheca. She drops the capsule prior
to hatching. Development from eggs to adults takes 3-4 months. Cockroaches
live up to a year. The female may produce up to eight egg cases in a
lifetime. In other words, in favorable conditions it can produce 300-400
offspring.
A regular cockroach can produce an extremely high number of eggs in her
lifetime. She lays up to 100 eggs in each egg sac. She only needs to be
impregnated once to be able to lay eggs for the rest of her life, allowing
one single cockroach to lay over a million eggs in her lifetime. No wonder,
it is a difficult task to completely get rid of cockroaches unless you get
rid of all of their eggs!
Cockroaches are mainly nocturnal, and will run away when exposed to light.
Roaches are actually very clean insects, even though they eat garbage. They
are called the custodians of nature. They only live in houses where there
are crumbs to eat or the garbage can is uncovered. They lay eggs inside the
houses hollow walls, drawers, etc.
The roach is one of the hardiest insects on the planet, capable of living
for a month without food and remaining alive headless for up to a week.
Many times we used to kill a cockroach with a stick, separate its head and
leave it for dead, but to our surprise the headless cockroach would be seen
moving around after some time. A cockroach can also hold its breath for 45
minutes and has the ability to slow down its heart rate. Cockroaches have a
very high resistance to radiation.
In the olden days, almost every house in Goa had cockroaches and people
didnt mind them as much as they mind today; they were non-harming and part
of their daily lives.
As children, anything that crawled on the floor drew our attention and we
ran after it, but when we chased a cockroach, it immediately disappeared
leaving us disappointed. We found cockroaches very interesting because they
were the only flying creatures found inside a house. During the monsoon
season, while it rained heavily outside, they flew inside the house from
wall to wall, sometimes flying close to our ears like speed jets. We took
great pleasure in throwing maimed or dead cockroaches on people who got
scared of them!
Many times our cats would catch cockroaches, maim them, bring them to the
hall half dead and begin to play with them in our presence this obviously
was to get an appreciation from us for their services which we always
acknowledged. At times, it seemed the cockroach was dead but with the cats
pawing, it would resurrect and again become a prey to the cat.
Some of the earliest writings with regards to cockroaches encourage their
use as medicine. Pedanius Dioscorides (1st century), Kamal al-Din al-Damiri
and Abu Hanifa ad-Dainuri (9th century) all offered medicines that either
suggest grinding them up with oil or boiling. The list of ailments included
earaches, open wounds and gynecological disorders.
DOG (Sunnem)
The dog is a canine mammal of the Order Carnivora that has been domesticated
for at least 25,000 years! In this time the dog has been developed into
hundreds of breeds with a great degree of variation. Dogs, like humans, are
highly social animals and pack hunters; this similarity in their overall
behavioral design accounts for their trainability, playfulness, and ability
to fit into human households and social situations. Dogs have lived and
worked with humans in so many roles that their loyalty has earned them the
sobriquet mans best friend!
Although many beasts have served humanity throughout time, only one serves
by choice; only one animal is willing to forsake its own kind and follow us
- the dog. The relationship between dogs and humans is rooted in history
and dogs coexist with humans in a variety of ways. Cynologists and
archeologists have found evidence of the canine/human relationship existing
almost as early as the species of Homo sapiens. Dogs served the hunter,
the shepherd and the warrior. They were guardians of the home, beasts of
burden and companions on the journey of life.
A general rule of thumb is that a mammal will produce half as many offspring
as the number of teats on the mother. Dogs bear their litters roughly 9
weeks after fertilization. An average litter consists of about six puppies,
though this number may vary wildly based on the breed of dog. A female dog
may become pregnant prior to her first cycle and should be kept away from
other male dogs, including littermates over the age of 4 months!
Tranquility is an indispensable element for the development of a good labor
for a dog. If in this first moment of life everything is calm, the puppy
will have a normal arrival into the world. During labor the female dog
suffers from anxiety and protests for the presence of the owner. This
restlessness is originated because the female does not know what is going on
and she instinctively fears for the safety of her young. This is the reason
why most female dogs give birth during the night since they feel safer. At
birth, the puppy is still attached to the mother by the umbilical chord.
The female dog can rip the chord herself, but sometimes it is necessary that
the owner take care of it. The female eats some of the placentas and then
takes care of the puppies.
Often the mother begins to take care of one puppy before labor is over. The
care that the mother provides the puppy is always a meticulous cleaning.
