A Cow in the Clothing Store!! Can you believe it??

Yes indeed, it is true!

Look at the pictures and believe that the daily visitor, this holy cow, comes to this clothing store to get her daily treat of bananas as soon as the store opens for business in the morning. Although there are a few steps to climb the cow doesn’t mind climbing them in order to get her daily treat. The store owner told me ever since she was a calf she has come and has been fed a bunch of bananas everyday.

In the picture above Fr. Tony pats the cow as the owner of the store looks on. Below Rony, twin brother of Fr. Tony, pats the cow.

Every year, right after Christmas, I go home to visit my family in Barkur (southern part of India) and celebrate the New Year with them. I always visit this clothing store to buy New Years presents, mostly new clothes such as dresses or saris, for the employees who work in our Allina Clinical Laboratory and the Allina Religious Gift Shop. The owner of the store knows me well. The store is located in a town called Brahmavar which is near my hometown of Barkur.

This year I was introduced to the daily visitor to the store, the sacred cow! It was a pleasure for my brother Rony and I to meet the cow and take some pictures so I could write about it in our hometown web site: www.barkuronline.com.  

Many of you know that in India the cow is a sacred animal and most families have a few cows in their cowsheds. (Minnesotans are more familiar with the term “cow barn.”) Our families have cows for a dual purpose; first, for milk and secondly, for manure for the fields. Often we find cows walking on the roadside and no one hurts them. Some cows are owned by temples and others are abandoned. I think this particular cow that visits the store belongs to a temple because she has a red “nama of kunkuma” on her forehead. There will be many questions in the readers mind such as; how can anyone drive if animals like cows, dogs, etc. are allowed to wander around on the roads? Are they not harmful to people?

Well, life is not the same around the world! Here in India our customs are a bit different than in America. I hope you have enjoyed reading this short article.

Fr. Tony Andrade, USA, 24/03/2009

Thanks MM.  I still cannot fathom how and why the pyramids were built.  Hunger and whips?

Huli the Tiger

Once upon a time there was a small skinny king. They called him Huli the tiger, even though he was not a terror.  His kingdom was small, very fertile, surrounded by little properties of simple petty farmers.  Oh,

yes, this king inherited all what he had.  He never added not even an acre of land to his property.  He was afraid of moving vehicles, like rickshaw, cars, or trucks.  Therefore   he never bothered to build lanes or roads, and never allowed any vehicles to drive through his kingdom, even though his neighbors begged him for road.

His neighbors, even though they were poor, had the ability to think forward and were modern minded.  They had cars and small trucks.  But they could not drive their cars to their homes, because, this king’s property had no roads, which was an impediment.  They had to park their vehicles far away.

This king was very nervous one too.  He was afraid of snakes, and of course of cobras.  Just adjacent to his main entrance to his property there was a Naga Bana.  When this Huli’s  newly married wife came to know that there are snakes, she made Huli to build a snake proof house.  The floor tiles were so smooth, no snake could crawl. The walls, both inside and out were smooth and slippery.  The windows and doors were fortified with wire mesh double doors.  Cats and dogs guarded the yards.

You see folks, God works in mysterious ways.  A golden eagle spotted a snake, swooped down and picked up the snake.  No where else to sit down and eat its lunch, the eagle descended and sat on the roof of this Huli’s tallest house in the neighborhood.  The eagle could not sit down comfortably because even the roof tiles were very smooth and slippery.  The eagle had to let go of the snake from its claws in disgust. 

The snake slowly slithered down to the roof edge, and smoothly crawled under the roof edge tile, and fell in the bed of Huli who was taking a hot summer siesta along with his wife.No reader needs any narration from me as to what must have happened to this couple when the cobra fell on them in bed.  It’s not known whether the cobra bit Huli’s wife or not but she went unconscious instantly. 

Huli had no choice but to call his neighbors for help to transport his wife to a nearby hospital in Manipal. All his under paid servants ran off miles away hearing there is snake in the snake proof house!  Without any bargaining, Huli agreed to build a road through his property just like that!  Just see the power of Naga the Snake God! There were four cars ready to take his one wife.  The lady was carried on a palanquin to the cars, Oh, yes, folks, his wife is fine, may be because he agreed to build the road!

