The last time I was in India six years ago, the streets of India were bustling with cows. You would see them everywhere: from the bazaars to the residential neighborhoods and even freeways. However, one remarkable change was I didn’t see any stray or grazing cows in the cities of Gujarat. So, where did all the cows go?

It turns out that stray cows would gather around in large groups on the streets, obstructing all the traffic. The narrow streets with already bustling population could not afford such traffic jams. In a few rare incidents, cows would even charge at people without giving any warnings. Therefore, the city council decided to capture these cows and keep them at a secure place. The owners would, then, have to pay a hefty penalty, thereby discouraging the owners from letting their cows go out on their own.

I wasn’t particularly a big fan of this new change for personal reasons. I grew up around cows, and ever since a toddler, I had a special bond with cows. When I was younger, I would feed them rotis, fruits, grass fodder. Now that the cows were gone, my trip to India would’ve been incomplete without feeding them.

I finally got a chance to feed them when I and my family were visiting our village in rural India. The rural side of India is still filled with abundant cows. While on the way, we stopped by a gau-shala that gives shelter to sick and abandoned cows. Feeding them gave me more satisfaction that anything on my trip.