Holy Cow

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia

Camera: Rolleiflex

The story:  "Humanity has presented a variety of religions, each with its own colorful definition of life, death and God. It seems only fitting, that a planet as diverse as our own, would have a multitude of different types of spiritual worship. The level of importance each society attributes to its religious beliefs varies between extremes, but it is fair to say that most third world cultures are based on religion.

India with its flamboyant holy cow is no exception. In a land were starvation and suffering are common, the cow, as a religious symbol, has free reign. It does almost anything it wants; eating, sleeping, and soiling and taking little notice of the holy turmoil that it seems to leave in its wake. It soils the newly cleaned shops, eats the hungry man's last morsel and even causes major traffic jams. All this in the holy name of God! Even more amazing is the peoples' response: a holy blessing, Shiva shines all over us. Coming from a world where most farm animals remain on the farm, I never got tired of tailing the holy one to see what mischief we could find."