Don’t mock sentiments

Last year, I happened to be in Dubai during the holy month of Ramadan. Being a foreigner in that country and a non-Muslim, the hotel thoughtfully handed me a leaflet that underlined the significance of Ramadan and advised me to respect local sensitivities by observing restraint during the period of the fast. In particular, it was pointed out that most of the restaurants would be closed for lunch but that the food court in the basement would be partially open.

One afternoon, I went down to the basement for a bite at lunchtime. The place seemed almost deserted. However, hidden from public gaze by a large screen the food court was operating as usual, minus alcohol. It was mainly full of European and Australian tourists and a few expatriates of South Asian origin. I had a reasonable meal and didn’t really begrudge the minor inconvenience of not being able to dine at the Lebanese restaurant I had identified the evening before. Lunching discreetly behind a screen seemed a small price to pay for respecting local customs.

I refer to the Dubai experience because of a trend that I observe in India. Over the past six months or so, I have been noticing the resident cultural nationalist getting increasingly agitated over some of our newspapers wilfully riding roughshod over what is best described as ordinary decencies. First, there was an article in a popular food column where the writer held forth on the best beef he has tasted. Subsequently, whether it was a travelogue or a lifestyle piece, others in the same newspaper rushed in to introduce needless references to the delights of the dreaded red meat—as if they have finally arrived.

Now beef, as we all know, is a touchy subject in India. It is, of course, reasonably freely available in most of the up-market restaurants in the metros. In Kolkata, Bangalore and Kochi beef preparations are even available at many mid-market eateries. Christians and Muslims have no problems with beef; many well-heeled Hindus I know don’t mind the occasional beef dish, especially when they are overseas, although, there are few who actually bring it into their kitchen. The most familiar excuse is that it would offend elderly relatives and the servants.

At the same time, there is the vast majority of ordinary middle class Indians (including Muslims) for whom beef is absolutely abhorrent, in the same way as pork is to Muslims. They will not even countenance the idea of eating at the same table where someone is tucking into a chateaubriand. I have personally seen the agony of Indian students overseas over eating even vegetarian meals at restaurants where beef is cooked.

The abhorrence of beef is, of course, primarily religious. It may be extremely difficult to typecast a Hindu in terms of theology and ritual practices but keeping well away from beef is a common trait. Most Hindus are socially conditioned into believing that the cow is sacred. We may not necessarily accord this view a theological sanction but we cannot deny that the feeling is real and widespread.

The question that must be addressed to the growing tribe of cosmopolitans who dominate the media and lifestyle industries is: do we mock this sentiment? The boastful references to steak tastings at home or overseas does precisely that. They are insensitive and calculated to shock and offend.

Those with knowledge of history will be aware that the impetuous young radicals of the Young Bengal movement in the mid-19th century developed the ridiculous habit of throwing pieces of beef at devout Hindus and then suggesting they change their religion because they had been polluted beyond redemption. Predictably, these bright young men from upper-caste families were chased away from their communities.

The Bengali writer Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his Letters on Hinduism had poured scorn on “that weakest of human beings, the half-educated anglicised and brutalised Bengali babu, who congratulates himself on his capacity to dine off a plate of beef as if this act of gluttony constituted in itself unimpeachable evidence of a perfectly cultivated intellect.”

India is by and large an easy-going country where people like to live and let live. However, there are age-old customs and ordinary decencies that should be respected, even if not personally followed. In our attitude to beef, India would do well to follow the example of the Dubai restaurant and keep it discreet, unstated and behind a screen. If this is hypocrisy, so be it.

Email: swapan55@gmail.com