I
often wonder, why we humans always look down upon certain animals.
About a month back, I happened to visit a sanctuary in Gujarat state
of India, whose prominent inhabitants are known to be wild asses.
While watching those wild asses freely roaming around, I realized
that a wild ass is a very handsome and intelligent animal, contrary
to my thinking so far, that an ass is some kind of an inferior kind
of a beast. Most of us, I am sure, have a similar kind of belief and
would not hesitate even to call any co-human acting foolishly or with
imprudence as an ass or a donkey. In reality, donkeys slog and
labour for us, carrying loads and there is no reason to believe that
they are any way gifted with lesser intelligence than a similar
looking horse. Yet we have made them a token of imprudence.
Water
Buffalo is another such animal. This animal is also considered as
almost the ultimate standard of laziness and stupidity for no
plausible reason. Buffalo milk and products made from it, forms a
significant portion of our daily diet. Yet the source from where we
get this earthly elixir, or a water buffalo, is often scorned,
slighted and often taunted. In Indian villages or even in towns, a
herd of Buffalos quietly crossing a road or walking along it, is a
very common sight. Most of us feel scared when we come across such a
herd for no reason. Actually, it would be hard to find another four
legged creature, as dovish or pacifist as a buffalo. In south east
Asia, water Buffalos are used even for ploughing fields and pulling
carts.
In
southern Italy's Campania province, farmers breed and rear Water
Buffalos just like India. The worth of Cheese's produced annually in
this province from Buffalo's milk alone is above Millions of
Dollars. Cheese's are produced here by a natural and slow paced
process giving an exquisite taste not only to Cheese's but also to
creams and such other products. Antonio Palmieri is one such Cheese
producer from Campania, with his business being run in the family
since last three generations. He is obsessed with an idea to make
absolutely perfect kind of Mozzarella Cheese from Buffalo milk,
produced on his farm and in the process has become a Millionnaire.
When I
was a kid, I remember that there were number of stables housing
Buffalos, in many places not very far from my house. These stables
had a peculiar, unwelcome look with all the Buffalos tied down to
wooden planks in a row, stacks of hay lying around and smelly air
with heaps of dung lying along with traces of urine flows on the
grounds. Antonio Palmieri's stables are built in a different way
and look more like a resort for Buffaloes.
Antonio
feels that for making good cheese's, along with skilled workers, one
needs top quality milk. He believes that he can obtain such top
quality milk from the Buffaloes, only when they are happy and
comfortable. Antonio's Buffaloes are not milked at specific times.
They go and stand in front of milking machines in a line at a time,
they feel is convenient to them. Every Buffalo is tagged with an
Electronic chip hung around her neck containing her personal
information and the milking machine milks the buffalo according to
data stored in the chip.
Palmieri
gives the cows three months per year to graze in an open field,
socializing, bathing in a communal pool and not giving milk When they
are lactating, the cows can relax at the massage parlor inside the
stable, and when they get sick, homeopathic remedies wait for them at
the infirmary. He says:
“I
think a buffalo is smarter than a cow, The smarter you are, the more
you seek freedom, and that applies to human beings as well.”
It is
rather difficult to prove or disprove what Antonio believes. The hard
fact remains that Cheese's produced in his stable fetch highest price
of almost 16 US Dollars for every Kilogram in the market.
Antonio's
cheese's have reached high palates, such as those of U.S. President
Barack Obama and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who ate
the prized cheese on separate occasions.
His
farm located in Vannulo is flooded throughout the morning by crowds
of tourists from all over the world wanting to tour the grounds,
watch the lounging buffaloes and taste warm chunks of freshly made
cheese. Local customers continue to rush in and out of the cheese
shop with buffalo-printed bags carrying mozzarella balls swimming in
whey brine.
The
taste of Antonio's Mozzarella sometimes is disorienting for the
visitors, who have never eaten this kind of pure stuff before.
Antonio's daughter, Teresa says that sometimes visitors are so
confused by the milky juices of their mozzarella, that they spit it
out. Antonio is still not satisfied and says that he wants to produce
even better quality Mozzarella than at present.
I am
sure that if water Buffaloes in India or anywhere else in the world,
somehow come to know about Antonio Palmieri
's farm and stables, they would start preying to the God to give them
their next birth on Antonio's farm.
8
March 2013
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