Rashmi Rekha Das, OP
“As God give us parents to take care of us similarly he has assigned an important duty upon us and that is to understand our responsibility towards animals. It’s obligatory on every human being to take care of the mute creatures at every step,” says octogenarian Hari Maharana who has been feeding stray bulls since 1999. He roams around the state capital and its outskirts on his cycle to serve ailing and hungry bulls.
At an age when Hari requires care from others, he cares for animals, bulls in particular. His daily schedule is packed. He’s up at 5 am and leaves his house in search of bulls on his cycle. He carries fodder and other edible goodies including husk, chaff and rotten vegetables to feed bulls. That’s not all. He also serves injured bulls suffering from mouth and foot disease and writhing in pain. Sunday Post meets the animal lover to find out his other interests and mission.
Feeding the street dog, however, is a more socially acceptable tradition since it recognises the yeoman service the canine provides in keeping neighbourhood watch. But what made Hari feed bulls? To this query he says, “You might remember the super cyclone of 1999 which struck Orissa and devastated the state. The following day, I went to Unit I haat to get some basic commodities for home when I happened to see many bulls dying, some writhing in pain. I really felt bad. I immediately bandaged the wounded bulls. It was the time when I felt the need to treat them. And I decided to serve the bulls without giving a second thought. Many people usually ask me why I don’t take care of cows. My answer is simple. People feed cows as they give us milk. They don’t take care of bulls because bulls are of no use.”
He continues: “That apart, I believe that each Hindu God has their own vahana (vehicle) that they use during war. For instance, the vahana of Vishnu is Garuda (eagle). Goddess Durga uses Simha (Lion) as her vehicle. The goddess for knowledge – Saraswati uses hansa (swan) as she is eternally calm and the white swan indicates purity and beauty – the fundamental properties of knowledge. Similarly, Lord Shiva uses the bull as his vehicle. Thus leaving bulls to suffer is a sin according to me.”
Hari who used to work as carpenter never hesitate to borrow money from others when it came to feeding the pious bull. He says: “Gone are the days when I did not have to ask for money. However, I have stopped working due to old age and that’s why I find it difficult to bear the expenses required for treatment and feeding of bulls.”
He adds: “It costs me around `350-400 per day to take care of these creatures. I do get donations but not always. Now I have to borrow money to continue my duty towards the mute creatures. You will be surprised to know that when morning breaks, you will find a group of bulls standing in front of my house. It seems as if they are waiting to bless me. What makes me sad though is that the government is spending a huge chunk of money for the welfare of different sections, it hardly thinks of welfare of these animals. They are left hungry for days due to lack of green pastures in the state capital. In such a situation, the government should come up with gosalas to shelter these hapless animals.”
Hari, sometimes, finds it difficult to attend to an ailing bull. “Youngsters don’t show interest in rescuing the animals. They just ignore my pleas to rescue bulls. It really hurts. My sincere request to the youth is to spare some time for these animals.
Recounting an interesting anecdote, he says: “One day I was busy attending a bull suffering from foot and mouth disease near the Secretariat when a car arrived and a teenaged girl alighted from it. While she was alighting from car, her cell phone dropped from her bag in her ignorance. I collected it and ran after the girl to give her. When I returned her phone, the girl got elated and gave Rs 3,000 for my honesty. I, however, declined to take it. In the meantime, she collected all the details about me. The next day when I was feeding bulls near the Secretariat, the lady came along with her father. Her father praised me for returning the cell phone which costs `60,000. We had a long conversation from which he came to know that I had taken chaff, husk from a grocery shopkeeper and yet to pay him `9,000. Her father offered me a bundle of notes. When I rejected the offer, the father-daughter duo went to the grocer in my ignorance and paid him `10,000.The incident left a lasting imprint on my mind.”
“There was another Samaritan who gave me a cell phone. People used to come from far to my place to rescue bulls. Realising the fact, he gave me a cell phone so that I could help bulls.”
On asking what awards he has received so far, he says: “Rewards and awards don’t matter to me. What matters to me the most is respect”.
However, he has been awarded with Marga Darsan Samman and felicitated by Labakusa Vidya Mandir and Bhubaneswar Journalists’ Association.
