Does land of 'ahimsa' need a vegetarian day?
A false notion worldwide is that most Indians are vegetarians, a belief strengthened by the staunchly vegetarian Mahatma Gandhi.
Paul McCartney, former Beatle, has asked India to declare January 12 as Vegetarian Day in India. It was the day PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals), a group better known for getting attractive people to pose with little or no clothes for animal rights (how fewer clothes mean more rights remains a mystery) was founded in India. McCartney has spoken about India’s ahimsa while urging for a vegetarian day.
But while India is famous for its, ahem, ahimsa, it is also well known for its chicken tikka and mutton biryani, and shorshe ilish.
A false notion worldwide is that most Indians are vegetarians, a belief strengthened by the staunchly vegetarian Mahatma Gandhi.
A country that decades ago believed that the only reason the Englishman ruled us was because he was a meat-eater might not be too ready yet to give up flesh on the table.
Also, do these ‘special days’ actually work? India has a Diabetes Day, and at last count, the number of diabetic patients had gone up, not down. A vegetarian day might just see more kababs on the table rather than less.