When the mother licks the puppy, it stimulates its respiration, gives it
warmth, and while the mother licks around the genital area this urges the
puppy to pee. This behavior is instinctive and permits to establish the
relationship of affection between the mother and the puppy, which will help
confront the outer world in the long run. Thanks to the smell each puppy is
identified and marked. The puppies can feel the warmth of the mothers body
which attracts them to her body, therefore allowing them to be able to
breast feed.
When dogs are born, their nervous system has not finished maturing, unlike
other animals dogs rely strictly on their mother after being born. They
cannot see or hear when they are born, they have not finished developing.
Puppies often have characteristics that do not last beyond early puppy-hood.
Eye color often changes from blue to its adult color as the puppy matures.
The coat color may change. Dalmatians are white, and gain their spots
with age. The ear shape will also often change, especially with erect-eared
breeds such as German Shepherd Dog which have soft ears at birth, but the
cartilage strengthens with age.
Dogs detect sounds as low as 20 to 70 Hz frequency range (compared to 16 to
20 Hz for humans) and as high as 70,000 to 100,000 Hz (compared to 20,000 Hz
for humans) and in addition have a degree of ear mobility that helps them to
rapidly pinpoint the exact location of a sound. They can identify a sounds
location much faster than can a human, and they can hear sounds up to four
times the distance that humans can; hence, they have become the guards of
homes!
Relationship between humans and dogs is often characterized by strong
emotional bonds. Consequently, dogs are popular as pets and companions,
independent of any utilitarian considerations. Many dog owners consider
having unconditional acceptance from a friend who is always happy to see
them to be quite utilitarian, particularly if the dog also leads them to
regular exercise. Empirically, dogs are quite dependent on human
companionship and may suffer poor health in its absence. Many dogs are
reported to have separation anxiety if its owner is away for an extended
period of time. We experienced and still experience such behavior from our
dogs whenever we proceed on our vacation.
If a dog runs away with something valuable, a treat should be used to
barter with the dog to retrieve the stolen item. Chasing a dog will
encourage play behavior, which may cause the item to be swallowed or
destroyed. Many people compete with their dogs in a variety of dog sport,
including agility, fly ball, and many others. This often strengthens the
bond between human and dog, since they must trust one another in a variety
of environments and must learn how the other works and thinks.
Some research demonstrates that dogs are able to convey a depth of emotion
not seen to the same extent in any other animal; this is purportedly due to
their closely-knit development with modern man, and the survival benefits of
such communication as dogs became more dependent on humans for sustenance.
Many dogs consider anything given to them directly by hand to be a treat,
even the food they are accustomed to at meal time. Special dog treats are
not necessary for such animals. We always feed our dogs with hands.
It is believed dogs have nearly 220 million smell-sensitive cells over an
area about the size of a pocket handkerchief (compared to 5 million over an
area the size of a postage stamp for humans). Dogs can distinguish two
different types of scents when trailing - an air scent from some person or
thing that has recently passed by, as well as a ground scent that remains
detectable for a much longer period. It is established by those who train
tracking dogs that it is impossible to teach the dog how to track any better
than it does naturally; the object instead is to motivate it properly, and
teach it to maintain focus on a single track and ignore any others that
might otherwise seem of greater interest to an untrained dog.
Once a dog touches a person it never forgets him/her. The same goes with
small puppies. However small they may be, once they lick you, they will
remember you forever. I have been away from home for over three decades
now. Whenever we need a new dog, I request my wife to arrange for one
before I come home on vacation so I can familiarize myself with it. By the
time I return home on next vacation, the dog grows up, but it immediately
recognizes me and wags its tail, and I can safely place my hand inside the
kennel; it licks my hand instantly because the smell of my body is already
registered with it. It is because of this quality that police dogs are able
to follow and catch thieves once they are given the smell of a thing touched
or worn by the wanted person.
A lost dog can often find its way home, sometimes traveling over long
distances. No wonder, puppies when deserted, returned home on their own!
In Goa, the dukor mare (pig butchers) use dogs to catch pigs. Dogs pick
up fights once they land in other dogs territory. Therefore, the pig
butchers make the dog sit on the handle of bicycle or motorcycle and carry
it with them. Once at the site, they just point a finger at the pig to be
caught and the dog runs after it and catches it by one of its hind legs.
The person then rushes to the pig, catches the other hind leg and ties it
with a sumbacho. Similarly, the pot makers also use dogs to catch monitor
lizards. Here again they are trained not to puncture its skin which is used
for Goan percussion - the ghumot.
