'I am vegetarian. But I eat chicken sometimes'

Hey was bored of writing about myself so I am writing about other people now. Now what I am going to write maybe a bit sarcastic as it talks about the duality we see in todays world. It is about my fellow gujarati, madwadi, jain etc folks who claim very proudly - 'I am vegetarian. But I eat chicken sometimes'.

I remember when I was small, like in class 5th or 6th (class not grade cause that's what I called it and that's what I call it still!!!). I remember being asked by this quirky bespectacled classmate with picktales "Whether I was a vegetarian or a nonvegetarian". She had a mouth so big she could swallow a mosquito!!. I thought to myself , twice a week mom makes chicken(yummy), once mutton(ugg), and once fish the rest of the days she makes the oh so tasteless vegetables and dals. So considering the fact that I ate nonveg 3 a week and veg the rest of the 4 days I proudly announced " I am both vegetarian and non vegetarian". Was so proud of myself, I had it right finally. The bespectacled girl with a mouth as big as it could swallow a mosquito made a big "O" with it and left. When I came home I narrated the incident to my mamma proud of my latest discovery. Mamma looked at me for a while and said " Sunayan people who eat both vegetarian and non vegetarian food are "non-vegetarians"… But Mamma I protested I don't eat chicken or fish every day. You make it only thrice and we sometime go to Radio Club for Chinese so I am both! Mom then said, " You either are a vegetarian or you are a non vegetarian,
there is no in the middle, there is no both. If you don't eat meat then you are vegetarian and if you do whether occasional, everyday you are a nonvegetarian.

Ok so now I had a new identity Sunayan Shahani, Female, Hindu, Non-Vegetarian. From that day whoever asked me this question I was Non-Veg. Even on Thursday! (A day on which the whole Sindhi community eats vegetarian food).

But today I have friends and fellow colleagues ( gujjus and madu's and jain's predominantly) who give me statements like, 'I am vegetarian. But I eat chicken sometimes, We don't cook it at home. I eat occasionally with my friends. I eat only chicken not sea food. Not even once a week may be 2 or thrice a month, Whenever I feel like.
DUDE!!!!!
I want to scream. But I keep my calm and and talk a like a civilized citizen from South Bombay (where even a scream should be in the form of a whisper because your BAWA neighbour will complain to your landlord), so I ask " How can you classify yourself as Vegetarian when you do eat Non-veg occasionally even if it is only chicken? I mean I don't eat non-veg everyday too my mom doesn't make it everyday. But I still acknowledge my eating habits as those of a Non Vegetarian!

But my dear gujarati and madwadi friends still continue to say the same sentence and not agree with me. So now I have come with a new term for this species of people who Eat Chicken, but are so to say Vegetarian. These people I call 'Conveniently Vegetarian', Actually it should be 'Conveniently Non-Vegetraian' since they eat occasionally and mom doesn't cook it and etc etc…… But I know they like the word vegetarian, shud shakahari, which we associate with a good feeling of ethical treatment to animals, with good people like Gandhiji, Maneka Gandhi and John Abaraham, with good associations like PETA.


Therefore this it Conveniently Vegetarian, here they come!!!

That's all folks. Please note this article wasn't meant to hurt any person or communities feelings(Ha like I mean that).

For now it is me signing out

Tata birla lodha,