Studying for an exam about cows

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will already know that I love my neighbourhood cows, whom I meet while out running.

I often share my pre-run banana with them, and I’ve also been known to pull plastic bags out of their mouths when I catch ’em foraging in the garbage.

Here you go, links to my 2 Insta accounts:

https://www.instagram.com/runwithchristine/ https://www.instagram.com/christinepemberton/

In my main (non-running) feed I even have a special collection of cow films & photos – told you, I’m a fan.

So you can imagine my delight when I read about the first-ever online exam in cow studies that will take place next month.

This exam is open – and I quote – “in four categories -Primary level up to 8th standard, Secondary level from class 9th to class 12th, College level after 12th+ and fourth category will be for the general public.” That’s me – the general public.

This exam sounds right up my alley.

1). A bit of studying, to keep the ol’ brain ticking over.

2). A free online exam.

3). “Certificates will be given to all. Successful meritorious candidates will be given prizes and certificates afterwards.”

4). And, of course, lots of new knowledge to be garnered. Like so:

“The syllabus also claims that Indian cows are hygiene-maintaining, “hardy and clever enough not to sit at dirty places” whereas the Jersey cow is lazy and prone to diseases. In a remarkable leap of blaming the cows themselves for their diseases, the document says, “It has also been seen that they attract infection by not being hygienic enough.”

Hey! Hang on a mo!

Devoted as I am to my adopted country, I’m not sure I am altogether thrilled at the automatic denigration of Jersey cows (= exotic cows) as you’ll see in the table below. Just take a look:

I’ve already told you here in this blog about the theory that the milk of Indian cows contains gold, remember? Here’s the link & it’s definitely worth a read, for your general education – https://christinepemberton.me/?p=26244

But I think the table (above) does go a wee bit overboard in its ridicule of every aspect of foreign cows. Section 12, for example, says that foreign cows are known to be “very lazy” and that they are “not hygienic enough”.

Poor things.

Anyway, I think if I keep my wits about me, and don’t rise to the jingoistic bait, I might just ace this test and win myself a jolly nice certificate to start 2021.