Ignoring a dogs warning bark can be very dangerous. A wagging tail
indicates an attempt to communicate excitement, but a territorial dog may
wag its tail at a chance to defend its home. A highly disturbed dog may
sometimes emit confusing or misleading signals, much like humans can be
difficult to read or misleading.
I love dogs very much and have had their company right from my childhood to
date. They say a dog is one of the most faithful creatures. Human beings
though rational, tend to be most ungrateful and unfaithful but not a dog.
However good you may do to a person, a slight mistake here and there turns
him/her into your enemy, but a dog never forgets the good done; it always
remains faithful and grateful to the person. I know this for a fact because
I grew up in their company.
In the olden days and even till today, every household in Goa raised a dog
which gave birth to puppies and resulted in several dogs in a house. One of
the natural joys that we had during our childhood was a dog. While I was a
small child, we had a female black dog called Blackie. It was our best
friend my sisters and mine. Blackie was so close to us that it would not
allow anyone to get near us. We would play with it freely - open and close
its eyes and mouth; pull its ears and tail; pinch its stomach and play with
its nipples and sometimes even fall on it, but it would not do anything to
us. Whenever it gave birth to puppies, it was the best time of our lives.
Parents would not allow us to touch the puppies until they opened their eyes
but we had our own way. Usually, a mother dog does not allow anyone to get
near its puppies but we were an exception; Blackie did not mind it. Not
only it would allow us to get close to its puppies but it didnt mind even
if we carried them away, which we did most of the time. Once puppies were
born, Blackie had to perform double duty - guard its puppies and us.
Handling puppies was one of the best experiences of our lives. Yes, we were
playing with natural toys which were natural joys for us! The bondage
between children and puppies was such that we would become inseparable
companions. We always kept the best puppy for us and gave away the rest to
whoever wanted to take them and that was the hardest part because we could
not bear to part with them. Every morning, as soon as we woke up, we would
run to the puppies and begin to play with them. We would give a name of our
own to each puppy. We would hold them, kiss them and caress them. Since we
played together, we also shared our food with the puppies so much so that
after we finished eating, they would lick and clean our lips and we surely
didnt mind it because we all belonged together!
Each one carried his/her favorite puppy to bed and made it to sleep with
him/her. If mother knew, she would not allow us to have the puppy on bed.
So, we would call it by its name and request it not to make any noise;
surprisingly it understood us and kept quiet. The worst part was when it
would urinate on the bed. Since we were made to urinate in the unnel
before going to bed, mother would get angry and question me: Ratim tum
nidchea adim mutonk naslo kitem re? (Didnt you pee last night before going
to bed?) I would protect the puppy, take the blame on myself and say:
Mutlolom ghe maim punn hanv noklom portun koxem mutonk zalem tem (I had
peed but I dont know how I again urinated.) The puppies also urinated
while we played with them during day time but the good thing was that the
floor then was made of pressed mud and treated with xenn (cow dung.) So,
the moment we peed, the urine would be absorbed in the ground. However,
when the mud floor was converted into cement, the urine remained on the
floor, and children happily played with it thinking it was water!
One of the first lessons that we would give to the puppies was to
familiarize them with our call - bhish, bhish, bhish! Once we called
them, they would wag their tail and come running to us. The next lesson
would be to teach them to shake hand, which they learned quite quickly. The
third lesson would be to teach them so sit up and shake hand. We mostly
tapped our hands on the floor while teaching them and they seemed to
understand us very well. We would then hold a piece of bread or a biscuit
in hand, raise it as high as possible and make the puppy jump in order to
reach it. The puppy would keep on jumping and we would keep on raising the
height every time. Finally, we would let the puppy have the feed. When
puppies grew up, it was fun to play with them and make them jump higher!
As the puppies grew up, we would also teach them to chase cows, buffaloes
and neighbors dogs. We would say: Shuga Poppy, shuga, shuga. Thus,
whenever a cow entered our property, we would just call the dog and say:
Poppy, shuga, shuga and it would bark and run after it and chase it until
it was out of our property.
Blackie loved us so much that when we left for the school, she would
accompany us for over 100 meters distance and then return home. When it was
time for us to return home, just like our mother she would come out of the
house and keep a watch on the road. The moment she saw us round the corner
of the road, she would reach us with a sprint, jump all over our body and
kiss us and lick us all over something even our parents didnt do to us
when we returned home from school or anywhere else.
