It is only a bull story. The idiomatic cock in the age-old English idiom – ‘a cock and bull story‘ – always makes me think of the phallic representation of it in the English slang; hence it is only bull story I am concentrating in right here.

Talking of bull reminds me of that funny cartoon I once saw somewhere long time ago that had the funniest caption to go with a drawing of a bull charging an unsuspecting man. Probably, an attempt to make a pun of the title of Earnest Hemingway’s book, the caption read ‘For Whom the Bull Tolls‘.

But it is neither the cartoon, nor my distaste for the use of the idiomatic ‘cock’ (why couldn’t it be rooster, instead?) in the slang that made me think of a bull early this autumnal morning.

Instead, the ban on bullfighting in Spain did. Parliament of Catalonia region of Spain outlawed bullfighting recently after the persistent pressure from animal cruelty campaigners. It was bound to happen sooner or later. It happened in good time. Strangely, however, not everybody is happy about it. Fans of bullfighting are still optimistic that the ban enacted in Catalonia region may not mean that bullfighting will disappear from other regions in Spain.

What kind of fans are they? Fans of animal torture? What kick they get from watching an intoxicated bull getting lanced and slowly killed? Man! People come with all shorts of weird fancies and weirder kink. Spanish bulls have hard life.

***

I could not help but think of bull again when I was walking down Birmingham City Centre today. The fierce looking metallic bull at the main entrance to the west building of the famous Bull Ring market is called The Guardian, and it does, in fact, look like a strong and reliable guardian. But if look couple of years back, for the history of this 7 feet 3 inch bronze bovina giant, there are ample reasons to feel sorry for it as well. Laurence Broderick created it. It was erected in 2003 but was vandalized so badly in 2005 that it had to be removed for repairs. It was put back again the same year but again vandalized in 2006.

What kind of treatment was that? That too on an inanimate object? Repeated sabotage aside, attempts to rename it as ‘Brummie the Bull’ have only been partially successful. Strangly, people rather prefer to call it ‘The Bull’. That’s it. This English bull doesn’t seem to have an easier life either.

***

Now that we have covered the English bull, I was wondering how the Charging Bull back in America was doing.

Standing near Wall Street in Manhattan, New York, this 11 feet tall and 16 feet long bronze sculpture weighs 3200-kilograms and symbolizes ‘aggressive financial optimism and prosperity’. Though made of metal, the sculptor has done such a good job in creating this bull that it seems like it is made of flesh and blood because the curves and twists in the body of the bull gives an illusion of movement.

Contrary to ‘Brummie the Bull’, this creation of Arturo Di Modica seems to have too many names though. It is called Charging Bull, Wall Street Bull, and also Bowling Green Bull.

As our previous bulls, even this mighty one seems to have had some existential problem in its inception, or erection in this case.

The sculpture was Arturo Di Modica’s idea. In other words, he was not commissioned by the New York state to create it. On 15th of December, 1989, as a Christmas gift to the people of New York, Modica trucked the finished sculpture to Lower Manhattan and installed it beneath a 60-foot Christmas tree in the middle of Broad Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange. That day hundreds of people came to look at the bull. They stopped by to admire and analyze the creation of art. The crowd swelled so much that police had to intervene.

Police confiscated the ‘bull’ and put it in an impound lot but after a massive public outcry, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation installed it two blocks down in Bowling Green plaza. Hence the alternative name –Bowling Green Bull.

See, even the puissant Charging Bull had to go through the pathos of human fickleness.

Bulls, I am beginning to believe, either flesh and blood or inanimate ones, come with a jinx that make them liable to sufferings of all kinds, in one way or another, in their life.

***

Now that I had thought about plights of bulls across the world, it was inevitable that I would think about our own beloved bull – Nandi. Hence, I did.

I wondered whether Nandi went through any hardship in his life. I did some research and lo’, he did went through some direst time in his life when he was subjected to a severe curse put on by Parvati, the wife of his own master, Lord Shiva.

According to a Puranic story, Shiva and Parvati were playing a game of dice. Nandi was acting as an umpire in the game. Shiva lost the game but Nandi declared him the winner anyway. Parvati figured this out and she really lost her cool. She was so mad that she cursed that Nandi should die from some incurable disease. Nandi got really scared when he heard this, and started imploring with Parvati to forgive him. He said that, since Shiva was his master, he wanted to be little prejudiced against her just to win his masters favour. He further added that should he not at least show that much of a gratitude to his master? Was it not humiliating for him to declare that his master had lost the game? That’s why he uttered that lie to uphold his master’s honour. Was that such a big sin? Was he to be punished by such a severe curse for trying to protect his master’s honour?

Parvati gave this a good thought and saw that, Nandi made a lot of sense. She decided to ‘amend’ her curse as it was not possible to take it back all together.

So, she asked Nandi- ‘All right, tell me what you like the most?’
Nandi said- ‘Green grass, dear mother.’
Parvati said- ‘Of course, why I didn’t think of that.’
Nandi said- ‘Yes, mother, green grass is Nandi’s favourite food.’
Parvati said- ‘Good. On Chaturdashi of the month Bhadra it is my son’s (meaning Ganesh’s) birthday, now on that day, as atonement for your sin, you must offer my son with what pleases you the most. In other words, you must offer green grass to Ganesh on that day.’

Nandi probably thought: ‘Well, it is better than dying from some incurable disease. Besides, it is just for one day in a year, so I should be okay.’ And he agreed to do this even if it was the most difficult thing for him to do.

Nandi worshipped Ganapathi by offering green grass on his birthday. He was then relieved of his horrible disease. His health improved and by the grace of Parvathi he was redeemed.

Whew!, that was close, wasn’t it?

Since even the perambulator of Lord Shiva himself had to go through such arduous time in his life, (assuming that, he must have been fully insured and protected bumper to bumper as his owner was/is one of the Trinity himself, who created the world and mankind itself) what can one expect for modern day bulls like I mentioned above. I think that idiom – leading a dog’s life – which ‘tries‘ to portray a hard life someone is living –is all misunderstood and wrong. I think, it will sound more plausible if it is amended and expressed as – leading a bull’s life. To use it in a sentence: ‘After his wife left him, he is living a bull’s life.’

Makes much sense, doesn’t it?