wannabe wordsworth

  A wise man once said: “When someone leaves, they leave behind a vacuum… and the heart immediately starts searching for a rebound or a replacement.” ❤️ Maybe that is exactly why, right after Eid-ul-Adha, many bakrebaaz and animal lovers instantly begin planning for next year’s animals. And honestly… the same thing happened with me too. In fact, even before that year’s qurbani was completed, I had already fallen in love with another animal. 😄 Mufaiz had brought a small fluffy white lamb from a nearby mandi. I wasn’t fully sure about the breed, but it was completely white with soft pink skin — exactly the type I emotionally connect with. That moment became the beginning of something bigger. For the first time in my life, I decided to officially keep animals for an entire year at Mira Ali Goat Farm itself. We finalized the animal price, monthly maintenance charges, and all the arrangements. Slowly, this hobby was no longer seasonal anymore… it had become part of daily life. ?...

  That year, something beautiful started happening in our building too. ❤️ One by one, other families also began bringing their qurbani animals onto the terrace. Slowly, our rooftop no longer felt like just a building terrace… It started feeling like a tiny bakra mandi above the city. 🐐🏢 Everyone helped each other in small ways. Some shared feed. Some gave advice. Some helped tie ropes or arrange water. Others discussed breeds, rates, diets, medicines, and YouTube bakrebazi videos late into the night. It became a small “help thy neighbour” community in the most unexpected way. And for the first time, my animals were no longer lonely on the terrace either. This year, I finally got a strong heavy wooden door installed upstairs with proper bolt, latch, and lock arrangements. So now, unlike previous years, I no longer had to bring the bakra downstairs every single night for safety. We even arranged a couple of light bulbs on the terrace so we could sit comfortably after maghr...

  By now, Bilal had slowly started speaking little words of his own… and somehow, animals had already become part of his tiny world too. ❤️ Sometimes he himself would drag me towards pet shops nearby just to look around. One day he pointed excitedly towards pigeons, and like always, I couldn’t say no. So I got a pair of Bhopali Racers — the famous “udaan wale kabootar.” 🕊️ But true to their name, they flew away at the very first opportunity they got… never to return again. Maybe I accidentally left the cage door open, maybe fate simply wanted them free. Whatever the reason, I realized one thing that day: winged birds were probably not my cup of tea. 😄 Then one evening, Bilal noticed a fluffy woolly lamb tied outside a local shop nearby. It was unbelievably soft, furry, calm, and cute. And at that moment, I realized something funny… Maybe my son was less of a “goat lover” and more of a “sheep lover.” 🐑🤍 That year, life itself was also changing beautifully for us. My wif...

  Eventually, lockdown ended and life slowly returned back to normal. Offices reopened, roads became busy again, and the world moved on from those strange quiet years. But something inside me had already changed forever. ❤️ By then, my son Bilal was still a small toddler… yet somehow, he too seemed to carry the same strange love for animals that I had since childhood. Almost every evening, I started taking him along to nearby tabelas, gaushalas, small farms, even places where cows were tied outside mandirs. Sometimes we visited resorts like Manas in Igatpuri just so he could see different animals up close. Watching his excitement reminded me of my own childhood all over again. 🐄🐐🐓 At home too, I got him tiny colourful chicks to play with. Those little fluffy chicks eventually grew into full-sized noisy roosters after 5–6 months, and our home once again slowly started feeling connected to animals and farm life. Meanwhile, something else interesting was happening… The same ...

  Lockdown changed many things in life… and strangely, it also introduced me to an entirely new world — the world of “Bakrebazi” on YouTube. 🐐📺 Sitting at home during WFH days, I started watching vloggers and breeders who showcased premium goat breeds, farm visits, mandi experiences, and qurbani preparations from across India. From the legendary Deonar market videos to the massive Palai farms near Padgha like JD and MD… from breed discussions to feeding routines… it slowly became more than just content for me. It felt like reconnecting with a forgotten part of my childhood. Creators like FSA and Asim took this passion pan-India, educating people about different bakra breeds, bloodlines, care, and the culture around qurbani animals. Somewhere in between all those videos, I realized this wasn’t just a hobby — it was something deeply connected to my roots and emotions. The following year, once again, I got my bakra through my friend Arfat Farid, who by then had also made good pr...

  Maybe that little lamb was where it all started… because after that, my love for animals never really stopped. ❤️ Even though my parents tried their best to keep me away from this obsession with pets and farm life, I somehow always found a way to bring another animal home. Thankfully, our ancestral dadi house was huge, with enough space to manage a small mini-zoo of my own. 😄 At different times, I kept chicks, pigeons, hens, roosters, goldfish, parrots — I wanted to experience raising every kind of creature possible. Every new pet felt like a new friendship and a new story. But as years passed, academics slowly became the top priority. Studies, school pressure, coaching, exams… and little by little, the pets started taking a back seat. Then around the age of 12–13, we shifted to a different apartment life, and somewhere along the way, that entire world of animals, tabela memories, and open spaces slowly faded into memories. Though one memory still stands out vividly… When ...