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Cover Story: Making merry with your goat
Ever encountered this: bleating goats, mooing cows, all next door. Harness bells taking place of your alarm bell! Early morning all you feel is, as if you have waken up in a farmhouse. Once in a year, every one has to go through this. Good or bad, once in a while everybody loves it too. And these days follow the days of the yummy meat loaves, keema aalu, seekh kebab and makhan gosht. Yummy!
So fellows, that time of the year is all here for you, bringing in new surprises and new memories to save. So are you ready? How many of you make it really special? When I was little I used to have an all-exclusive photo session with my goat-of-the-year and save the pictures in my album. Now whenever I go through that album, I can recall all the golden goat memories and cherish the time I had spent with each of them. We used to do all sorts of things together. Like having lunch together (once I even had to pretend I ate hay with George — that’s what I called him, he was an exception. So I had to pretend I were too). Hey! And you know what, my goats were my only boy friends my mom would allow me to go out with. We used to go on walks, (dawdling down the street, hand-in-hand, no sorry! Hand-in-horn) and turn in late at night. My parents would never mind, they knew soon I was going to lose them!
My goats were my pride. I showed them off to all my neighbour/ school/tuition friends. I used to spend all my time with my goats so I knew all about them. I was also known to be the goat-handling expert in my town. Kids from different neighbourhoods used to come to me for goat tips. You might think I’m making it all up, but no. Besides, I have had my time. And it’s all almost over now.
Things change as we grow up. Now I’m a goat dud. Goats and me? Two different stories! Now I run hiding my guilt behind my golden goat album, which was once one of my most prided possessions. Though now I hardly ever go near them, but I still admire them from far away, and I believe I still have a little goat expertise hidden somewhere inside me. So if you wish to be a goat guru, here is what you need to do.
Become your goat’s best friend
We all have friends because we all need them. Goats are animals but we don’t have to treat them like that. The only way your goat is going to be an exception, is if you treat him differently. Be your goat’s friend. Pamper him and make him feel comfortable. Most kids would just do it their way. Like they would fasten a heavy rope and then drag them here and there. Well! Fastening a rope is very important, as your goat would have lesser chances to run away. But being cruel is another thing, and a non-admiring one too. I’m sure you don’t want to be all Hitler-ish when you know you’re going to spend very little time together. Be gentle and nice. Make your goat feel warm. Coddle him just the way you would mollycoddle your pet say, kitty. It will take only 24 hours for your goat to realize that you are his friend. Trust me, it’s tried and tested.
Have a goat beauty contest in your neighbourhood
Your goat is already an exception. And of course the most beautiful one. You are sure he is the best one in your neighbourhood. Then why not have a contest? You already know you’re going to win. But hey! Not too fast, who knows your neighbourhood kids are upto the same thing you are! To make your goat look different besides jewellery you can put a hat on him or any of your old shirts that’s only if you can manage. Make sure your mom allows you to do that too. Concentrate over being original, rather than being artificial. Well! Some would say that artificiality is what brings changes, but its creativity and innovation that prove to be powerfully winning. Go for things that look placid yet smart. Means: lots of colours, but good sensible colours. Some kids would dress up their goats into fluorescent flashy colours. These would get into the eye and stick. That would look very unattractive in the scorching sun. So make sensible choices. Take help from older friends. All you can do to win the deal is make your goat look different. Jewellery or harness bells can do that. But make sure you don’t overdress him, or chances are he might look foolish and funny.
Dress your goat up!
Heard of goat make-over? No? Well, you can invent it. No kidding! See, all you need to do is give your goat a nice bath — again, the way you would shower your kitty. Wash him up with surf or shampoo and turn on the hair drier. Or simply let him evaporate in open air. Brush him nicely in one direction and compare him with the other goats in the neighbourhood. You bet he’ll look the best. My little cousin is so much into it; she took out all her clips and put them on her goat’s hair (he had long bushy hair). Some of them would look stupid, but believe me he looked cute. You can use cute and colourful clips to add to his beauty. You can also find many vendors selling goat jewellery. Get some nice ones for your goat.
