Mukundan Menon is a retired government officer. After years of toiling at work, not with files and papers, but with office politics, he climbed the ladder and became the numero uno officer of the education department. He had seen a lot in life – from gimmicks, bureaucracy and motives vested with self-interest. Initially, he tried to stay away from politics, both inside and outside the office. But like a quicksand he was dragged from one mockery to another. Now, as a retiree, he spends his sunset days in his ancestral modest bungalow with his wife and son’s family.

“I want to eat beef. Mommy, make beef curry with chapathi,” shouted Gokul, Menon’s grandson. Gokul, an undergraduate, is a poster boy of his college. He participates actively in college politics and dreams of becoming a college union leader in a matter of two years.

“Gokul, I cannot buy as the shopkeeper refuses to sell them. There is a shortage of beef in the market due to a new wave of realization among the ruling party,” spoke Manorama, Gokul’s mom and Menon’s daughter-in-law.

Gokul smiling cynically rued, “God saved the holy cow!”

Lakshmi, aka Lakku, an active member of PETA at school retorted to Gokul’s sarcasm, “Why can’t you become a vegetarian? It’s a healthy way of living and you can happily co-exist with animals. I do not see a necessity to kill a live animal to satiate your palate.”

“Baby, try beef and you will want more, just like ‘yeh dil maange more’!”

“Ugh, get off you brat!” shoved Lakku.

Mukundan Menon was sitting in the open verandah on his easy chair accompanied by his wife, an Alzheimer’s patient. After retirement, Mukundan Menon used to spend time reading the newspaper aloud. His was an interesting read – starting from the name of the paper, date and edition. His wife loved to listen to stories; Menon was void in story-telling, hence he found a novel idea of reciting news into stories. Every day there were new topics and new issues to be told to his dear wife. The story-telling session slowly attracted his maid, the milkman, the sweeper on the road and the laundry man.

“The Small Voice. Date: January 24 2016. Edition: Ananthapuri,” Menon read in a high tone.
“The headline is thus, ‘It’s a beef ban in Anathapuri’.”
He went on to the subject under the headline, “The Center has passed a bill to protect cows and ban slaughter of cows. Restaurants, hotels and meat shops will be fined and their licenses will be revoked if found guilty of selling beef products….”

Gokul screamed, “Ridiculous! How can a government decide on people’s eating habits? Beef is nutritious and power packed in protein. This is a secular country and we live in a democracy.”

Lakku spoke, “Of course, you can get protein from nuts and legumes. Beef is not the only repository of protein.”

“It’s enough kids. Get dressed and go to your classes, before missing on time,” warned Menon.

Menon continued reading, “There is a counter news to the beef ban.”
 ‘City college rebels. Proposing to conduct beef carnival.’

“Gokul, is it your college conducting the beef carnival?”

“Yes muthassa, it is my college and I’m making posters for the carnival. My friends and I have made this funny poster called ‘Melcow to the beefetarian festival’.”

“Oh, how gross!” murmured Lakku.

Menon’s wife nudged Menon to continue with his reading. He smiled at her and resumed.
“‘Seismic dance of Earth’,” read Menon aloud.
 “There were tremors near the Peechi Dam, in Idukki district. The scientists have advised natives living nearby to move to safer grounds….”
                                                                           

                                                                        *

“Mommy, please I want to have some beef curry,” whined Gokul.

“Manorama, can’t you cook his favorite dish?” pitched in Das, Menon’s son and Manorama’s husband.

“Oh yes, I will make if you can get some from the market. It is banned in shops and markets. Please don’t spoil my morning and have what is served,” Manorama admonished the family members.

“Did anyone think that the cow would be raised to such high pedestal? Long live the cow!” mocked Gokul.

“It’s ironical. It’s the common trait of a human to rebel a law and make huge noise about it. Why are you adamant to eat only beef? You can have other meat products…other bovine products,” said an intellectual Lakku.

Gokul jeered at her and got ready for college.

