Week 14 Storytelling: Vishnu and Godaan

 

Vishnu and Godaan

Picture by Unknown

Source: Wikipedia

Vishnu wanted so bad to be part of the Godaan Club. However, it seemed like whatever he did was not good enough. All his friends were part of the club except for him. He thought and thought about what he was doing wrong, or was it something he hasn’t done, or was it something he could do better.

Vishnu’s family owned a farm. They had chickens, pigs, spiders, and ducks. However, his family never owned cows. He loved all his animals. However, to be part of the Godaan Club you had to have the best cows in the entire county. The coat had to be shiny and soft to the touch. The bones had to be tough and unbreakable, and their milk had to be the best tasting milk there ever was. Vishnu knew there was nothing he could do but watch his friends plan events, dances, and lavishes parties because they were part of the Godaan Club.

One day, Vishnu was talking to his chickens, pigs, and ducks. He told them he loved them all, but they were not cows. When suddenly one of his chickens turned around, and pointed to a cow! The cow was absolutely breathtaking. She had a marvelous coat, and she was big, but not too big.

He walked over to the cow. He wondered where the owner was. He decided to go find the owner because he thought the owner would have been devastated to lose such a beautiful cow. The cow and Vishnu decided to go on a journey to find his owner. They walked and walked all over the county, but there was not a clue to where the cow’s owner was. They were exhausted, and hungry. They reached a lavish house. Vishnu knocked on the door. A man with a beard with an old blanket wrapped around him answered. Vishnu asked him if the cow belonged to him. It wasn’t his cow.

The man offered them water and food for the night. The man looked at Vishnu. Something fell from his blanket, and it was a picture of the cow. The exact cow Vishnu had. The man looked embarrassed.

“She is my cow, but I do not wish to keep her. She is a goddess. She needs care, and I am dying,” he said.

He wanted Vishnu to keep the cow. Vishnu didn’t know what to say. He accepted the cow. He was still in shock that he finally had a cow of his own, but the cow was a goddess.

Years and years went by. He never joined the Godaan Club because his cow was worthy of more than that club. He showered her with as much love as possible, and all his friends were jealous because in return Vishnu had a goddess cow. He had the best milk, the best accessories, the best tools, and a goddess watching over him.

He lived the most fulfilling life, and he never complained about not being part of an ungrateful club ever again because he already the best, and he didn’t need some club to tell him that.

Bibliography: Devdutt's Pattanaik's Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art

Author's Note:  
This story was based on how cows are cherished on the Hindu religion because they provide, food, shelter, accessories, etc. Godaan is a type of charity that fulfills all. This means that there isn't a lack of anything when there is godaan to me. I used my story to represent how worthy a cow can be to someone. The reason behind why beef is not consumed is because there is a high respect for cows because of everything they provide. This was a concept I was always interested in, so I decided to turn this into a story of how valuable a cow was to Vishnu. In the original story, Vishnu becomes Go-pala. He takes care of the earth-cow. My story was different from the original because I wanted the cow in my story to be a queen instead of the earth-cow. There is automatically a sense of magnificence when something is referred to as a prince, princess, king, or queen. I want this to be projected to give the cow in my story more value than just being an animal. I truly enjoyed writing this story, and learning more about why cows are s a valuable animal. I hope this makes my readers think about how valuable other animals are in a world where so many beautiful animals are going extinct.