A cow for Mr Saxena


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The internet may well be turning us into a global village but every now and then, something happens to remind us of the differences among peoples.

This happened recently at a large global company in Switzerland. Like many global offices, this one too has people from many different countries. One of them, an Indian named Saxena (name changed), was promoted to a bigger role. So his boss, Anna (name changed), a native Swiss, decided to honour him with a parting gift.

But not just any gift. Anna decided to gift Saxena a cow.

But not just any cow. She bought a cow in South Africa, named it in Saxena’s honour, and arranged for it to be cared by a local farmer. So though Saxena may never see it, he now knows that somewhere in Africa, there is a cow named after him that is helping a needy family.

The person who told me the story said she got involved because she was asked to write a few lines for the occasion -- Indians being cow worshippers and all.

When Anna’s boss, an Asian-American named Marcos (name changed), came to know of this, she was so thrilled that she's sending over a communications guy from Switzerland to film the cow.

When I first heard the story, my initial reaction was that this is what rich people with too much money do. On reflection though, maybe it's not all that strange. After all, Roger Federer was gifted a cow, not once but twice.

So maybe this is just something the Swiss like to do!


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