Sheepish excitement

Last night, I was having coffee with this girl from New zealand, when suddenly she exclaimed that she's very excited about something that's happened in her country. When I asked her about it, she said I would have to be a kiwi to understand. Since I persisted, she said the golden words - "They found the sheep!". Well, isn't that a reason to rejoice! Bring out the champagne!

Apparently, in New zealand (or in any other sheep rearing country for that matter) they let the sheep graze in the grasslands and once they have enjoyed a sumptuous meal and put on a nice furry woollen coat over themselves, bring them over and shear the wool. One fine day, they found this sheep which was covered with wool from head to toe that it was wobbling in its own weight, and all they could see was its nose and feet. It was then they realized that this was a sheep that was lost 7 years before - can you believe that! A sheep being found after 7 years!! (the only approximate indian equivalent I can imagine is two brothers with moles on their forearms getting lost in a mela and meeting eachother again after 20 years in a fight sequence with the villain! Touching!). So, the entire nation got so excited about it that

• They had a live telecast of the shearing of the sheep so that millions of viewers can watch it live and swoon. As you can imagine, 7 years is a long time and so there was wool falling over its face leaving it completely blind. So, they had to put a hair clip to hold the wool back. Taking cue from this, the anchor of the "shearing show" remarked, "When you see the sheep, you realize it's not a normal sheep. It's got a personality of its own" - Camera zooms to the face of the sheep which is chewing a straw of hay with a blank expression.
• Since the sheep has been with the wool for 7 years now, they realized the wool must be dear to it. So, in order to compensate for the loss, they designed the jersey for the sheep so that it's not affected by the extremeties of weather.
• Owing to its celebrity status, the sheep also got to meet the Prime minister of New zealand. Apparently, the Prime minister was supposed to meet some group of human rights activists who were protesting against the government but she chose the sheep over the activists. Asked why, she said the sheep was better company! So much for human rights!
• Here's the best part (personally) - my friend had to go out when the whole shearing show was happening. And hence she taped the whole show so that she doesn't miss it and also because, she can see it for years to come!
• All this happened a couple of years before - but you know the new twist in the story, they have found another sheep now which was lost 11 years before and has more wool than the previous one. So, get ready for more nail biting excitement in "The shearing show returns!". For trivia lovers, the first sheep was called Shrek and guess what the second sheep is called - did you say Shrek 2? 100 points to you and bournvita!!!
• My NZ friend was sweet enough to send me a few URLs (especially for those who thought I made this up!)
  
• Shrek meeting the PM
  http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_story_skin/423832%3Fformat=html
• Shrek and its prized Jersey
  http://www.icebreakernz.com/press_release/
  

I personally found it very sweet - that an entire nation is getting excited about a sheep that was lost 7 years before, that they telecast it on TV. They have time to enjoy such little things in life and that's, for the lack of a better word, heartening. We, in India, have our own set of idiosyncrasies (Imagine the whole ganesha drinking milk episode!!) - But imagine a goat in gumudipoondi (in TN) getting to meet APJ Abdul kalam because it gives 11 liters of milk everyday. Interesting!