A tomboy to the core, I was then in my third standard, and like every other kid, loved to get a wee bit adventurous. The previous day I had gone to this movie, which was all about an Arizona ranch and sturdy cowboys!

When I was strolling around the farmhouse, I was stopped short by a fat, short and absolutely adorable cow, who had decided that my mushroom cut was 'grazing material'. I pushed her away gently, when a crazy thought entered my head. Ever since I saw the cowboys in the movie galloping smartly across the screen, I had wanted to ride a horse but then no horses were around, so I decided to be the 'cowgirl' literally.

I led the unsuspecting cow, to a big block of stone, As she stood there gazing quizzically at me with her melting brown eyes, I stood on the stone block and swung myself over her plump frame. I flung my head back, yelled out a loud 'whoopee' and slapped her tummy. I vividly remember what happened next!

The cow ran as if all hell had broken loose. She was very frightened and very mad. I hung on as she ran berserk all over the meadow. Inspite of both my hands curled around the neck and my legs over her, I still could not be seated on her. My torso was hanging by her plump tummy, with my head too dangerously close to the ground, which was a blurry brown. She was running fast but finally stopped after one full kilometer circle around the grounds. I could not hang on any longer and let go, falling down with a thud.

I got up gingerly, feeling for any broken bones, When I looked back at the bewildered cow I saw a pair of angry eyes, heard a snort and in no time she was charging towards me. Apparently she had not enjoyed the ride as much as I did. I ran for dear life, rushing inside the house and slamming the door shut behind me, never once looking back.

From then on whenever she saw me outside the house, she would put her head down and charge. Of course all of my family (especially my brother) found the whole scene amusing. Little did they know what had transpired between us!