Team GoPals conducted an event “Nature for Cows - Gou Sankaranthi 2020” event at Malur Goushala, Bengaluru. As GoPals team vision/mission, this event is to spread awareness and applications of desi Gou and specifically focused on the importance of Indian Cows in agriculture.
Sri Raghavendra Gou Ashrama, Bangalore - Malur Rd, Gangapura Village,
Yashavantapura post, Malur, Karnataka - 563130.
All energetic volunteers enthusiastically started event Cleaned Goshala by discussing among everyone the scientific importance of touching cow dung. The event was followed by Goshala tour with the explanation on Native breeds Cows/Bulls like Hallikar, Malanadu Gidda, Ongole, Kangeyam, Bargur, Gir, Verchur, Punganur, Kankrej etc. explained by Madhu, Sadashiva. In between volunteers were happy to share native/local breeds names/specifications belonging to their region. After that Volunteers had Breakfast through our token-based system.
As part of Swachch Goshala, an expert showcased/demoed the preparation of Panchagavya therapy and importance. The event continued with an intellectual speech by chief guest on Cows role in natural farming and also a book release by a Professor for alternative to chemical farming on importance of native cows. About 100+ children participated in the Gou Sankranti event. During Pongal preparation, many of them participated in painting the pots with natural covering. Many of them took the pots back as a souvenir.
Post breakfast, the children were assembled in a place. All of them participated in making of Gomaya Ganesha. Post this they participated in painting activity of Krishna and Cows in the sheets that were given to them. At the end many parents showed interest in sending their children for a summer camp and GoPals will contact them for the same. Thanks to all parents for motivating their children to actively participate in the event. Event concluded collecting feedback and having delicious lunch prepared at the premises.
Event Title : Nature for Cows – Gou Sankaranthi, 2020
Event Date : January 5th, 2020, Sunday
Event Timing : Morning 7:45 AM to Noon 14:45 PM
Event Location : Sri Raghavendra Gou Ashrama
Online, on spot registration and participation data indicates that 400 +people participated in “Nature for Cows - Gou Sankaranti 2020” event. More than 80% participants in this GoPals event. People came to know about the event through social media, word of mouth and pamphlets.
Before the day all of our core volunteers did the planning and preparation activities like preparing thoranam, rangoli, pre-requisites for Pongal preparation and a shamiyana tent was put up to accommodate more than 400 people. Inside the shamiyana tent our volunteers sprayed the cow dung.
To manage the crowd, Team GoPals introduced a token system for Online /Spot Registration people that will helpful to count the exact number of how many of them participated. The participants returned the token to the breakfast counter when they took the breakfast.
Many first-time participants hesitated to touch cow dung with hands. Team GoPals Volunteers briefed and explained the medicinal importance of touching cow dung with hands. All volunteers enthusiastically participated in cleaning the Goshala sheds. Their work perfection shows the effort after seeing the cleaned sheds.
Event continued with much awaited introduction to native breeds and answering queries of participants. Everyone carefully paid attention to know the breeds types like Hallikar, Mallenadu Gidda, Ongole, Kangeyam, Bargur, Verchur, Gir, Kankrej etc. People came to know life span, age, number of calves each can give, milk yeild, bullock card pulling capacity of bulls etc.
After introduction of native breeds, Gou Poojan sesion started. We informed the participants who wish to join gou poojan can do it or else they can continue know more about different native breeds and their nature, some of them joined Gou Poojan some of them eagerly continued more about native breeds.
The Gou pooja started with very spritual and divine feeling. The pongal was prepared in the traditional way with help of cowdung, wood and the rice used for the pongal was a native variety name called thiruchangodu samba. The pongal was offered to the cow and calf after that the Gou Poojan started. Our volunteer Dhanapal sung song from thevaram nicely and after that some of the kids together sung a devotional song melodiously. At the end of the gou pooja everyone came forward and touched the cow to get the blessings. Later, after completing Gou Poojan all of the participant’s had breakfast.
After all the funfilled spiritual events, it was time for the intellectual session based on Desi Cows.
A Panchagvya Ghritha preparation session was taken up by Dr. Amit who explained in detail how to prepare Ghritha, which acts as medicine in many ailments, to the audience. The Ghritha is prepared with a mixture of Desi Cow Ghee, Curd, Cow Dung, Goumutra and then cooking up the mixture. The audience was intrigued by this demo and many questions were put up during the Q&A session.
It was then the turn of Dr. Vadivel (Former Dean, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University) to address the audience with his knowledge on Panchagavya based organic farming and its yield. He addressed how Desi Cows are again revolutionising the field of agriculture and how Panchagavya based farming is not less than any other method in terms of yield and quality if done in the right manner. This was a very useful session for farmers, kitchen garden hobbyists and budding farmers who were inspired to go with positivity in the field of farming.
After Dr. Vadivel, it was Dr. Gangadharan (Ayurvedacharya, MS Rammiah Hospitals) to tell people the benefits of Ayurveda. He enlightened people on how to eat and what to eat in their daily lives to keep them healthy. His talk shed light on the ancient principles of Ayurveda and how deeply our traditions are connected to it in daily lives.
The audience felt honoured in listening to these wonderful personalities.
It was then turn for Team GoPals to showcase their annual activities which was explained in brief by Mr. Srikanthan about the activities and initiatives that GoPals took during the year 2020.
The big moment for the event was the launch of the book “Alternate to Chemical Farming” authored by Prof. Mallinath Hemadi (B. Sc. Agricultural Science, Kalaburgi), a practicing organic farmer. Team GoPals is deeply grateful to Shri Mallinath Hemadi to extend his collaboration for publishing this book along with Team GoPals. He has been a great mentor to our initiatives whose seemless support is now indispensable.
Kite Flying and Bullock Cart Ride added value to the event with lot of families enthusiastically participating in the sessions .
The future events from GoPals are under discussion and will be published on Upcoming Events page.
Headquarters:
GoPals Charitable Trust #78,
2nd Main Road, Kanaka Layout,
Banashankari 2nd Stage,
Bengaluru, Karnataka - 560070, INDIA.
