Animals

The Hindu religion sees cows as the symbol of life so they can never be killed. As a result cows live a pretty charmed life doing exactly as they please. That’s why we found them everywhere we went - casually walking down the middle of the roads any place from the countryside to the busy streets of Mumbai to the major highways. This revered status means you are not going to find beef on a menu in these parts. (Though here in Nepal, we found that they do eat buffalo – a convenient distinction.)

Sheep and goats are also an acceptable food stuff. Last night we were walking in to the square and passed one of the many butcher shops displaying carcasses and got heads to find a live goat tied up in front of the establishment. Clearly not a good day for the poor fellow. I doubt that he was there seeing off a friend.

Mostly, though, it seems that the folks who eat meat eat mostly chicken. There are chickens everywhere. And not the scrawny chickens that run around Anguilla. These are really big, fat chickens – the fattest chickens I have ever seen. On the streets and living in houses – not hen houses either. People’s houses. In Bhaktapur we went down one little street to see a beautiful example of a carved, wooden window in a popular peacock motif when we saw the big rooster in another window. So in addition to the peacock window we all took photos of the chicken window, That certainly made the locals laugh.