Blackie died at the age of 14 when my sister and I were teenagers. She was
like a mother to us; we could not bear her death. We gave her the best
funeral of our lifetime then. We prepared fresh flower wreaths and placed
all over her body only her face could be seen. We then prepared a grave
for her in the adjacent property. We fixed a time and invited close
relatives and neighbors for the funeral. We said prayers, placed Blackie in
the grave and each one of us present for the funeral threw a coin in the
grave; we cried bitterly. We buried it along with flower wreaths. We then
plucked fresh doshnichim fulam and placed them on the grave. We also
prepared a wooden cross and fixed it on the grave above her head. We
mourned Blackies death for over a year. We remembered her, prayed for her
and celebrated weeks mind, months mind and death anniversary just as is
done for humans. It was difficult for us to get over the grief but we
gradually did. Till today we have not had a big dog which lived as long as
Blackie did, but we did have a Pomeranian which died at the age of 18! We
now have a pair of Dobermans which are two years old; this is the fourth
pair in 10 years! We also have a female Haspalaspa which is 8 years old.
She is smart and very shrewd. She is affectionate and likes to be loved and
pampered. She feels jealous when we pet children. She underwent surgery on
November 8, 2005 to remove a mammary gland tumor that had been growing on
her stomach for quite some time; she is still single!
Dogs common external parasites are various specious of fleas, ticks, and
mites. Whenever we notice ticks on our dogs, we make them sit next to us,
remove ticks from their bodies and place them on a burning coconut husk
where they roast to death; thus, we know they are done away with
permanently.
The dog has lived with the man for so long that it has left behind many
lessons for him which have been preserved in the form of old adages. While
I am on the subject, I thought I would mention some of them here:
Dogs may be irrational but in real life they are more rational than human
beings. They may be temperamental but I think they exercise much more
caution than humans. If a dog barks at you, it is only doing its duty and
will not bite you unless you abuse it i.e., throw a stone at it, or try to
scare it by running after it, or pick up any object like a stick and charge
at it and hit it, etc. However, one must be careful about a dog which does
not bark. Our ancestors may not have been highly educated but they grew up
with a lot of experience which they left behind for us in the form of
proverbs. One such proverb is: Bhonkta tem sunnem kernaim ghans marta
(Barking dog seldom bites.)
Dogs are very obedient but they are also very sensitive. A good, trained
dog when scolded refuses even to eat food. In order to express a dogs
sensitivity, our ancestors came up with yet another adage: Xi sunnem
mhuttlelea farak, sunnean sath somdir bhair vochon jiv dilo. (Because
somebody said to his dog shame on you, it crossed seven seas and committed
suicide.) When we get angry with our dog(s), it doesnt eat. It eats only
when we apologize!
In the olden days, medicine was not as advanced as it is today. Man used
practically anything and everything that was naturally available, including
dogs shit! Whenever, somebody needs something very badly but cannot get it
or is out of reach, Goans often say: Goroz tednam sunnem xime bhair vochon
haglelem (When in need, the dog went and shat beyond the border.)
A dogs tail is always bent unless it is cut off as in a Doberman. You may
try to stretch and straighten a tail by holding it tight but the moment its
released it goes back to its original curved shaped. Many times, when a
person attempts to give up his bad habits but fails, Goans apply the old
adage: Sunneanchi xempddi vankddi ti vankddich, nollient ghatlear passun
nitt zainam (A dogs tail does not straighten even if you place it in a
hollow pipe.)
In the olden days, dogs mostly mated during the month of August which is why
the month was known as sunneancho mhuino but nowadays the dogs, too,
follow humans and mate throughout the year, thus making the saying less
applicable.
Nowadays, children hardly take any interest in natural joys; instead, they
get glued to their computers and play non-stop computer games. Their mind
may be pleased with electronic games but there is no exercise for the body.
Hardly any communication takes place between parents and children because
both are busy exploring the latest technology which is good but at the same
time bad because it has robbed us of our movement and personal interaction.
Children in the olden days were quite ignorant; they were brought up with
love and affection and concern for others. We were also taught to be kind
to animals and nature because they were part and parcel of our lives. Most
of us were not fortunate to play with toy guns; we played with fottas
(small air-gun made out of hollow bamboo) for which teffoll (wild pepper)
was used as a bullet; it was a harmless toy compared to todays real guns,
which take away lives! As I mentioned at the beginning of the article,
everything revolved around nature, which in turn provided us natural joys
with which we grew up!
Thats all for now from Doms antique shelf!
Moi-mogan,
Domnic Fernandes
Anjuna/Dhahran, KSA
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