Monday, January 30, 2006

Non-Veg And Attack On Community

This is subject for a topic of discussion currently on one of my Orkut communities. (For the record, the community in question is “Deshastha Brahman”)

The actual thread started with a discussion on who eats non-vegetarian food (hereafter called non-veg). One of the persons came up with a series of posts on why we should be eating vegetarian food only, called “Food for thought (of course vegetarian)”.

Some of the reasons he gave were

“It is traditional. It is healthy for Brahman lifestyle. It is what our ancestors ate. If one continues to eat non-veg over a period of time, gradually his creative abilities and the metabolism on whole slowly goes on depleting. This is what we should do so as not to defame the name of our community. If you eat non-veg, you can get ridicule coming your way from other vegetarian brahman. If we start eating non-veg, the only traditional cuisine we will pass on to our children is Pizza Hut coupons. It is not natural choice of food. And you shouldn’t eat non-veg just because girls get impressed by it, as we should impress girls by our intellect.”
(All quotes sic. You got the gist.)

Now, I have nothing against traditions. Some of the traditions are very good, and we must keep them. Like the Swedish cousins I met were very impressed by the fact that her cousin’s brother-in-law came to pick them up at midnight from the airport. The values of caring for people, family etc. (just as an e.g.) are the traditions which anybody should value, and try to follow. But doing something just because our ancestors did it, is stupid for lack of any other word.

Also, why should you get ridiculed just because you have a particular dietary choice? And, I doubt hearing anywhere that Newton, Galileo etc were pure vegetarians. Of course, for a person who is doing intellectual labour most of the time, non-veg is not a good choice because of the fat content, but then, what about others? We don’t always follow the traditional callings of our community.

And who said non-veg diet means only Pizza Hut or McDonalds? Also, try telling a hungry lion that his choice of diet is not natural.

So I put all these things in reply, and added one just one at the end,

“Please introduce me to the girls who are impressed only by non-veg diet. I am sure other carnivores in this community will be very happy with the knowledge too. ;)”
(For those who don’t Orkut, ;) is converted into a nice symbol quite like YM, so that you don’t confuse it with two random punctuation marks.)

In answer, he came with a series of posts with the subject same as the heading of this post. His reply was,

“Fleiger, I making this particular point here on basis of some examples that I have seen myself… Still I can definitely say that there are considerable no of girls from Brahmin community itself, who mock at VARAN BHAAT Brahmin guys. From the above discussion hopefully we can find out that one (repeat “one”) of the reason for rising intercaste marriages by Brahmin girls is fast diminishing faith in Brahmanism and its food habits.”
(Again, all things sic. And I must admit the last line is a gem of reasoning and logic)

And I thought the time when girls were impressed by “वाघिणीचे दूध प्यायलेले” boys was along long. (Sigh, the good old days) Why go to hotel and eat what you want once when you can get married and eat your choice food for your life? Hmmm… I didn’t know Indian girls were so mature and long range planners (Sorry girls, no offense meant).

At this point of time, I am boinked (nice word, Amrut). So please help me with some basic questions:
• What do you call a person who writes “SAY NO TO NON-VEG!” (caps are not mine) at least 20 times? (I mean, even with all ctrl-c-ctrl-v-ing the effort will burn more calories than provided by 2 eggs I had for lunch)
• Should I send him this link (ह्याला मराठीत अनुरोध किंवा शुद्ध शब्दात खवचटपणा असे म्हणतात) or should I accede my defeat claiming that I have found one more type of knockout? (Well, given my level of workload now-a-days, I am leaning towards second option.)
• Why do people use keyboards where the Caps Lock key is stuck?

Well, seems like I have found a new candidate to be Minister's Junior Under-Secretary (seriously, I doubt this person would recognize a joke even if it is not wearing Dobby's tea cozy).



P.S. Looking back on the discussion, it seems I have been guilty of one more offense, of "putting forth the pretext of individual freedom / personal choice conferred by the constitution of Democratic India’" (sic). Guilty as charged, milard...

P.P.S. Do check out Aerie Institute's brochure on FNS, which this person must had contracted somewhere.

14 Comments:

Anonymous said...

lol.. specially the one where non-veg promotes inter caste marriages :))..
yeah, some people are like that. i remember coming across one such stereotype some time back..

Amey said...

That was the pinnacle of logic... my friend had to ask me if I was ok, when I was ROTFL (literally) after reading that.

So what's your story? Anything worth commenting on? ;)

Anonymous said...

it wasnt much of a fun. felt kinda wierd.

Amey said...

Yes, when people take these things to extreme, it is not funny anymore.

Just read the update (P.S. part), that's even worse than whole debate till date.

Anonymous said...

Girls impressed by intelligent or non veg guys is utter crap.That would make life so much easier for the menfolk. If you are not intelligent, then attack the meat with vigor LOL

I am a non vegetarian but prefer vegetarian food by choice. I don't think these things should be enforced. However I cannot comment on the Brahmin community as I understand that one needs to be veg to enter the temple and perform pooja's etc.

Amey said...

@Sylverine: Girls don't get impressed by intelligence? (There goes my last chance of ever getting a girlfriend :))

And as for temples, thankfully these things are not so strict in maharashtra, or else I will not be able to ever see any temple again in my life. (There goes my laster than last chance of praying to god to get a girlfriend :))

Anyways, I agree with you that these things are not to be enforced. I am also a preferentially vegetarian (in my friend's words, I am least meat-eating non-vegetarian). But still, I don't think meat eating is the only "devise of devil". That's why I was so boinked to read this.

Princess Stefania said...

I've always wondered. Is milk classified as non veg?
What about cakes and biscuits? With butter and eggs...

Fleiger said...

@Princess: Dunno about milk or butter, but some of my pure-veggie friends eat only egg-less cakes...

Just Jane said...

@princess stephanie,

milk and eggs are by-products of animals, and hence not considered vegetarian. there are lacto-vegetarians and ovo-vegetarians. those who abstain from eating all animal byproducts such as milk, eggs, butter, cheese etc, are known as vegans.

and fleiger...your orkut friend's logic (!) was hilarious :)

Amey said...

@Janefield: Welcome to my blog...

I didn't know that about vegans, but I know some people (and some sects) don't eat any animal bi products.

The logic is completely crazy. I mean marriage decision based on food habits? At least 70% of the couples I know need to break up if that is true :D

Princess Stefania said...

I won't say my knowledge on the subject is extensive, but Brahmin's were meat eaters, and at one time, even ate beef. The Rig Veda backs me up here. I just looked it up. So Mr. Logic is committing a horrendous crime by not following the practices of his ancestors. Shocking!

Amey said...

@Princess: Well, what you say is true. But even Mahabharat has many instances of what happens to meat-eating hrishis.

Let's just say that, the difference you pointed out is difference between theory (vedas) and practical (long-held and practised beliefs). So I would say given long held beliefs, he is right is his assumptions.

His logic, as you say, is "Shocking!"

Amey said...

@Princess: Sorry, forgot to add: Even in brahmin caste, those belonging to some sub-castes (like typically living near the sea) traditionally have fish in their diet. Deshastha (those living on west side of Sahyadri, typically in Maharashtra) don't fall in that category.

Anonymous said...

emm.. amazing