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vegetarian Indian. The husband eats meat. The wife is still a vegetarian as she was raised in a religious Jain family in India. To the best of my knowledge, they don't cook meat at
home but the husband and their two children are non-veg. o A few years ago, one of their daughters was getting married. We went to attend the engagement ceremony. In the morning, I mentioned to the mother, “I am hoping that there will be no non-veg food during formal dinner today.” The mother assured me that there would not be but the young woman who was going to be engaged later that day argued with her mother and questioned my position in dictating to them whether or not they might serve non-veg food. I did not know about this development between the mother and the daughter. In the evening, after the pooja and engagement formalities, the dinner was being served. In one corner, I saw a meat tray. I was really shocked, and not as a casual outsider. I am considered to be part of this close family. Now at that stage, what should I have done? Right there and then, without anything on my plate, I began a thirty-six hour fast in front of everyone. They tried to bring a fresh veg plate for me, but I refused to eat. This was my way of protest. One year later, there was the actual wedding ceremony for the same young woman. Together with all my family, I was invited. This time too, before making the out-of-town trip, I inquired again about the serving of non-veg food. I did not want to repeat or create the same scene, in front of their many guests. This time, they were honest and told me that although they were serving non-veg food, they intended to make available to me a separate, pure, Jain food plate. All of my family, including my wife, my children, and grandchildren went but I refused to go. You can imagine the unpleasantness and arguments within the family by this decision on my part. All were unhappy with me and they all insisted that I am stubborn.
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An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
