My first exposure to cattle was at Kayamkulam, my Valiammachy’s priceless possessions, she cared for them so much, they were inseparable. I was fascinated by the way she communicated with each one of them. For me identifying them was a task in the beginning, for her they were members of her extended family it was later in 1988 when I went to Africa I found the secret of identifying one or a few from the hundreds in a herd.
Any type of construction fascinated me and our Erithil was a studio apartment all in one for the dear cows, her pets.
The floor of their home were so clean, it had the rough concrete finish, what intrigued me was the right slope and dimension of the studio. The intricate detailing to dispose the cow dung and urine in the shed all engineered so well.
The cows would stand in a row, facing the front of the house, smack opposite the front door. When anyone of us opens the door we will see the face of the calm and gentle cow chewing the cud. It was absolutely soothing and a true wireless connection to nature.
I have not seen them lying in the Erithil ever, I have seen them lying in the yard when they go for their regular outing during the day.
When nature calls they were so trained to use the potty position, that’s what I believed all the time. They made a few tiny steps to the rear and made sure the dung would only fall by virtue of gravity to the far rear end and not splash all over, the slope took care of the urine to flow seamlessly into the paathy (drain) this slope was probably 1 in 100, the cows never felt the slope and they had proper stability when they were pregnant and when the calf was all over them.
The pail never slipped while milking. So many intricate activities had to be coordinated in one detailing. When they were hungry they made the few steps forward and stuck their neck through the trestles in the front and chewed the hay or grass or drank to their stomachs content the big pail of kaadi and various types of pinnakku (rice water, and oil cakes). I was so keen to duck my tiny arm into the pail and keep turning and turning and wet up to my under arm and then feel the kirukira of their long tongue trying to lick my hand while drinking the kaadi. I will never be able to do this anymore; there is no more Erithil in Kayamkulam.
I could spent hours and hours in front of the amazing kaalathinna (verandah of the cow shed) and watch them for hours with my book, intermittently feeding the cow with hay from the stack near the shed and grass we plucked from the yard. Did I learn the ABCD of process and procedures here; were this abode and the design of the Erithil the fundamentals of my practical designs anytime anywhere? I believe so. Every single part of the Erithil was perfect in design absolute appropriate technology.
The steps to the verandah were high and there were just 2 of them. To get into the front of the Erithil to reach the cows, one had to bend; or the eaves would hit our head. It was really to bow to the cow, a real Goddess. Coming to think about the cows they were the sweetest of domestic animals, ever so sacrificing to satisfy our needs. For farming, for milk, butter, ghee, butter milk, meat, cow dung as manure and to plaster homes, skin as leather, various bye products and what not, coming to think about the cow and its use to mankind, it’s complete like the coconut tree
In front of the Erithil chikku paa (the mat to dry harvest) were rolled and hung in ropes so it would not bend, crack and will never be eaten by termites
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