Cow escaping proves she belongs to everyone, say alleged owners

Nik, the biggest cow of the northern Chapasthani village of Gorubadha, escaped on Wednesday, bringing an abrupt halt to all the festivities surrounding Village Elder Day.

Locals have said there was too much commotion on this particular Elder Day, which spooked the cow.

"I mean there is always some commotion on the day, but this year it was too much, and it scared Nik," said Guy Tie, a local.

It has caused an uproar because it was the first time in Gorubadha's history that Elder Day, which cannot take place without the village cow's ceremonial blessings, was halted.

On Elder Day, villagers attend a ceremony where they nominate a village elder for another term. Traditionally the elders have been from one family, named The Family. After the nomination, the elder drinks the cow's milk.

"But this year, without the cow, the elder won't be able to drink the milk. So, the ceremony cannot be completed," Badhon Chapa, the village's historian, said.

Satireday learnt that a possible reason for the reported commotion was that this year, other families wanted their members to be nominated the village elder.

Jamshed Palash, one of the members of another family who wanted to be nominated the elder, said the game was rigged and no one other than those from The Family could become an elder. 

"The truth is Nik won't give milk for any other family. Although they won't admit it, The Family owns Nik," said Palash.

The Family's elder nominee Mamunur Hossain said Nik did not belong to them. "In fact, that Nik escaped on Elder Day, denying me victory, means that she belongs to everyone.

"But we are still trying to find her, because if not us, then who?"

A fringe conspiracy theorist of the village, Badrul Nasir Pasha, said Nik's escape was a deliberate ploy by The Family to prove to everyone that the cow was not theirs and therefore Elder Day was not rigged. But no one paid him any heed, as he rarely attended Elder Days in the past and the villagers had forgotten about him.

Meanwhile, the CCTV minister in the capital said they could not trust CCTV footage of Elder Day happenings in Gorubadha village and so could not say anything about whether there was too much commotion. He blamed Nik for being a cow.