Our Funarena!

Nobody writes, so far at least, that ‘red meat is injurious to health’ like they do on some other products. But for the last few years the doctors have been doing so in their way: telling patients or general people to avoid too much of red meat which or give it up altogether which they say, is not good for health, particularly for heart health. A whole lot of people, including us ordinary mortals, do follow the advice, some very religiously totally cutting out on that. We did not give it up totally, but our red meat eating became sparse and very occasion-specific. For most of us in India red meat means ‘mutton’ or goat or sheep or lamp meat while some others had switched over to pork; although the latter variety had not obtained any certificate of ‘eat’ from the doctors to the best of my knowledge, but of course, the latter variety is much cheaper than mutton. I’d rather not talk about beef for the danger of getting politically incorrect.   In our childhood days, however, things we

“Hey pal, what is your menu tonight?” “Menu is quite luring! But, you see, it has gone to the authorities for approval. Finally we’ll have what they want us to eat!” This is the popular refrain doing the rounds in the mammoth aftermath of the Ban Culture initiated in several states of the largest democracy called India. So much heat is generated over the matter that it threatens to replace the still rampant Bandh or Closure Culture . The ban is mostly on meat—ranging from chicken to all kinds of red meat. Somehow fish is spared with some authoritative people saying that fish is not slaughtered. Well, if fish is not slaughtered then it is definitely left to die taken out of water. Now, which is crueler to animals? The debate is very interesting, but not at all appetizing. Turbulence is not entirely a new phenomenon for the Indian kitchen. It has been there since time immemorial thanks to the eternal politics concerning the full right or jurisdiction over the kitchen