page 3 ( 61 ) Some thoughts when I was in Std IX

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     When I was in Std IX, my attitude and behaviour were almost changed.  I liked to talk about the events in the whole world, based on the news which appeared in the newspaper.  In one of those days, I happened to read an article about "vegetarian food vs non - vegetarian food".  The writer had described that the human beings  are created in a manner  so that they could take only vegetarian food.  Killing an animal for food was a sin.  Yes.  I remembered the manner in which my father killed a fowl.  I had frightened and hid myself in a safe place.  I couldn't forget it's cries and the last moments' worries.  But when it became curry, I forgot everything and took it.  But in my mind, there were many questions.  I got many answers from that article.  They are : -  ( 1 ) The flesh eating will make the humans a little more cruel ie. they acquire the cruelty of some wild animals.  ( 2 )  the flesh eating will make the humans robustness which lead to heart diseaseas or any other type of diseases.   ( 3) the flesh eating will make the humans away from God and make them materialists.  ( 4 )  the flesh eating will cause an early death  of humanbeings because of the obesity & other diseases and their family would have to suffer.  

     The article touched me very much.  As a result, I became a vegetarian.  Then started many problems.  Oneday, my father brought some fish from the market, Kolenchery.  When I returned from school, my mother along with my father had already prepared the fish curry.  Then, what should I do ?  I thought that I could make some chutney.  In the evening, I was preparing chutney in the grindstone.  

     Seeing me, my mother became  very angry.  She said, "see what this girl is doing ?  Though there is fish curry, she is not satisfied in it.  She is making chutney also.  See the manner in which she grinds it.  She doesn't know how to grind it properly.  Her grandmother & aunt were also very poor in grinding over the grindstone.  But when I came here after my marriage, I began to grind over it properly. "

     I realised that I couldn't learn cooking from my mother in my life.  It was another shock to me.  As a result, I became non - vegetarian  after a month.  The girls who didn't know cooking different items, wouldn't get husbands.  Some of them would hide this fact and the marriage would take place.  After marriage, when the people in the husband's house find that the girl doesn't know how to cook food, she would be returned to her paternal house.  This was the condition in my village when I was in Std IX.