Milk of human kindness

It is well known that Japan's famously soft Kobe beef is the result of the extreme extent to which the cows are pampered, including regular massages and classical music sessions. Now, a company in India offering organic milk boasts the superiority of its product on the basis of how it treats its cows. They get the choicest of food, the promotional literature says, and are kept in salubrious surroundings without being tied up (so as not to stress them). But the clincher was this: "We provide them (cows) good mattresses so that they get good and comfortable sleep". In a country where many people don't get to sleep on a mattress at all, that is certainly no small luxury.