In the verandah, Menon and wife were reading and listening newspaper respectively.
“The Small Voice. Date: January 25 2016. Edition: Ananthapuri,”
Menon read, “‘Security is beefed up in capital’.”
He continued, “According to latest intelligence reports, the government has given strict orders to increase security in the capital. The nation is gearing up for the Republic Day celebration. Students from various schools are practicing for cultural programs….”

Lakku laughingly pulled her brother’s leg, “Muthassa, please don’t say ‘beefed up’. Gokul might eat the paper where it’s written ‘beef’.”

While everyone laughed Gokul just rushed to college.

Menon continued his newspaper reading to his wife, “‘Rising tensions on Intolerance’.”
Just then the maid quipped, “Thank god for such instances, my nursery going child already knows words like ‘tolerance’, ‘intolerance’, ‘patriotic’, ‘unpatriotic’.”
“True. These dramas are making everyone knowledgeable about antonyms,” said Menon jocularly.

                                                                            *

It was January 26th, the Republic Day. While Gokul had left home early, the rest of the family was glued to the television, watching the parade. There were beautiful dances, mind-blowing speeches and acrobatic acts by defense personnel. Menon cruised from one channel to another. As he reached a news channel, he along with his family noticed a breaking news. There were reports and video footage of a beef carnival turning into a violent event. Some groups of students who disregarded the carnival disrupted it. This ensued in a fist fight and war of words between the organizers and disruptors. Menon’s family saw Gokul thrashing some men. Menon immediately surfed to other news channels. They were all playing Gokul’s heroic exploits again and again.
Das tried Gokul’s mobile. It was switched off. Das tried Gokul’s friends, but his whereabouts were unknown. In the evening, Menon’s family received a call from Ananthapuri police station. Das and Menon rushed to the station. They were flabbergasted to see Gokul with few other organizers. Since they were affiliated to the student union of the college, which was in turn funded and fed by the opposition party, they were interrogated – without any physical harm. Das was asked to sign some papers before taking Gokul home. The police also asked the family to pay hospital bills of a policeman who was thrashed by none other than Gokul. Menon promised to do the needful to the policeman and left the police station.

Manorama took Gokul to task. She nagged, reprimanded and cried at her situation. Like a loving mother, after rebuking Gokul, she cajoled him. She gained promises from him about not involving in any politics and concentrate in the upcoming exams. As barter for his promises, she got beef smuggled from a shop through her maid, paying a huge price, and made aromatic beef curry. Everyone in the family sans Lakku, relished her exquisite culinary prowess. Menon who visited the injured policeman regularly, took a portion of the beef curry to the hospital. All characters involved in the tribulation were happy.

Gokul’s poster boy figure rose in multitudes in college and society. He was looked up on as a new voice of democracy, free will and free thinking. Amidst all the praises and wraths, Gokul studied for his exams. He prepared well and attended his exams with confidence. After a beef hysteria, the Menon household waded back to normalcy.

       
                                                                                   *

It was the month of March. Ananthapuri was baking under scorching summer. Gokul and his group of cronies went to a resort near the Peechi dam, in Idukki district. They had planned a week’s vacation. The remaining Menon clan remained in Ananthapuri. Mukundan Menon continued his paper reading rendezvous with his wife.

 “The Small Voice. Date: March 25, 2016. Edition: Ananthapuri.”
“‘Ananthapuri Getting Roasted Under Sun.’
The temperature in the city has soared and touched a new record of 40 degree Celsius. Due to extreme heat, people are spending time indoors than outdoors….”
“‘Electrical Shops Hoarding Air Conditioners’.
The city electrical shops are seeing a surge in demand for air conditioners. The manufacturers of air conditioners and shop owners are laughing their way to banks. Due to the increase in demand, there is a shortage of supply of AC….”
“‘Fresh tremors in the vicinities of Idukki.’
The seismologists have again recorded earth quakes ranging in the magnitude of 4.02 Richter scale. The Earth Science Studies have advised locals in the Idukki district to stay safe....”

