[nukkad] Veg, nonveg?

["Mahesh chandra Gupta" <>]

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First it was NRIS v. non-NRIs. Then Pakistan v. Indians. Then Indians v.
Muslims; Hindutva v. secularism; conversions; rightist newspaper; muslim
rituals; whether India deserves to be independent or not; now it is
vegetarianism v. non-vegetarianism. Our penchant for issues, and our ability
to create them, seem inexhaustable. But therein lies the beauty of our
democratic spirit. That we are willing as Indians to look at our own faults
and be self analytical and self critical, that is a very great plus point of
Indian tradition. May be there were groups within Indian society who found
virtues in Gazhani, Temur Lung, Changeiz Khan, Alexander, the British and
the mughals, all ow whom invaded and plundered India. Those groups might
have even defended their actions. They might have had valid reasons, from
their point of view, for doing so.

COMMENT ONE:
Let bygones be bygones. Live in the present, not the past. That does not
mean we should not study histoey. We must study and remember history. But
not for remembering whose forefathers did what to whose forefathers, so that
their  aft-sons may  take revenge and kill each other. We should study
history to learn what mistakes were committed by those who lived earlier, so
that we may learn from those mistakes and not repeat them ourselves.

COMMENT TWO
It is good to argue. That sharpens skills and augments knowledge, as also
widens horizon. But we must choose proper topics. Somebody reads an article
about an obscure muslim ritual; he brings it to notice of others as a
genuine query to find how common this practice is; someone comments on human
life v. animal life; and presto!, another controversy about vegetarianism v.
non-vegetarianism is sought to be created.

FACTS:

There is no controversy here. It is now well known to medical science that
vegetarian food is better than non-vegetarian food. I would be glad to
respond to any queries that anybody may have in this regard. I was a faculty
member at AIIMS, in the department of human nutrition, for 18 years.
I am surprised at the tendency to suddenly go off tangentially. If science
today says eating meat is bad for health, should we change our views because
Rama supposedly ate flesh? Or, because muslims are allowed to eat goat and
cow? Thank god, Hindus do not claim a right to turn out wives from homes
because Rama did so; to burn women as sati because it was traditional hindu
practice; to throw infants in the river because the Hindu book Mahabharata
[Kunti and Ganga] allows it; etc. etc. World should be thankful to god that
he has not given a kitab to 850 million in India. [Religions that follow and
deify a single book as the only mouth-piece of god are known as kitabia
religions -- bible and Quran are the obvious examples.] Imagine 850 million
people raising a battle cry in favour of infanticide, bride burning, sati
etc; or against right to live for those who are mlecchas or firangis.

SUMMARY
Nobody says Indians or Hindus are the best. They all have their pitfalls.
But, for those self proclaimed pitfalls, they are not the worst either. It
is better not to judje who is better or worse.

MC Gupta
Aug 26










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