I just had an “only in India” moment.
This massive decorated Brahmin bull, accompanied by a drum player, strolled into the apartment complex courtyard. The drum player started yelling something, which I couldn’t understand at all. Within seconds, they were escorted off the premises by the watchmen.
Somehow, I managed to restrain myself from chasing after the bull like I did with the elephant in Nasik recently. However, I’m really curious to know, “why like this?”. What was such a scene all about? Does anyone have any ideas?
Mujhe lagati hai ki kabhi kabhi Hindustan ek ajeeb desh hai. But the best thing is that I don’t even need to leave my apartment to be entertained!
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{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Lol
as said, it happens only in India. Not only bull, animals ranging from Monkey, Snake, even a cow are paraded in their full glory for these greedy tricksters. They fool people in the name of God . I think by now you must be aware of the importance of religion in India and it is a constant source of income too for some.
I’m an indian in the uk and happy that I’m in a more civilised society, but sometimes i really miss the rickshaw rides, crowded buses and lanes and the maddness that can be found only in india.
nice blog.. keep writing.
“Brahmin” bull?? do bulls in India have caste too?? hmm how come I did not know that?? any ways you need to work on your Hindi grammer
Oh PGB!
And PLEASE correct my grammar… I need to learn. Mein sikhni padegi. Or should it be mein sikhni padungi? Ah, I give up.
I have the problem of knowing lots of words but not being able to put them in sentences because my grammar is terrible! This is probably one of my better efforts!! haha.
Bull has no caste:), actually some people make it a profession, they decorate themand ask for donations in the name of bull,in Maharashtra there is a festival also when they woorship them, actually India was a basically agriculture country and bulls were needed in the filed to plough, so we worshipped them once a year, just to show our gratitude:), we respect everything we use like..Ganges, cow,etc etc.
Hindi grammer..it will be…mujhe seekhni padegi:)
Ah, so the answer to my grammar problem is actually “none of the above”!
This really is a terrible state of affairs! I think I’ll have to do some intensive study of my Hindi books to get improvement happening fast fast!
That’s an interesting perspective about the bull. So I guess they had intentions of playing some music and roaming around with it, asking for money.
I thought there was a breed of bull known as Brahma bull. Yes, there is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman_(cattle)
So you were right, Sharell! You just spelled it differently.
Thanks, D. PGB is quite a cheeky fellow!
I know my spelling isn’t the best when it comes to many things Indian. However, I’m consoled by the fact that I got as far as calling it a Brahmin bull, not a cow like last time!
There’s a difference between “brahmin” and “brahma”.
That’s true! Brahma is the Hindu God of creation isn’t he? Brahma, brahman, brahmin…. so much confusion for the firangi mind!
(Not to mention grammar problems as well!! lol)
“Mujhe lagta hai ki kabhi kabhi Hindustan ek ajeeb desh hai” there you go fixed that as well
. BTW Hindi is worse than my English …. not read it since 7th grade …. so I have a hunch that you have a better vocabulary 
But surely your Kannada is in top form PGB?
And I only had one error in that whole sentence? That’s pretty good going for me!! That lagna word has to be the bane of my Hindi. How can one word have so many different meanings and be used in so many different contexts!?
Actually my Kannada is in top shape. Dad speaks Telugu, of which I can’t speak a single sentence, mom is a Kannadiga
When in Delhi we saw similar but it was with cows…they called them Lakshmi cows. My husband says the owner deceorates them and brings them in to compounds and then the cows will wander in to people’s homes. If the cows goes in the owner then asks for some money, since the cow “blessed” coming to the home. I would wonder if this is similar?
Came upon your wonderful blog a few weeks back. I think I can answer your question. That bull was a “Bholanath”. These are bulls that are decorated and taken from door to door. You can ask them a question (for money of course) and they will reply with a nod or shake of their head (meaning yes or no). Good fun for kids. Also, since Lord Shiva is supposed to ride the Nandi bull, they are also considered sacred.
In case you understand Marathi, there’s a fun kids song called “Sang Sang Bholanath”, i.e, “tell me Bholanath”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4NWJtEL_jg
Veena — that song is delightful! My husband speaks Marathi so I played it for him. Very cute. I was so surprised when the bull and drum player looked just like the ones that came around yesterday. Thanks for your input. I’m learning more about India every day!
