Manatees captured while mating in Phillipe park last Week by the Author.

 Today my morning walk offered a rather interesting site – I witnessed a few manatees mating at the beach, right across from our home in Philippe Park. I never saw this fantastic natural mating ritual in the past eighteen years of living here in Tampa Bay.

               Manatees are also called sea cows, and that reminded me of my childhood when we had cows at home. The cows we kept at home for milk, were more like family members. Those bovines also helped my parents earn an additional income from selling fresh milk. 

               Keeping buffaloes and cows, as a source of fresh milk, is a common thing in small-town India. Anyone who has ever had to perform the task of milking a cow knows that it is hard work. And that’s why most Indians will never let even a few drops of milk go to waste. Not to mention that cows are considered holy animals by Hindus.

               I remember a veterinarian doctor used to visit almost monthly to check on the cows. Sometimes he used to carry a long tube attached to a frozen gas tank for getting the cows pregnant through the artificial insemination process. My sister and I must have been in middle school then and could not understand how this tube can make a cow pregnant.

               One day a big bull arrived, so I asked my father why there was a bull in the shed. My Dad said that one cow was not conceiving through the artificial process, and so the other option was via natural mating. I was so excited to witness that moment of mating. I don’t remember what happened next because that bull stayed in our backyard with five other cows. I just wondered how the bull would know which cow was ready for mating.

               As the years passed, we were in high school, and the veterinarian doctor continued to visit our home with the same long tubes. By then we understood that those tubes carried frozen sperms.

               Seeing the beautiful manatees mating by the sea this morning, I was immediately taken back in time to my childhood days. Many of you reading this post will probably connect with this instantly.

Did it trigger any childhood memory of your days in India? Please do comment below and have a fantastic day.

personal letters India diary indian cows manatees mating manatees philipe park Philippepark