Veg or Non Veg?

The month of Shravan/Sawan comes in monsoon; it is forbidden to eat non-vegetarian food in this month. For a person like me who is an ardent chicken and fish lover and not consuming it for a month is very difficult. As kids, we ate only homemade food, so if Mummy said; she is not going to cook non-veg for some time, we had no option. We were fine with her decision. As I grew up and left Mummy’s home for education and job, I did not care which month it was or which day it was, whenever I felt like eating non-vegeterian, I ate it. I never felt sorry about it. I am not an atheist, but I know for sure God will not punish me for eating non-veg food. I asked my mother, “Why is it forbidden to eat non-veg in this month? “Our religion says it, so we do not eat,” she answered. My grandmother laughed and told me to sit with her. “Monsoon brings a lot of water-borne diseases if we eat animals/birds during this time there are high chances that we get infected. Also this time of the year, the fishes breed so it is not good to disturb them while breeding. Hygiene was not maintained during those days,” she answered. This made a lot of sense to me now. Time has changed now because the non-veg food we eat; comes from the farms especially raised to be consumed.

The ironic thing about me is, ‘I have married a person whose entire family is vegetarian.’ I informed

We stay in an apartment on the 4^th floor. All the apartments have kitchens in one line-one above another. People who live on the 3^rdand the 5^th floor cooks a lot of fish and chicken. While I cook vegetables in my kitchen, I can smell the fragrance of their meals. I call it fragrance because it makes me happy. As soon as the fragrance spreads in the house, my father-in-law closes the doors and windows. He hates the site and fragrance of it. He used to change the TV channel if it showed non-veg recipes. He tried a lot to convince me in quitting non-veg food indirectly, but all his efforts were in vain. Now he has accepted that I am never going to quit on non-veg food. I never want to hurt his faith in veg food, so I try to not eat non-veg food in front of him when we go out and even he knows I eat it a lot but never says anything to me.

My in-laws had gone to our native place for a few days. My father-in-law drops my kid to school every day and I go to pick him up. That day, I told my husband to drop him to school. When he returned, he handed me a package and said, “I have a surprise for you. You will love it.” I jumped with joy, “Oh my god! You got me fried fish. I was dying to eat it. It’s been months that I have not eaten it. Thanks a lot. I love you so much.” He was confused, “How do you even know its fried fish?” “This fragrance cannot stay hidden how much ever you pack it.”

This is how I celebrated my first day of Shravan/Sawan. No offense to all the vegetarians but fried fish is heaven.