In some ways Bihar reminded me of the Wild West! You do remember those stories don’t you – of cowboys and horses and gun fighters. One wild character was Buffalo Bill. But few know that the name was copied from India! Here Yama (Death) is shown as riding on a buffalo. He was the original Buffalo Bill – the wildest and most dangerous of them all. For the Buffalo Bill of the West might have missed a shot but Yama sure does not miss. But all the same he is a friend if you get to know him.
The Buffalo is a major source of milk in the villages where you can see so many of them in each home (mostly all). The owners really look after their buffaloes – they rid them of irritating parasites, smoke them each day so that the mosquitoes don’t bother them too much – and one of the concerns now is a lack of fodder in places that were inundated by the waters – for the waters have destroyed the standing crops – the source of hay, as also the grass and plants which the animals graze on.
As the children and elders take out their buffalo to graze from time to time they hitch a ride. We even saw some lying back on the buffalo and sleeping. There are not only Buffalo Bills but Buffalo Mary’s too! All over rural Bihar, in the rural areas such sites are common.
As soon as one Bill saw me taking a photograph he applied the brakes and the buffalo stopped. The boy smiled and I took a picture. If you noticed – the Buffalo brake is not a foot pedal but a hand brake and experts apply it backhanded – the boy is still holding it.
— Nijamrita
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