Can we ever solve Indian cities’ stray cattle problem?

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Editor's note: Off the road, behind some bushes, on a dusty patch of land, there are about a dozen cows, tied to wooden stumps nailed to the ground. Mukesh Rabari cheerfully introduces them to me: “This one’s Gir, this one’s Gopi and this one’s Topi.” Topi, in Gujarati, means cap. Why the name? I ask. “Because when she was young, her hair would rise up in a tuft,” says Mukesh. Topi’s mane tamed as she grew up. But even today, if her owners call her by the name, she looks up, mildly annoyed at being distracted from her bale of hay. Mukesh is a Maldhari – a community in Gujarat whose traditional occupation is tending to cattle. Like most of his friends, he dropped out of school in his early teens and joined his father in milking and grazing cows. They owned nearly a dozen, so it was a full-time job. “I love them,” he says. “I might sometimes miss a meal looking after them or incur losses but it doesn’t matter. Gai chahiye.” Back in the day, grazing cattle meant simply …