BUT, whether Huli will keep his promise to build the road remains to be seen.  Next time, the Cobra may bite both of them?  Will someone give copy of this article to Huli? You all know who Huli is! Rings the bell?  There is one in your neighborhood!

Why a simple road building has to be so complicated?  The road name could be “Huli the Tiger.”    Thanks Kishoo for making my brain cells to swell!

James Fernandes, USA, 19/03/2009

Mr. James Fernandes, has made a point to ponder - yes realizing and recognizing Barkur on line web pages is our duty. But I think none need reminder to refer holy book - where Christ cured 10 lepers but one returned to thank, so are all of us. You carry on your part of contribution; we all read and truly enjoy few great articles appearing once in a while.

Once again, I thank for a well informative article on my uncle Augustine D'Silva from Archie. In future I must not be wrong to expect to read about Peter D’Silva, Fr.Valerian D’Silva in these Barkur pages.

Wish you all the very best, and do your best in days to come, we are with you.

Felicina D'Silva, Kuwait - 18/03/09

Friends,

What Mr. Fernandes opined is right. Except for portals like Daiji world, Mangaloren.com etc, all small sites face this problem, since they confine to a small group or locality. Still, Barkur pages are more vibrant and updated regularly - and almost past 8-10 years its alive and active, compared to many contemporaries. Its mostly because the host Kishoo have well arranged segments interesting to people of different tastes and likes.

Almost all visitors have special likes preferences for one or more such sections - say hall of fame for seniors, POM pages for all who wants to be future POMs, News to all, Messages to people like me and so on. Fr. Tony try to keep our spirits high, Archie is regular, but feel capable of doing or writing much better, its James Fernandes gives moral doses and keep us warmed up. Other sections need fresh water, hope host will encourage budding writers.

One more point I noticed that, your message section contributors also reduced, may be because your feedback page faults... With regards and thanks to all of you and visitors,

MM Alvares - alvaresmm@hotmail.com - 18/03/2009

Hi Folks:

I spent $45, lost two hours of my life, drank four beers, gained two pounds, and wasted two hours of my friend’s time too, (who is a priest now, but was also married, hence a recipient of all the seven sacraments, a rare fellow), on a phone conversation as abbreviated below:

“I feel Archie should stop writing.  I feel Fr. Tony should stop helping the poor, and I also feel Kishoo should close this website, so that the world does not have to know that Barkur has no roads, bridges, hospital, golf course or ungrateful people.”

“Why?” says the priest.  “Why not, what have they gained?”  I asked.

“No, they do things not for monitory gain, but for publicity, which is quite satisfying to them.”

“What publicity?  I don’t think they get any publicity.  But for four people, nobody else knows them. If any one had read those articles, there would have been some comments, good, bad or worse, from any Amar, Akbar or Antony!”  I said.

“Hey James, how stupid can you be? Normally, people don’t compliment, because, when you compliment there becomes a comparison between you and the person you compliment. When you

compare and acknowledge the accomplishments of others, then you are admitting that you are lower than them, less smart than them, less poor than them and so on.  Now why one should lower oneself by acknowledging and by saying ‘thank you’, even?  Barkurians are smarter than you.  As long as you regard others as your equal, superior or inferior, you will have intolerance, restlessness and jealousy. If you do not adopt such an attitude, there is nothing for you to worry about.

If you think you are higher than others, you may become proud. If you think you are second to none, others may descend or despise you. If you think you are inferior, you may lose your own self- confidence.

For most people, it is very difficult to subdue their pride. It is advisable to learn how to reduce one's pride. It’s one’s own pride or ego that blinds you to see the ‘good’ in others. Which is more important - to maintain your pride or peace of mind?  Remember, James:

You may be poor now but at another point in time you may be rich. Today you may be ignorant, later however you can become wise. Today you may be sick and unhappy but given time you will probably be healthy. The Airport at Moodahadu can be named as Assumpta Helen Airport. Until then, learn from this website, and earn to build the airport.

