Untrimmed fingernails and a hasty ponytail seem so justified when I walk into The New Lazeez Meat Shop. The people fell silent when I walked in. One kilo. I didn't feel like checking the weights. I frowned when the butcher cut right through the goat's privates. I didn't hear any scream in my head. I just chose to keep looking. It was a split second decision. He cut off the fat as much as possible. Everytime the chopper came down, I closed my eyes. But that was only because of the loud sound that I anticipated. Flecks of flesh flew. Sweaty customers around me, waiting in a makeshift queue. Neat discs of meat in shelves surrounded by dirty flies. Keema? I didn't ask. The chopper came down, again and again. A hollow, black laugh inside my head made a feeble observation. "That's a goat. And so are you." The hand that took the money from me had a ring on the index finger. Faith? Passion or religion? Why did it hesitate? One more experience that forced me to breathe. Later that night I dressed up the truth with onions, tomatoes, bayleaves, ginger, garlic, cardamom and a pinch of salt. Marinated it for 15 minutes and left it to simmer. I was hungry and gobbled it up pretty soon. It wasn't a sin anymore. Just a delicious dinner I had cooked for myself and something I felt like I deserve because I was there with it all along. Or was it just the feel of the flesh against my fingers as I mixed the vegetables with the meat? I guess one shouldn't question the food chain.
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I eat cooked animals almost everyday. But 99.9% of the time I don't get to see them killed and cut, leave alone doing it myself! I can clearly smell a hypocrisy!
ReplyDeleteTell me to kill a chicken, cut its throat and put it into a tin can to let it die; then shear off its feathers and cut out the body wall ... make it into cook-able pieces ... I can't even imagine doing it myself. Can you? Same goes for that silly goat.
That's where we stand - we don't kill but we eat. That's unfair! If we could at least shoot and kill a chicken or had an hand to hand combat with the chicken, the chicken would have accepted its fate. But this? Its hypocrisy! The poor chicken didn't even get to know why it got killed!
P.S. Replace chicken by goat for better reading.