My Vegetarianism

I can relish a chicken biryani or a KFC salver when I am hungry enough.  But nothing entices me as much as a good vegetarian spread.  Vegetarian food is like a gentle breeze that tickles your entrails as it moves on to enliven your soul while its meaty counterparts are like a whirlwind that shakes up your neurons into a wild frenzy.  Frenzy is a welcome relief once in a while.

Given a choice, I would opt for the leaves, roots and grains rather than the flesh and tissues.  But I am not at all fussy when it comes to food which I require in a small quantity.  Moreover, some of the finest human beings I have come across are omnivorous people.  The so-called “pure vegetarians” were sheer boors in my personal experience.  They have unwarranted feelings of superiority and tend to impose their views on others.  Most of the compassionate people I have come across in my personal life are all omnivorous.  All the people with whom I enjoyed convivial moments over a drink, while in Delhi, were all omnivorous though they were Brahmins by caste as well as attitudes. 

I’m pretty sure that most of the people who perpetrate atrocities of all sorts on certain sections of the country’s population in the name of holy cows are all “pure” vegetarians.  Quite many of the people who peddle hatred in the name of gods and idols are “pure” vegetarians too.  This has often made me wonder whether the saying that “You are what you eat” is true at all.  The vast majority of people with whom I share my existence now in Kerala are omnivorous and I find them far nobler than the “pure” vegetarians I came across in my former place of existence. 

I am tempted to extend this analogy to religion too.  Some of the finest human beings I know are not at all religious.  And the converse is true too!