Tribune Libre

HEALTHY COW IN A HEALTHY COUNTRY
or "Mad cows in a mad country"

Gaura Krishna

(April 1996)

In India, cow is sacred. Of course, as sacred, one does not eat her. More, one reveres her. She is not mad and no one is sick because of her.

But here, is it not extraordinary! Medias had a whale of a time. And interviews with 'specialists" went at a good pace. Let us say between us, even the 'specialists' don't know what to say. They don't know whether there is a direct relation between the mad cow and the Jacob something syndrome ...

However, the interviewees discussed a lot. Perhaps one had to kill 4.000.000 cows. At the lowest estimate, for at some time it was spoken of 11.000.000. 11 millions cows to the slaughterhouse for some 6 people having the So-and-So-Jacob syndrome! And nobody is sure about the relation between both.

But more. Did you hear them, all of them? All of them, without any exception? Oh la la, that made billions francs! Think, Europe would be obliged to go on well and to put the hand in the wallet. That was billions here, jobless people there, etc...

At the same time, none, really nobody, has even simply thought of the cow. What do i say, of the cow, of the cows! Of the 4.000.000 or 11.000.000 cows. They are not cows, they are monetary units. It is not a life, they are not lives, no, it is millions francs. One must kill, absolutely. And, in entire Europe, one consults each other, the tax-payer pays the trips of these gentlemen for discussing about nobody knows what since nobody knows if there is a relation between the mad cow and the Whatsisname-Jacob syndrome.

I have an idea. What if we ask cows about their opinion? Sure, they have one. And for sure better that the opinion of nowadays human being. For, between us, who is the animal in the device? Mens sana in corpore sano ? Maybe he corpus is sanus, but what about the mens ? Mince alors !