After reading the above news, Menon was worried about his grandson. He asked Manorama, Lakku and Das to know Gokul’s wanderings. The family was relieved to know that Gokul was happily spending time with his friends trekking the nearby Idukki ranges. He also announced that he was fed with delicious beef cuisines.

 
                                                                                  *

Menon was ready to scan the newspaper on March 26, 2016 when his eyes caught the bold lettered caption ‘IDUKKI UNDER QUAKES’. He perused into more details which read thus, “After heavy rains, there were major tremors near the Peechi dam and Idukki ranges. Many villages were under rubbles. The most affected places are near the vicinities of the dam….” Menon couldn’t read further.

Das, Manorama and Lakku tried Gokul’s mobile, but in vain. The family called the helpline and gave details about Gokul. Das contacted other friends of Gokul. The most ironic part of events was when the rest of Gokul’s gang were found, Gokul was missing. His friends were recuperating from the quake shocks in hospitals. It seemed as though he vanished into thin air. When all their endeavors were failing, they held on to one thread of hope – a supernatural, omnipotent, omniscient power. They visited religious places and prayed for his well-being. Manorama, Menon and his wife visited an astrologer. The astrologer after seeing Gokul’s birth chart revealed that Gokul had incurred the curse of cattle or cow. (The family used to laugh at desperate minds seeking astrological guidance. Due to the turn of unexpected events, the same Menon family was resorting to movements of celestial bodies to find Gokul.)

The astrologer advised them to make an idol of a cow in Panchaloham and present it to any nearby temple. He also instructed them to inculcate positive thoughts about Gokul and continue their search.

The family ran from one hospital to another. They also searched the hospital morgue. (It was hard, yet they combed all places.) Lakku created a Facebook page called ‘Find Gokul’. After almost fifteen days, they received a call from a person saying that Gokul was safe. He gave the direction towards his hamlet. The family was overjoyed, shocked and in tears. They rushed towards the hamlet, in a remote village in Idukki. They found Gokul, who was still weak and had broken his leg. After surge of emotions and relentless thanking to the soul who took care of Gokul, the Menons’ asked about the fateful night.

Gokul started his miraculous escape in a hypnotic tone, “There were heavy rains lashing outside the resorts. After a sumptuous meal, my friends and I went to sleep. Suddenly, I woke up hearing to the cries of an animal. I went outside to see. It was a cow. I felt the earth beneath me shake, trees fall and mud seeping below. I ran inside and alerted my friends. Everyone scampered on their feet and rushed out. We did not know that it was an earthquake. Everyone was shouting and ran for cover. I ran amidst the seismic madness, only to realize that, I was running not with my friends…but with a cow. The tectonic plates were clashing below; the pressure was bulging - on the earth, within my senses and body. A tree was about to fall on me. In a matter of desperation, I held on to the cow’s tail. The cow retaliated to the tail pulling by kicking me backwards. That explains my broken leg. Thankfully I landed in a safe place; neither being crushed by a falling tree nor falling into the gaping earth. I saw a hazy figure of the cow before losing my consciousness. When I gained my senses, I was taken care by this kind soul (he pointed to the man who was in the hamlet).”

Menon thanked his grandson’s savior profusely and left the hamlet with Gokul and the other family members. They also thanked the supreme power in their minds. Gokul was taken to doctors for his injuries and in a matter of few days everyone in the household was back to normal, yet abnormal. Gokul, after the nerve shackling episode, turned into a pure vegetarian. He started refusing beef and other meat products. A comrade who jumped into any political issues mellowed down to a more sensible dude. He surprised everyone when he brought a cow home. There were questions raised on the slightly changed attitude of Gokul. Was it a thankful gesture to the mysterious phenomenal cow which saved him from the triggered quakes? Was it the idol of cow which was presented to a religious place? Was it the prayers? Again, with many unanswerable questions they moved on in life. The Menons’ welcomed their new member of family – the holy cow.

Muthassa - Muthassa means grandpa in Malayalam.
Panchaloham - It is a traditional five-metal alloy used to make idols.