Butcher in The Village
There was a butcher in our village. He also worked as a watchman. When a child was born, he would take the name, father's name and date of birth and register it in the Union Council. Every landowner would also pay four annas to the watchman, who would go to the busto.
Sometimes he would take an old sick bull, cow, buffalo or a weak goat that was short of milk and slaughter it for a small amount of money and wrap one or half a kilo of meat in newspaper and give one packet to each landowner's house. He would give one kilo to a large family and half a kilo to a small family and say that it is eight annas per kilo and I will take the money on the first date. On that day we would be very happy that today the meat would be cooked in salna. We called the meat salna. Our late and forgiving mother would burn wood in a large earthen pot on a clay stove and cook it well. She would mix salt, pepper, turmeric etc. in a langri and cook the homemade sweetmeat with jaman oil. There was also a clay tandoor in the house. The wood was from home, and we would heat the oven and bake bread, and all of us siblings would enjoy eating salne, that is, meat broth. At that time, it also gave flavor. Sometimes, if there was a piece of meat from this old animal, we would chew it well because it did not rot. My late father used to say, chew it well and eat it, it will exercise your teeth. That is why even at the age of 73, my teeth are still going. In comparison, the meat of a goat would rot quickly and was very tasty. Now, goat or chicken meat is also available. But the taste of the meat of these old animals was something else.
The landlord would take off the skin of the goat and fill it with straw so that the buffalo could suckle it. The buffalo would forget it and lick it and give milk.
We did this
In 1955, when Eid al-Adha came, one of our elderly grandfather's brothers offered his old cow for sacrifice and the whole community contributed their share. There were seven parts, that is, leaves. At that time, there was no calculation in hundred. There was a mountain of twenty. Its price was 6 veyas, that is, 120 rupees. All the shareholders gave twenty rupees. Seven rupees Busto gave to the butcher for slaughtering. The rest was given to the mosque imam and the mosque servant. There was no bathroom in the house when we took a bath in the mosque. Busto the butcher used a hatchet to cut the meat very well. In addition to seven rupees, he gave him a cow's head and a cow's head to take out the marrow and give it to us and take the rest. Busto would put the head on a wooden mandi and chop it with great skill with an axe. He would take out the marrow and give it to our elders and cut the head into small pieces and take it with him, saying that it is a very powerful thing. Everyone would eat lunch with the marrow because it took a long time for the meat to decompose. The marrow would be ready quickly, and he would also add liver, kidneys, heart, etc. to it.
Poverty was a coincidence. There was no arrogance. It was a very good time.