Party time
Now forget all the things, because it’s time for goaty guy to leave. Don’t waste time. Take some shoots with him, so that you don’t get to forget your wonder goat. Note down all his properties and characteristics. You know stuff like extra teeth — two teeth are valuable ones — figure out his exceptions, etc. Keep a track of how much food he consumes and how much he wastes, etc. Don’t forget to give him a name. I always did that. Write all the stuff at the backside of the pictures. Or if you don’t hate working hard for fun, make a scrapbook. It may go like: snaps on the top, data down below. Or make your own layout. As years go by you will have a whole collection of beautiful hardcopy of the wonderful memories that many of your friends may not have.
To some this may be useless or stupid, but the fun loving kids, this is all frenzy plus valuable. This is a way we cherish the simple things in life and this is how we learn to assess how little things can mean a lot bigger than they seem to.
You know, at times in life, these are those minor things that make us feel ‘blessed’.
Eid-ul-Azha and the concept of sacrifice
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Eid-ul-Azha, also called Eid-ul-Kabir, is celebrated by the Muslims throughout the world on 10th Zilhijjah. It is observed in th e memory of the historic sacrifice made by Prophet Ibrahim (AS). This sacrifice showed all Muslim that real happiness and true joy come not from fulfilling self-desire, but from giving away in the name of God in other words, sublimation of the spirit. We celebrate to confirm our faith in Allah’s creation.Eid-ul-Azha is one of the two canonical festivals in Islam. The word Azha is the plural of Azhat, meaning sacrifice hence this Eid is called the festival of sacrifice.
Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) once dreamt that he was sacrificing his dearest and only son, Hazrat Ismail (AS). He discussed this dream with his son, and taking it as a pointer from Allah, he readily undertook to translate his dream into reality. He took his son, Ismail to the Hill of Merwah near the House of Allah in Mecca. When he was about to sacrifice his son, a providential intervention took place and a ram was substituted for sacrifice.
What Allah intended was to put Prophet Ibrahim (AS) to a test, so that this supreme manifestation of the faith in Allah and unquestioned acceptance of His will may be set forth as a beacon light and inspiration to all men and women of faith and goodwill.
The unquestioned submission and the unshakable resolve to obey Allah without any thought of self and the possibility of capitulation to the paternal instinct, vindicated Hazrat Ibrahim’s title of Khalilullah (Friend of Allah). It is in the commemoration of this supreme sacrifice of Hazrat Ibrahim in the way of Allah on the 10th of Zilhijjah that the Muslim celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with marked enthusiasm and due solemnity. The believers offer in sacrifice a sheep, a goat, a cow or a camel. The flesh of sacrificial animals is divided into three portions: one-third being given to relatives, one-third to the poor and the remaining one-third is consumed by the family.
With a view to ensuring the solidarity of the Muslim community for all times to come, the men of wealth needed to be taught to share the benefits of their worldly possessions with the poor and the needy.
What was more, this process of parting with wealth to ameliorate the sufferings of the poor and the destitute was to be accompanied by a restraint of one’s emotion, because the sacrifice would not involve a mere dispossession of an object, but would involve the killing of a domestic animal for the purpose of distributing its meat among those who needed it.
Obviously, the act was intended to symbolize the social obligations of the owners of private property held by them as a gift from Allah to be used in the manner and to the extent Allah has prescribed.
The Qur’anic concept of sacrifice centres on the selfless and the humble so that it becomes the binding force which keeps human beings in readiness for confronting evil. The institution of sacrifice in Islam is not only in commemoration of the historic event of Prophet Ibrahim’s submission to the will of Allah but also in perfect consonance with the universal practice of sacrifice as enunciated and propounded by almost all major religions of the world. Animal sacrifice has been practised by almost all religions, but Islam has given a new meaning to it. It was practised in the past mostly to pacify revengeful gods.
Islam did not consider animal sacrifice as a means of appeasing an offended deity or as an atonement of sin. In Islam sacrifice is an outward symbol of man’s readiness to lay down even his life, if needed, for the sake of Allah and ambitions in the cause of truth and righteousness.
The basic philosophy of sacrifice according to the Holy Qur’an, is love of Allah and the establishment of truth. As a living institution, it is designed to give the Muslims the world over an opportunity to realize their unity in faith. The Holy Qur’an says:
“And to every nation, We appointed a ritual that they may mention in the name of Allah over the beast or cattle that He has given them for food.” (22:34)
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