The communal politics has simplistically equated the cow with Hinduism, and others, especially Muslims, are not expected to care for it. But there are many non-Hindus, who are probably more concerned about the cow.

READ: Beyond beef debate: How holy cow gets the unholy treatment

Haji Mehruddin, a 58-year-old resident of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, has been passionately serving cows for years now. Time was when he used to go door to door to collect rotis from houses and feed cows across the city. Seeing his interest in the welfare of cows, the Rajasthan Gau Sewa Sangh gave him a pushcart with a bell. Now, from six in the morning he starts moving from one lane to another, with his pushcart and four gunny bags. He rings the bell so that people know Mehruddin has started his rounds. People of Jaisalmer eagerly wait for him to come at their doorstep and when he does they put rotis in his gunny bags and this activity of roti collection continues till 1 pm every day. He is given a subsistence amount of Rs 4,000 a month for this work and he is quite happy with this remuneration.


As it is difficult to cover the entire city in a day, Mehruddin chooses a few colonies every day and covers the entire city over a week. The rotis collected by him are fed to the cows of a gaushala. He tells everyone he meets, “Every religion gives the message of peace, unity and brotherhood.”

Kishangarh village of Mehrauli in south Delhi presents another fine example of how Muslims are better custodians and caretakers of cows. Here, a 125-year-old gaushala houses about 1,200 cows, a majority of whom are too old to provide milk to their owners. There are 84 cows which are blind. Tending these unwanted animals is the family of Ayub and Asiya Khan. The couple started working here some 13 years back and have no plans to go back to their native place in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. They live in a room in the gaushala premises and their day starts quite early with bathing cows and collecting dung. They take full care of all the animals which includes nursing ailing cows in the shelter.

Appreciating their work, people from adjoining urban villages of south Delhi as well as from other places of the capital have started a fund to help the couple run the gaushala. They are paid Rs 2000 a month for their service towards the cow.

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(The story appears in the November 1-15, 2015 issue)