Virgin Goat

Set in present day India, Virgin Goat is the darkly comic story of a farmer’s obsession to have his goat mated. However, family trauma, bureaucratic red-tape, a marauding mob conspire to turn a simple journey into a nightmare and force KALYAN SINGH to confront the painful realities of his life which he tries so hard to avoid.

 

Kalyan Singh is a dissatisfied but humorous, middleclass farmer, whose forefathers were brought to the present village where he lives by then ruler. Fed up with his wife’s nagging and his lay-about son, his only joy comes from tending his animals. The daughter he dotes on is married and lives away from home.

 

Kalyan’s only possession in this whole world is Laila , the female goat. She is the only one left in a once prolific lineage, which was again brought to the province from his ancestral land. Kalyan had to sell off all of the other goats to meet dowry requirements for his daughter.

 

Past the marriageable age, Laila still shows no sign of being on heat. Kalyan gets some special medication to get her one heat. Eager to have a goat of his mated by the finest Billy-goat in the district, Kalyan Singh asks his son to take her to a stud farm nearby. When his mother refuses to let her son venture out in the heat (he has exams coming) Kalyan Singh must make the journey himself. Not even a surprise visit from his beloved daughter can stop him.

 

Kalyan Singh’s journey soon turns into a bizarre and surreal adventure. No sooner has he left that he hears that a large rally is to be held for a visiting dignitary right next to the farm. Though it is not clear who the dignitary is, a worker in the fields warns him it won’t be safe with such a large police presence. His irritation increases when he encounters the surreal sight of special coconuts being collected by government officials for the occasion. In a teashop nearby, Kalyan Singh’s friends also warn him against carrying on. They advise artificial insemination from a vet instead, but Kalyan Singh is suspicious of this technology and is determined not to be put off by the authorities.

 

Kalyan Singh becomes increasingly confused as to who the dignitary is who is coming – a Christian priest suggests it is a religious visitor, but an IT student assures him it is software genius from America. Meanwhile the build up of police in the area points to a politician being the star attraction. When an overzealous policeman tells him not to proceed any further, Kalyan Singh ignores it and he is joined by sympathetic –if annoying Old Man on his journey to have his goat mated.

 

Having ignored everyone’s advice, Kalyan Singh is then picked up by the police. Detained without charge in a poultry farm, converted into a police station, the police finally send Kalyan Singh on his way. However, they have mixed up his goat and offer him a male goat to take instead. Incensed Kalyan Singh tries to complain – but his protests fall on deaf ears.  It is the beginning of another chapter in his life.