COWS, CALVES AND A GAU PUJA

I am in Chennai for grihapravesam of my new flat. Bought little return gifts for those attending and I thought I was ready for the delish breakfast we have ordered post the puja.  Feeling very happy with myself thinking all work done. 
Having said that I would have merely put Viggie's photo (Lord Vigneshwara), boiled milk (paal kachardu), said the two and half slokams I know and been done with it. 
But it slowly grew in size and concept and apparently it is a big affair. For all brass vessels to come out and be washed to shiny, shimmery newness, vallakus, oil, tiri, matchbox, vessel big enough for milk, because this boiled milk will be served as prasadam and hence paper cups. 
There is an elaborate breakfast (my menu to be executed by Mami) with coffee, after the puja when we will mingle and people will comment about how nice everything is. The house is looking good.... 
Yesterday was gau puja at Govindan Goshala at Gudaaloor, a sneeze away from Mathuranthakam and eight kms off the Grand Southern Trunk Road or National Highway 45, also known as Chennai–Trichy Highway. Horrendous non-stop traffic on this road. It eases off a tad near Chengalpattu and becomes greener, with little hillocks and lots of green cover. Easing of traffic is a joke, for everyone drives with a certain amount of feeling of entitlement and you have to have your eye balls on the road. 
Chengalapattu will be explored on my next trip, but it gets its name from a lily called 'chenkazhuneer poo' which is found on  the banks of Palar River, which is entirely dry and runs like a silver thread, if it catches the sun. But the bridge suggests that when full, it would look majestic. Chengalpattu is called the "Gateway of Chennai".
Ruled by Cholas, Vijayanagara, Deccan Sultans, the French, the British, it is now under various Politicians with no taste and excess of greed. 
The Gaushalla experience is something else. It belongs to my brother in law T Radhakrishnan, fondly known as Mohan. He has a huge tract of land and has more than 350 cows. He grows red rice, huge amounts of vegetables, makes his own groundnut oil (After Rashtriya Shala in Rajkot, Gujarat, this was my second experience). In general, he is the do-gooder in the family along with his wife Rama. 
Gau puja does great stuff to the ambience of the new home. Earlier when ground floor houses were the order of the day, the cow along with the calf would walk inside all the rooms and this would clear the air of all negative vibes. Now not possible with apartments and so Gau puja is best. The cow and calf can be brought to common area of flats but this has become an expensive event. The poor cow in her excitement gives a lot of dung and urine while the calf is always bucking in sheer panic. 
As it happened in the gaushala. Yours truly parked herself behind wall, while SILs Rama and Meera did the needful in the midst of cow dung, urine, hungry running calves, protective mothers with horns and some chanting and karpooram aarathi. 
They were given ahati keerai or august tree leaves or humming bird tree leaves and they enjoyed it. Those tiny calves were fed with bottles of milk. Generally very participative bovines. After the puja, these two ladies trotted off barefeet to meet with the other cows in several other sheds. Fearless and full of enthusiasm. I of course was at my snobbish best, hiding behind walls, smiling generously at all and sundry and the cows. 
I have decided I am most comfortable in my car,  in the passenger seat, with full rights to navigate, the AC on me, the radio in my control. Or give meba TV remote and an AC room. Gosh! I have become a total urbanite, unable to walk on a rubble strewn 100 mtr path.