Our humorously hideous home initiations

An Aussie colleague of mine was inquired of at a recent luncheon about his meal preference .. vegetarian course or otherwise ? His sarcastic comment that "pure vegetation is meant for cattle and not the humankind" and another recalled act of a Brahmin pal of mine who flicked a prized piece of chicken from my plate and washed it down his gullet in a moment, got this blog rolling off my mind.

My home in Trichy gained notoriety among my college mates for the secret initiations that happened there...especially of the steadfast kind who were sworn-by-their-blood to vegetarianism all their life. Back then, my home and I often played "the haven and the host" to whet the appetite of the ill nourished populace at college. The bashes at home were usually preconceived to treat the invited (also targeted) not to an elaborate spread to choose from as one may imagine, but to a narrow choice of meat-based recipes with limited options. They were so planned to ensure that a famished veggie would fall a natural victim to the savour and delight of my mom's irresistible chicken and fish curries, given that the rest of the dishes were bland alternatives in comparison. I had seen this pattern of occurrence often times, when they all began with posing vocal resistance, but with that gentle urging and teasing thereafter meekly succumbed to the allure and ended up likely picking their plates clean off the last morsels. The initiations happened struggle-free with the proven power of the meats effortlessly prevailing against the wavering will power of the abstinent. The feasting usually ended with the initiated lauded for their courage to walk the walk of faith down a thitherto untraversed path. It was fun to note that the initiations triggered off an unholy craze in them to get their teeth on a carnivorous kill as often as they thereafter could. Crazier still, is the fact that some of such have carefully sought after "broadmindedness and liberal values in epicurean matters" as key partner attributes even during their spousal search, to ensure sustainable support for their secretly cultivated habits.