If you are good to yourself, you are good to others. If you are good to others, you are good to yourself.” Thus the married priest stopped the boring lecture.

I gave a sigh of relief, and said, “Father, I will send twenty birthday cards, in different  names, to acknowledge your accomplishments, Ok?”

I heard the clique and the dial tone, and I felt glad for reducing my phone bill. It’s a good thing, not more than four people read this article, anyway!

James Fernandes, USA, 16/03/2009

Happy Birthday

We wish you a very happy birthday and many happy returns of the day. May God bless you in everyway and continue to guide your paths in serving Him and His people here on earth. We assure you of our prayers and support.With best wishes and prayers from:

Andarde Family and Friends, Staff and the Clients of Allina Clinical Lab and Allina religious gift shop,  Sastan .Staff  and  Parishioners  of St. Thomas the apostle church, St. Paul MN (USA).04/03/2009

Congratulations to Mr. Stephen Lewis on his achievements as a professional and modern photographer. He is very popular in the district of Udupi and I wish him good luck on inaugurating one more shop with a modern out look.

Henry Lewis, Sasthan, Kuwait. 03/04/2009

Happy Birthday

Viona Gonsalves (Barkur) Mumbai

Here’s a Birthday greeting
Especially to show
How much you mean
Although you surely must know
That without a doubt
There’s no-one nicer than you
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.

Wishes from, Daddy, Mummy and all relatives and friends from Mumbai and Barkur, 27/02/2009

Omnes viae Romam ducunt (Latin). ALL the roads lead to Rome , all the ROADS lead to Mecca , and all the roads LEAD to Banaras .The point is that we need roads to go any where.

But then if ‘magu Gabbu’ could roam around as a child in Moodahadu without roads, if shale magu Gabru could walk to National High School Barkur without a Highway, if Gabru Naikru could reach Mangalore city without seven bridges, or without the NH17, or reach Bombay without the Konkan Railway, and if Mr. Gabriel Fernandes could reach San Antonio without a Thankabettu Airlines, and return/visit Barkur frequently, as Dr. Gabriel Fernandes, to open a Scholarship Fund, an Auditorium, or open a ROAD in the year 2009, then let this be an example that the possibilities are endless for anyone if one wants to work hard.

“It’s in giving that we receive.”  Your achievement thus far is just a tip of the iceberg!!! Keep up the good work.

The presence of so many people, the dignitaries, and Fr. Aranha as well, shows the importance to the need of the hour, road, and more roads. Thanks Kishoo, for your salient efforts behind the curtains.

James Fernandes, USA, 17/02/2009

Barkur must be happy and proud of their great son DR GABRIEL FERNANDES. As all of us heard and read of him from pages of this site and other media, he is a famous and renowned research scientist in US, moreover a man with very generous heart.

By his deeds it shows lot of passionate love for his place of birth Barkur, who has seen the hardships of economically poor….

Yesterday ‘Hall to College’, today ‘Road to Village’ and who afford to forget his pet project ‘Village to College’ are just few examples. I congratulate, Mr. Fernandes, his family as well, and wish them good health, and pray Almighty to work wonders through them, in coming days.

P. Archibald Furtado – Muscat – 17/02/2009.

Dear Edgar, Edson, Exter Cecil bai,Fr. Denis, Molly bai, and dearest Sr. Corona(Winnie)& all the family members.Your mom/sister so dear & close to our family also in Udyavar. I was so shocked and I am very sad of the demise of our Teres bai.(fondly called). Her family was so dear to us and we all miss her. Please accept our heartfelt condolences. May the Almighty God give our sister eternal peace in Heaven. We all family Members alongwith your family pray so that God may give strenth & courage to the entire family to bear the loss of our dear sister Teres bai.May her soul rest in peace.

Alban D' Souza, Unkudru, Udyavara, Dubai,15/02/2009

Dear Edgar,Edson,Exter & all family members. Please accept our heartfelt condolences. May her soul rest in peace & give you all the strength & courage to accept the loss.

Olie Shaikh/D'silva, Nezar Hill,/Bombay.15/02/2009