How I bought a cow-- and donated its calf

When Shoba Narayan moved to India from New York, she didn't think she would buy a cow. She had heard of India's holy cows, of course; encountered them on India's chaotic roads, mooed at them even. Shoba believed in India's Holy Cows. As a lifelong vegetarian, she didn't go so far as to worship the cow. She merely desisted from eating them. As a regular shopper at Whole Foods, Shoba carried her interest in organic products back to India. She searched for places where she could buy organic milk for her family. Little did she know that the solution was right across her street.

Enter Sarala, a milk-lady with limpid eyes and a canny knack for marketing. Sarala is one of India's countless urban dairy farmers: people who own herds of cows in the middle of large cities like Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore. Shoba began buying milk from Sarala, choosing the cow whose milk she would drink that day. Sarala had names for each of her ten cows and Shoba could point and milk them for the day's dairy needs of her family.

One day, Sarala came to Shoba with a proposition: would Shoba buy her a cow?

Not knowing what she was getting into, Shoba agreed.

What follows is a hilarious account of her adventures as she enters a world of moody bovines and quirky dairy farmers. It gives readers a glimpse of the animals and farmers that live just under India's teeming metropolises. Shoba meets a coconut vendor who owns a green mansion; a cow-seller who decides to become a consultant; and a farmer named Reddy who eventually sells her the cow. She also learns what happens to calves if they are male. Along the way, she has to come to terms with her attachment for cows and the ethical dilemmas that come from it.

How I bought a Cow is a light read with a warm heart.