You are not what you eat!

No disrespect is intended for the believers, but these could be cautionary tales for others.

Recently, a close relative told me that he had made an appointment to meet a holy man at the unusual hour of 3 a.m. It may appear unearthly to some, but to others, it is referred to as 'Brahmamuhurtham'*, one of the most auspicious times of the day. The holy man wanted to dispel him of some negative energies.

Quickly, my mind wandered to the story of P. Rajagopal, the founder of the world-famous chain of South Indian vegetarian restaurants, Saravana Bhava. A classic tale of how capitalism breeds entrepreneurship and how trickle-down economics works is his life story. Starting off as the son of a poor onion farmer, he ran away from home to work as a chaiwala. He later became a sundry shop owner but was restless. Being the pious person he was (he named his shop after Lord Muruga), he consulted a priest-astrologer about his future. By then, he was married to Vani, his first wife.

The astrologer predicted that his horoscope predicted that Rajagopal could be someone world-famous if he dealt with fire. At about that time, a restaurant was on sale. Taking that as a sign from the Universe, he started his first restaurant in 1981. Rajagopal and Vani worked extremely hard. In rolled in cash, the opening of branches and the expanding workforce. Rajagopal was a kind employer, and his workers were extremely loyal to him. He provided them with accommodation, medical benefits, and even holiday packages. In return, he demanded high-quality work (cleanliness and service) and loyalty.

Rajagopal and Vani's married life lost their lustre soon afterwards. In came Rajagopal's second wife, the daughter of one of his staff.

The astrologer was always behind the scenes, periodically advising on how to improve his already successful business in the future. His chain of restaurants had gone global, and Rajagopal was known as a philanthropist who donated to temples and the needy.

By then, Rajagopal was already eyeing another young lassy, the daughter of another employee. The astrologer encouraged Rajagopal, convincing him he would reach greater heights by marrying her. Trying to escape his advances, the girl, Jeevajothi, went on to marry her boyfriend. One thing led to another, and in 2001, Jeevajothi's husband was killed by Rajagopal's henchmen.

With his influence and enormous wealth, Rajagopal managed to keep bail and stay away from prison till his case went up to the Supreme Court in 2019. By then, Rajagopal was quite ill and died at 71 before he could commence his life sentence.

It has been over 15 years since I last patronised a Saravana Bhava outlet. The last time I savoured their thosai and all their vegetarian cuisine, I could not help but imagine all the blood, sweat, lust and murder that went into preparing the dish. It is perplexing that a person who painstakingly ensured his vegetarian (sattvik) preparations were of high quality had no qualms about exhibiting so much violence and went to the extent of murder to achieve his desires. He is not a good poster boy to sell the idea that we are what we eat. Above all, the brain must function, and periodic self-appraisal is mandatory.

The next time someone claims to have accurately analysed your future through horoscopic facial recognition science, palmistry, and chart analysis of your birthdate, be wary. Remember, the higher your climb, the harder the fall and the more painful it will be on your posterior. 

*Brahmamuhurta is a 48-minute period that begins one hour and 36 minutes before sunrise and ends 48 minutes before sunrise.

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The Green Party?

“For a vegetarian, you seem to have a lot of demands,” I told myself. 

I am obviously out of sync with what being vegetarian means these days. At an age when everyone demands rights, I guess it is the same for vegetarians (and vegans, too). Rightly so too. Everyone deserves their place in the sun or rather on Earth, the rich, the economically challenged, the disabled bodies and pretty much everyone else. 

From the things that I understood in my impressionable age, by sticking around erudite adults, I assumed that one needs to control his primal desires to be a better soul. By suppressing innate desires to attack, devour and consume fellow members of the animal kingdom, it is believed people would pick up more brownie karmic points in the repeating cycles of rebirth. Hurting the sentiments of their own kind with their uppity attitude does not count. 

Of course, some have turned green for health reasons. Perhaps they had a pressing need to care for the environment or just ethical judgment of killing a fellow being with no religious undertones. 

My impression of how a vegetarian conducts himself is perhaps moulded by looking at a vegetarian friend, GR, a Brahmin and a vegetarian from birth. Whilst caught in the annual floods in Kelantan on our tour duty, we were left with just rice to eat. There were no vegetables to harvest, no dry land for hens to lay eggs and, of course, no fishing due to the monsoon. Chickens were off the menu. They had probably drowned or could not be transported from the barns. 

So my Brahmin friend ended up sustaining life with just rice and soya sauce. It went on for one week till normalcy prevailed. The rest of us had sardines, anchovies or fermented shrimp paste (belacan).

After laying down the ground rules of who can consume what and the differentiation between vegans, ovo-vegans and lacto-vegetarians, the fight is not quite over. You forgot Jains, who avoid tubers and roots. Then you have the nuevo-riche with gluten-free, lactose-free, sugar-free necessity. Eggs of free-ranging chicken are a no-no for some ovo-vegetarians, as their eggs could have been fertilized; hence, they are technically live animals. 

Vegans have claimed that a plant-only diet offers a multitude of health benefits, is better for the environment, and is the only ethical choice. While some of them respect the dietary choices of others, some of them proselytize with religious-like fervor and are working to get their diet adopted by all of humanity.

What started as a personal wish to control animalistic behaviours in us as we are what we eat and a wish to protect the environment has morphed into something laughable sometimes. It has become a fashion statement, an elitist snobbish gesture. Bending backwards to be nice to animals, they have no qualms about abusing fellow human to meet their dietary need. They also selectively choose to close an eye upon the cruelty done to dairy cows and the indiscriminate culling of male calves. 

At the end of the day, it is economics, stupid!

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