Friday, November 09, 2007

Counting Sheep

Confucious says: Don't hold on to a post too long, else you will hate it.
I hate it. It pretends to be informative and intelligent and worse still, funny.
Anyway, since I put in all the effort typing it, I will post it here. For completeness.
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No, its not another pint of whine about Insomnia.

Now that I have ruined the opening gambit, I might as well tell you that it's about the NZ landscape. The rolling plains with balls of wool. For miles and miles. Speckled landscape. Dotted eyes.

In that country, the sheep outnumber people by 10 to 1. If they were not the aww-inspiring mild mannered creatures of our metaphors, I would be scared.

Far away from civilization, we focussed on subjects in sight - the sheep. The conversation ranged from bitching (Why don't they get tired of eating?), to curiosity (Is grass sufficient nutrition for them? Do they have boring lives?). The sheep were judged, classified (the ones by the highway, the "City sheep" - confident, conversant - they flock to look at us, as opposed to the ones on the off-roads, the "country bumpkins" who run for their lives instead of making good use of the photo-op). Their enclosures were judged - crowded ("Downtown Tokyo") to sparsely populated ("Singapore CBD on a Sunday afternoon"). Jokes were created ranging from bad (Sheepish grin/ Silence of the lambs - DIY jokes) to worse (Why are songs by Meatloaf not kosher for the sheep?) . There were some games too, but trust me, no counting or throwing of sheep was involved.

We went for a farm adventure, which promised us the real thing. As the farmer took us around his never ending acres, the complexity of it all struck home. Farming is far more difficult than studying/working can ever be. Farming needs common sense which as we well know, is in short supply and that itself should discourage anyone with the herd mentality.
The amount of effort needed for a human baby from conception to infancy - now imagine managing 3000 sheep through their pregnancy and raising 4000 lambs through infancy (?). And that doesn't even include the circus of worrying about their healthy diet, how to gather them together to shear them and the selection process of which ones to keep. (Cows are much worse, anything and everything scares the crap out of them.) Anyway, I dont think I could have ever been able to take that kind of stress. I am glad my teachers warned me when I was young, that if I don't study I will have to become a farmer.

And now that I am noticably in love with the species, please don't throw any sheep at me.


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Now playing: Om Shanti Om - Om Shanti Om - 02 - Dard-E-Disco

11 comments:

??! said...

Farming is far more difficult than studying/working can ever be.
That's rearing, by-the-by. Farming is even more complex. Can you imagine trying to figure out why your plants refuse to grow, or whether they need more water, or more sun, or more feed....when they can't indicate that they do?!

And chickens - they're the scarediest.

Mo said...

oOo, I have the infamous ??! treading on my blog.

It's rearing? Really? Why do they call themselves Sheep farmers then?

I think I will be able to manage plants. Somewhat.

You seem to be an expert on the topic.

??! said...

infamous? really? heheh. And am delurking - been a reader for a while.

hmm..point there. Perhaps it's because they own a farm(land) that has sheep on it. It's usually animal rearing.

Expert? Not really...but amateur aficionado, yes.

Mo said...

Hmm. Googled. Sheep farming is not incorrect. Though rearing sounds correct-er.

So now I have five people reading my blog.

Welcome ??! Apna hi ghar samjho.

??! said...

Zank you. Ah, nice couch - where's the remote?

Mo said...

Right there.
And, Aap Chai lenge ya thanda?

Ga-Joob said...

Dark days are here...
Who/what ARE those sheep staring at?? Damien?? *shudder

remote? right there? all lies... its NEVER there!

hsnboogg: thats what the bots decided this time. Sounds like i'm trying to say Heisenberg, with a mouth full of chocolate.

Mo said...

@Ga-joob: Be specific, in your case, which remote are we talking about?

Ga-Joob said...

AC remote... it's always in the OTHER room. and dont lie about using ANY other remote! Ever since Jimmy's been going off the wall, there has been no need for other remotes.

yaslhr: An approval made in drunken state. et: "yes sir" .
Bots, sheep... they're all connected...yaslhr, they ARE!

Mo said...

This, my child is an anon blog.
This is an imaginary life, and an imaginary persona. I am a diva around these parts.

You don't know me, okie?

Ga-Joob said...

Yes ma'am. Sorry about that.

Anyhow...

"KLNTYIW" : (phrasal verb, sometimes also a type of nasal herb)

Mild word of abuse on the planet Beetlejuice.

"Damn pig!! KLNTYIW!"

other forms of usuage :

"just KLNTorph!"
"no KLNTin' WAY!"
"Hey! what the Klnt maan!?!"
"May i have some klntyiw please? thanks"