Animals

Not sure why, but it suddenly occurred to me last night that there was one animal I haven't seen since being here. I've seen most creatures that stepped onto Noah's Ark in the last couple of weeks - camels, elephants, deer, assorted rodents, enough dogs to feed China for a month, and thousands of cows. But not one cat. Maybe that's related to the fact that there's a malnourished feral dog on every street corner, but it still seemed odd. Still, I'm sure I'll struggle through the next few weeks sans mog.

And speaking of animals, the whole cow thing is just surreal. They are literally everywhere. Wandering aimlessly around markets, on main roads, up alleyways, everywhere. Now I know they're sacred to Hindus so can't be killed or harmed, but frankly they're such emaciated, disease-ridden, hapless looking creatures that it would be far kinder to take a bolt gun to them. Not that I'd be carving a steak off them. "Would monsieur like ze fillet steak? Our cows come from ze inner city of Delhi, feeding off a diet of cardboard and plastic waste, and drinking from ze open sewers." I think I'll have the omelette thanks garcon.

Udaipur, India