Mysore Magic - Part 5 "Animals of India"
This is the last part of my „Mysore Magic” series after my trip to India earlier this year. Today I wanted to tell you about a very special part of my trip, the animals of India. One of the first things that you notice when arriving to India is the constant presence of animals. They are everywhere all the time, just part of everyday life.
The dogs are waiting in front of the coffee place for a biscuit, they pretty much hang out there all day with the locals and the yoga students. The cows roaming the streets, feeling they just own the city. And the traffic seems to be flowing around them. I kept wondering how an owner finds his cow at the end of the day? Still have no idea, though.
I am a cat person, a dog person, a goat person - you name an animal and I love it. I am a total animal lover. So, seeing the animals in India sometimes broke my heart. The hungry puppy momma I met outside of my house the first night made me decide I will do what I can to help. So, I bought dog food and I brought food and water every day to all of the hungriest doggies I met. It was one of the highlights of my day, spending some time with the puppy family. All of them greeting me happily. Over two months they grew from these tiny skeletons to quite chubby little guys!
In my final weeks, I decided to come less and less to gradually wean them off depending on me, but fortunately there were many other people helping out. I met a girl who would feed all the same doggies I did, and it turned out we are both from London. We are planning to get together and plan something a bit more organized for next season.
In the meantime, I fell in love with all my little furry friends who greeted me with wagging tails, waiting for belly rubs <3 I miss them most of all.
But I can’t forget to mention all the other critters! The cows I greeted with a hello, every morning passing them on my way to morning practice. They usually ignored me, but once I got a bit banged up by a moody cow, so was more careful from then on. People in India throw out all the "compost" trash on the street in front of their houses, and it's a great place for a cow to find some food. Unfortunately, sometimes the food was still in plastic bags and the cow would try to chew trough the bag. I often came up to help her open it. One morning after my yoga practice, I was sitting by the coconut stand having my morning coconut water, when a cow came from behind me and licked my arm from elbow to shoulder! It was the funniest experience. Maybe it was the cow that attacked me the other day, just saying sorry. Some really friendly cows would try to come into the local restaurants for a visit, or just put their head in through the window.
On my way for a morning coffee I always met a whole bunch of goats, who were just hanging out in the sun and having fun. They would go on trips to the coconut stand to eat through the leftover coconut shells or jump up to the trees to eat some leaves. There was one local lady who was taking care of a small goat and went everywhere with her, she would even take her when going for coffee and the kid goat would put her front hooves on the counter top. I guess she also wanted to get her caffeine fix for the day.
I became friendly with one of the goats and it even wanted to nibble on my ear!
If you are in the Karnataka region in January, you are sure to see some yellow cows. At first, I had no idea why all the cows and also some goats are suddenly painted yellow. Painting the cows with turmeric is one of the many celebrations of the Makar Sankranti festival in January. The cows are also made to cross a fire, which I'm sure is really stressful and pretty terrifying for them. But the next few weeks you are sure to see them still yellow and calmly walking the streets.
There were also quite a few local cats wandering the city, one of them liked to sleep on top of the Ganesha Temple. There was a few who would always hang out by a local produce store and would sleep next to the fruit and vegetables on the counter. I always wanted to come up and say: "five tomatoes, one cucumber and this cat, please".
One of my favourite places for lunch was Sandhya's Kitchen, you had to book at least a day earlier for your group and she would cook especially for you. The food was served at her home on the floor of a large room, with lots of lovely cats wondering the house. These were especially well groomed and beautiful kitties.
A great way to unwind was an afternoon walk around the Kukkurahalli lake, an amazing spot for birdwatching. It was nice to get away from the noise of the city and spend some time surrounded by nature. I would often spot the impressive brahmine kite, the grey heron, the pelicans and many others. Usually on these walks I was accompanied by local dogs who would walk with me all around the lake, as if we had made plans to spend the afternoon together.
If you wanted to meet some monkeys you had to go to the Chamundi Hills, were you just can't miss them! They are everywhere around you and it's best to come without any food, just to stay on the safe side. During one of these trips I saw a monkey run up to a man carrying some food and started pulling his leg, until the man shared his lunch with the monkey. Once in a while you can spot the monkeys in Gokulam, I even had one try to steal my towel from the garden, but I managed to save the towel :)
The animals are an amazing part of Mysore and can't go unnoticed, but unfortunately it is often a sad experience. There was a very unhappy elephant by Mysore Palace, which was used for tourist rides, and it seems none of them noticed how sad he was. Many of the dogs are underfed and have serious skin disease, but there are organizations that are trying to help the homeless dogs and also a lot of yoga students take care of them and sometimes even adopt them.
I have some happy news about the puppy momma who I met the first night - she now has a new family in the US! Both her and all her babies! I am so grateful to the wonderful people who have made this happen, and all the more motivation to do more next time I am there. <3