What do you expect in a democracy? Freedom to do everything you like- you can have your own religious beliefs, but you can not force it on anyone else, you can have the food you like, but you should not force someone to eat any dish which they may not like, you may speak freely about anything, you may criticize the government, but your language should not be offensive and threatening.These days, the cow politics is taking the nation a few decade backward, that’s what I think. There are some redhead people, some of whom will go furious if they spot anyone eating beef and on the other side, there are some who will try to show it to the world that they are having beef. And of course, there are those ultra legends according to who beef is just cow meat, nothing else. Go check dictionary you Knighthood and Bharat Ratna awarded masters of keyboard, social media and broadcast media warriors.I have some sort of mixed feelings regarding this sensitive topic around having beef. According to the Hindu religion it is a holy animal and scriptures describe how it is been treated like a mother and God. It has obvious reasons, because we are getting milk and all byproducts from cows. It’s pretty funny, but I would have tasted beef unknowingly if my friend hadn’t stopped me, because I thought it was pork pickle or whatever it is called. Pork is highly popular among the people of NorthEast from where I belong. I love pork and I prefer it along with mutton, over chicken anytime. The story is long, keep going through it because I have faced some situations which forced me to rethink my food habits.I was in Bengal for my graduation, and there you may not find pork everywhere, but luckily in Malda Town, there were three places where we could get pork. Now, two incidents happened, one in my 1st semester and one in 8th or last semester.
- First Semester- Me along with a bro of mine, who happens to be my college senior and also hails from the same place brought pork to hostel of course to have ourselves and share it with some of my friends who are from the NorthEast. We are eating in my room and one guy who is a Bengali Brahmin and hails from Varanasi living in the opposite room of mine came there, my bro asked him, ‘Wanna have some?’ He first asked what it was and when we told him it was pork, he said, ‘Will I have to leave my janeu (the holy thread which is a sign of a Brahmin) aside?’
Now this question actually made me lost my temper and I just shouted at him that if you want to involve religion into food, don’t eat and please go study your religious books first. But somehow, we explained everything to him and he was cool about it, later he never complained about misguiding him or forcing him, sometimes he used to join us. But it was not the end. As I have seen, many people from Bihar are vegetarians and as soon as they knew that we eat pork they are like, ‘How do you eat this? Yaak!’ ‘Brahmin hoke pork khata hai, kalank hai tu.’ ( You eat Pork despite being a Brahmin, you’re a disgrace). Okay, you’re e vegetarian, no problem but what the hell is wrong if we non-vegetarians, from a particular region of a country like to eat pork? We never asked you to join us so shut the fuck up! That was my usual response, till I left that place.
- Eighth Semester- Me and some of my friends were having pork (after everyone knew that I was having pork, they asked me where they could find it, that group contained people from Kolkata, Siliguri, Coochbehar and probably a few more places) and one of our friends, who was a Muslim entered the room. He just casually asked what we were eating and we just told the truth, he didn’t react violently or cursed us saying that ‘You all anti-Islam’. He was normal, chatting with us and meanwhile another guy entered the room (he was a Hindu guy). Now that guy must be a redhead, because he asked our friend to leave the room as we were having pork and right at that moment I heard it, I completely lost my mind and obviously abused him, lectured him and told him clearly not to poke his nose in these matters as that muslim friend of us is not having problems with our food and he’s casually just chatting, it should not be a problem for him.