Its a ‘Nandi Bail(Bull)’…they decorate bulls and then roam about…the bull is often trained well to shake his neck (indian way..hehe), then they ask the bull ‘will it rain?’ and bull vigorously shakes his neck..meaning yes it will…when we were kids we use to ask the bull if we shall have a holiday and ofcourse the bull shaked his neck!..so you can get only positive answers from that Bull..a common practise in Pune even today…its another way of making money. All these things are because we have 1 billion plus people and surely can never have enough jobs to feed everyone..these practises may continue for further centuries out of the need to have some money. Religion helps to make money here.
Ah, it all makes sense now! Amazing. I’m so glad this blog helps me learn so much.
In the Sang Sang Bholanath clip, the kids were asking the bull if it would rain. One kid asked the bull if his mother would have a sleep so he could feast on ladoos!
yes sang sang bholanath also kids ask if there will be a flood/pool of water and they will have a holiday to their school..:) it’s been flooding in india for centuries, god knows why we cant have an efficient drainage system..:)
the clip was truly delightful !!!
okie now as per true indianess…. 5 different people will have 5 different views on what the bull actually was !!! Amazing….. and truly enriching !!
Someone says its bholanath, a brahmin bull, a brahma bull, a nandi bull !! truly insightful !!!!!!!
Sharell your blog was damn cute as well !!!
That’s funny Shalini, now I feel like I must keep asking the question until at least one person confirms one of the answers that the other 5 have given! I’ve learned that whenever I ask someone a question (like what platform does the train leave from), I always like to get at least 2 or 3 answers that are the same before I feel safe enough to believe them!!
“Bear!!! LOOK!!! COW!!!!!!!!!”
He just loooooooooves it when I do that. I think it makes him happy that I constantly want to refer to every bovine looking creature with four legs that we see on the side of the road (or in our own parking structure area) as “COW”.
Haha! Have you seen this photo? I was promptly corrected that it is NOT a cow!!
http://www.whiteindianhousewife.com/2009/05/india-photo-my-favourite-cow/
The bull looks like a Zebu with its humped shoulder.
Both the names Bholanath & Nandibail are correct. The bull used as Lord Shiva’s vehicle (Vahan) is called as Nandi. That is why there is always Nandi’s idol in front of ShivLinga in the Shiva’s temple. Bholanath is one of the names of Shiva means Lord of Innocent worshipers who worship him intensely & purely.
Here this bull is also used for sacred purpose of fortune telling, so it called as Nandibail (Nandi bull) in Marathi. Also it is named as Bholanath on Shiva’s name.
I haven’t heard the name Brahma bull or Brahmin bull for him, but maybe in some part of India it is called by that name, because this bull is used for sacred purpose & in Hindu religion Brahmin own the rights for sacred rituals, so the name for sacred bull.
Wow!
. You rock lady!
A great blog to read after so long. Read few posts of yours so far and felt so connected with particularly this one
I wish I’d not let my blog go off that easily.
Hi Gangan, welcome to the blog. I’m glad you like it! There’s something for everyone here… all kinds of posts on all kinds of topics!
Ooops, sorry! My mistake. I must’ve been thinking of the Ganga river and put the unnecessary “n” in! Marf kar dijiye.
This, on my opinion, is simply a sly way of earning money by these religious bigots. But originally if you trace back, elevating animals to holy pedestals in Hinduism served the purpose of protecting them. Cows were very essential for sustaining the agrarian society prevalent in the Aryan times. They provided milk and other dairy products, also their excreta was used as fuel. This is the reason cow-slaughter is looked down upon in India. Or for that matter killing of any animal, also since it propagates violence and causes hindrance in spiritual pursuits. But who cares. Meat is tasty.
>:)
Sharell
I just love ur blogs. I just saw it today!! They are amazing; very nice to see India from a different perspective. I’m came to UK as a child and very much can see from ur point of view. I very much miss India and like someone else said miss the crowdedness, the stupid superstitions, the power cuts etc. No matter where we live, we are just indian at heart.
Hi Priya! Welcome to the blog. I’m glad it can bring a touch of India to you.