By Rajat Kalra:
If you were born in a Hindu family, you will still anyway be a human being first and a Hindu later. The same goes for Muslims, Christians or people born into any other religion in the world. Religion is not something that naturally happens to us; we acquire it when we are born into a family that practices a particular religion or from the world we grow up in and might consciously choose for ourselves. What we are, generally born with are blood running through our veins, 270 bones with a couple of organs and skin that covers all of this.
So to keep your focus intact through this article, I won’t tell you if I am a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian who eats two legged or four legged animals neither will I tell you what religious faith influences my eating habits. That is because I know it doesn’t matter – as long as I am not harming you, as long as I am not hurting you, or encroaching on your legal possessions.
Then why are we forcing cows in causing us troubles? Trust me; it’s not just about cows being moved to slaughterhouses. It is more about religious fanatics killing each other in the name of misinterpreted faith.
The word ‘cow’ in itself becomes so intimidating when it becomes a topic of debate amongst Hindus and Muslims of India or outside. As if the cow is not a cow – as if it were a deadly nuclear missile.
After all, there is no fault of the animal that it is considered holy for some and food for others. Hindus and Muslims will amicably have to learn to find a path of moderation in dealing with the cow.
In many cases, the cow is more a site of religious bigotry than it is an animal. It has come down to not being about our choices; it’s about disproving and condemning that of others. It’s not about the nutrition one can get from a cow’s meat – but more if the community who eats it are a minority. It’s not always about the holiness of cow – more about who’s the majority. In the end, it’s not about the animal; it’s all about my God vs. your God.
The question remains, what can be a solution to this? I am not a saint neither the judiciary nor an arbitrator. A simple solution to this would be to let it be and learn to co-exist harmoniously. This line of thought is what can take us forward. We can’t force our religion onto others’ plates neither can we claim the superiority of our existence based on our religion. We must cease to have an attitude that’s always in disagreement with the choices of others. If you like something, stop proving it to others. If you believe in something, start believing that others believe in something too.