These two incidents surely showed me how people are misguided, humiliated and abused based on the connection between food and religion. None of our friends had any problems with one another’s food habits, but outsiders, who were not part of the group, who rarely talked to us were having problem because a Muslim guy was chatting with us while we were having pork, some were having problems with a me having pork, because I’m a Brahmin! Now these are the same guys who talks about Intolerance and shits, not us.Now let’s talk about beef. Beef is usually any cattle meat let it be a cow or an ox or a buffalo. Why beef eating is being discouraged? It is because it is the source of milk and byproducts. Besides, not just beef, any kind of red meat is being discouraged by doctors, now would you put a label of Hinduism Sympathizer on those doctors who are well educated and have a vast knowledge about medical science and human body or you will assume the religious leaders to the superior to doctors? Doctors these days don’t even recommend mutton and for people having high cholesterol it’s a big NO.Beef Ban and Beef Fest- Beef has not been banned yet, the current government has said that states have the power to decide that. So, if you live in any states in the NorthEast, there is no reason you should go gaga over it feeling that you’re food habits are being restricted. Many people have opposed the beef ban saying that India is the largest exporter of beef, okay agreed. Now, why don’t you just think about your own state and predict what will happen based on the way people react rather than thinking what’s going on in Maharashtra or Kerala? Why don’t you ask the government about its stand on slaughter of buffaloes? You won’t, because that animal is not connected to religion and you can’t play politics over it. PETA is one such organization which always creates controversy and fake themselves as the savior of animals, but in these cases they just keep quiet.Beef fest is now a days a way taken by some people, to showcase their protest against the government, they are slaughtering cows on open road just to showcase their power. Now, do you know that it hurts some people’s sentiments? We never slaughtered pig or any animal on an open road, just because we are sacrificing it to God? That sacrifice is also an evil tradition that is still alive. Killing an animal for your own nourishment is necessity and killing an animal for protest or worship is stupidity. Communists claim themselves to be atheists, but on the other hand, I have seen those some group of people sacrificing a goat or buffalo just because their prayer to Maa Kali (A Goddess in Hinduism) were fulfilled, aren’t you hypocrite?Our media and political parties are not left behind popularity rat race. They organize stupid protests and debates, pay influencers to make these trend on social media and tear the feelings of millions of people, which produce no outcome just because it’s easy to get into an Indian’s mind, because be it a Hindu or a Muslim guy, any Indian is damn religious and he would immediately take offence at these kind of acts. I am a non-vegan and I feel the same threat from vegans. They keep complaining regarding this issue. It is my request to vegans that they stop themselves from interfering into our food habits- if you’re having that much problem from killing any animal, go to Kaziranga or Corbett National Park and ask a Tiger to eat grass, that may help! And dear Indians, please research a bit before you turn into a keyboard warrior and start a war on social media. As of now, all you can do is to participate in the discussion and provide feedback to the government ruling your state regarding the slaughter of cows. Keep calm, research a bit on the internet which is open for all, full of latest information and updates and keep yourself away from getting into social media wars.Also, it’s ridiculous that for killing a cow you may end up in getting into a jail for up to 10 years, where as for a molestation you may face up to just 2 years of imprisonment. Some people are supporting the group ‘Go Rakshak’ as they are responsible for stopping the cow slaughter. But one more incident happened a few months ago when BBC published an article describing how villagers living near the Kaziranga National Park are being killed by the rangers and they pleaded and cried a lot talking about human rights. I live in a border town and I live just around 500 meters away from Bangladesh with a river in between the two countries, dividing the nations. Now, if some day the PHE does not supply water and I go to river at 10PM to get some water without asking the BSF personnel and they shoot me thinking that I’m trying to cross the border, whose fault will it be? One horned rhino is the treasure of our state, we keep them safe by arming the ranger and government have provided permission to them to shoot anyone they think to be a poacher. How did you suddenly became so against against the animal rights, especially when that particular animal is endangered and their area has been marked clearly?There is no filter on social media to block any particular word, but as far as most number of Indians use Facebook I see a lot of posts regarding this and finally I try to find ways to run away from them. Most of the times, FB Purity is a tool I use, that helps me in blacklisting some words, but yet some people will find ways to bother you anyway- via WhatsApp message forwards or tagging on Facebook and here’s a way to keep them silent for the rest of their lives when they message and spam about this kind of matters.
Those who are wondering why there is no intro article from me, just wait a bit, something's cooking behind your laptop screen.