Humans and animals are a part of nature’s food chain, with
us humans being on the top of the chain with seldom seen exceptions which are
termed accidents. But, do whales, sharks, tigers, bears, platypuses etc. feel
it is an accident when they are hunted and/or poached by us humans? Of course
they don’t; they are extraordinarily dumb to understand our immensely logically
advanced reasoning abilities! So, let us pat our backs for conveniently having
fooled these animals, who not only turn up as food on our plates but as clothes
on our backs and doormats in our living rooms, into believing that their fate
as decided by us is the correct explanation of the working of the food chain.
Being a lacto-vegetarian since birth, it has never seemed
unnatural to use dairy products and vegetarianism has appeared to be the best
food habit; what did seem unnatural were vegans and non-vegetarians. I have
only recently fully appreciated the need for non-vegetarians: They balance the
food chain. Without them, vegetarians would be starved to death! But these
helpful non-vegetarians checking the herbivore population in the world are
accustomed to feast upon only the flesh of the animals. Their dietary habits
leave behind a lot of waste in the slaughter houses, which according to Wikipedia
are treated and used in an unimaginably large range of products! And here, I
ask myself a truly confusing question: Why should my vegetarianism come in my
way of using animal derived products?
After two decades plus of leading the life of a strict vegetarian,
I do wonder, what is the point of it all? Will PETA ever hand me the “Sexiest
Vegetarian Alive” award? Will the animals of the world write a letter of gratitude
for doing my bit in not giving them untimely death? Or will I be taken to
heaven after my death and felicitated there for being so kind to God’s other
creations? Neither will happen. I am not the recently turned vegetarian
ex-girlfriend of a converted vegetarian and who, by the way happens to be a
hypocritical movie star. Nor, will the animals write to me, nor will God
consider me his best creation so far. After serious pondering, my mind does
offer me a satisfactory answer: I am a vegetarian. At this point in life where I
am mentally advanced enough to rationalize the reason behind my actions and decisions,
it becomes evident that vegetarianism is not just a food practice anymore, but
is my way of life.
To be a vegetarian in a world where people don’t understand
its meaning in totality is hard, not to forget frustrating. Very big names in
the food industry, in the cosmetics, medicine and many more industries do not
consider animal derivatives as not vegetarian; how insensitive is that! Animals
are not machines that can be erased and reprogrammed to suit our whims and
fancies. They are living creatures with as many complex emotions as we human
beings. They too have a soul and we are not empowered by any supreme power to
snuff out their lives for our meaningless requirements. Animals as food, though
not even remotely appealing to me, are a necessity. But why should their
remains find their way into my ‘vegetarian’ food in the form of gelatin, fat,
lecithin etc.? And I am not even going into the torturous ways they are
slaughtered; not mentioning the halaal procedure, which according to me is totally
inhuman, for the sole reason of not wanting my comment to potentially instigate
a communal riot.
Practicing vegetarianism has made me a better human. It has
made me see the life in every creature and to value it. If I do believe that by
eating an animal, I will be responsible for killing it, the belief then should
be extrapolated to include rejection of all products that use these helpless
creatures. Ingesting animals or animal products alone is not non-vegetarianism;
using any product whose existence has been made possible by the death of an
animal is also non-vegetarianism. I have tried my best never to consume
anything with any traces of animal and after this realization, I have given up
cosmetics and silk clothing. The scalding of the silkworm in Sericulture is too
horrifying to want to drape its clothing as mine!
The long and short of it is, there should be more efficient
ways of disposing or utilizing the wastes from slaughter houses so that the
non-vegetarians can have their food and no animal or its derivative finds its
way into objects of everyday use for a fastidious vegetarian like me. Till such
a plan comes into effect, I shall be too lazy to explain my theory to those
with non-existent spiritual quotient and will simply state with pride, though
at a risk of being called insane, “I am a vegetarian.”
