A Proud Vegan

After many years, I met my childhood friend, Menda, in a restaurant in Thimphu. We have changed a lot; indeed, nothing was same. Meeting her was a memorable moment, at least for me.

In the restaurant, other people were sitting and busy talking and eating foods. My childhood friend threw a swift look at me, and instantly, I learned that she was disappointed.

“What happen?” I inquired her. “It’s a taste of meat,” she reacted grumblingly. Then she stood up, dragged her chair away to walk out of the cosy restaurant room. I simply scrolled my eyeballs around the room to see if other customers were paying attention to our conversation.

Many of them were engrossed on their own, but a few were looking at Menda when she was returning to the room after vomiting everything outside. “You don’t take beef?” I asked her in a low tone and with concern. She didn’t answer me; instead she drank a glass of water. Feeling a little better she looked at me, smiling and then she talked, “Actually, I stopped eating meat about five years ago. It was a forgotten taste in my mouth. I took an oath never to take animals’ lives for my pleasure. Not even leather jacket, fur cloths and even refraining from taking cheese and butter.”

She called out a waiter to bring her vegetable momo (dumpling). “Sorry,” I said apologetic and added hesitatingly, “I didn’t know.” She looked at me, seemingly unease in her mouth and stomach. She said, “Doesn’t matter Rinthel, it has been almost eleven years since we had departed. I can’t wait anymore to hear from you about our friends.”
Surprisingly, she can remember everything about our past. She told me about everything; moreover, she wanted to know more from me. I was dreaming. I couldn’t concentrate on her talk, our conversation. How could she stop eating meat for so long? This question occupied my mind. The truth was that she was the most active hunter when young.

After reaching out we walked towards the Memorial Chorten. Menda suggested me a novella cuisine, some veg restaurants, how to become a vegan and its benefits. Immediately, I observed her physique and noticed her skin was very fair and her face was like a child’s vivacious face, glowing bright. In fact, her inner beauty was shown in her physical appearance.

“I am a vegan. The vegans not only avoid meat, but also don’t wear products made out of animals. We love animals as much as we love our parents. Becoming vegan is not about torturing your life. There are many religions that refrain from eating anything that is produced from the soil,” she explained me further. I stood silent, listening to her carefully. As she saw me listening to her, she continued, “You know what? Gandhi nearly died from illness because he denied his doctor’s advice on taking milk. Not only Gandhi himself but Kasturba Gandhi too was strict about her diet. Upon the doctor’s insistence Gandhi asked Kasturba whether she was willing to take nutritious soup made from non-vegetarian product. She defended by saying that human life is precious so do not want her life to be poisoned by taking the life of another being. Like Gandhi himself, she would choose to die rather than living a poisonous life.”
She firmly closed her eyes, stretched out her arms and murmured, “Make a wish, this Chorten fulfills everyone’s wish. Yours too!”

Once back home, I lied on my bed and tried to remember the wish I made in front of the Great Chorten:“I will never eat meat”.

Still lying on my bed, I dreamt about my past behaviour as a young boy. Being a farmer’s son, I wasn’t aware about life as much as I am at the moment. After the school, I would be already with my catapult to shoot at birds or chase deer accompanied by my dogs. Sometimes, I would quarrel with my friends over the issue related to hunting birds. It still gives me a nervy feeling to recollect how I had escaped from forest officers when I was fishing in a river. I used to catch four kilos of fish, sometimes more.

It was wrong; I shouldn’t have done. Menda’s words and her perspective impacted me hugely. I became rational now and started believing the existence of karma and its connection. I even dedicated my time in reading more books. That way, I was able to learn more and came across many good books on vegetarian, especially from Buddhist books.

Hence, my interest widened to know more about vegetarian and its impact. There are scientific, religion and philosophical concepts to look over the matter on eating animal meat. In a nutshell, none of them encourage eating meat. Killing any living being is a crime, no matter what. Yet, we live in a world where millions of animals are being killed for consumption everyday. Are we too selfish that our encroachment reached in taking the lives of other beings?

All human beings are born herbivore, so what is the extra benefit of eating meat? Scientists have discovered many disadvantages of eating meat and eating more meat leads to heart disease, kidney failure, breast cancer, and stroke. The constitution of human body is built in such a way that only plants, vegetables and fruits meet best than preying on animals can. Mahatma Gandhi and Gary Yourofsky said that humans don’t possess canine, claws and other important factors the carnivorous have.

The existence of this world is built in such a way that everything comes as per the seed you have sown. There is no way one can escape from your actions. It is wiser to sow a good seed. I am vegetarian not by birth but by ethics, by choice. I am not guilty to look at animals because I have learnt to love them as dear as my own life.
Albert Einstein once proudly stated, “So I am living without fats, without meat, without fish, but I am feeling well this way. It always seems to me that man was not born to be a carnivore.”

Dear friends, today I’m vegetarian. And I feel proud too.