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Sunday, March 24, 2024
HomeiWitnessBeef-eating Hindus, chicken roast with appam & Malayalam-speaking Jharkhand workers in Kerala

Beef-eating Hindus, chicken roast with appam & Malayalam-speaking Jharkhand workers in Kerala

iWitness — the story behind the story of ThePrint journalists’ experiences on assignment.

Thiruvananthapuram: Travelling to Kerala is a bit like being back in mother-in-law country. The dear lady passed on three years ago and Delhi deracinates anyone, in any case, a situation worse confounded by the fact that I’m a north Indian daughter-in-law — but some things remain, like memories of Amma’s food and snatches of Malayalam that have lodged themselves in my subconscious and refuse to be obliterated.

So even though I’m all double-masked up when I land in Thiruvananthapuram, I know I’m watching the unfolding street scenes with the bemused interest of a foreigner — the beautifully paved roads, the spotlessly maintained Museum gardens, the Raj-era architecture of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, the fact that the men wrap up their ‘mundus’ and tuck up the bottom end into the waist band exposing thigh and leg presumably because of the heat, which doesn’t seem to bother the women because there’s certainly no exposure there.

Make no mistake, if you’re not Malayali, you’re a foreigner — especially if you come from anywhere north of the Vindhyas. The Malayalis, themselves, are kind enough to understand that — they’ve been dealing with foreigners for centuries and absorbing them all in, right from the time of St Thomas the Apostle who showed up in 52 AD, even before Christianity is believed to have travelled to Europe — so they are patient with your clichéd exclamations (‘God’s Own Country’), your inadequate understanding of Church politics (there’s the Orthodox Christians, the Jacobites, the Latin Catholics and the Roman Catholics) and why Politburo members of the ruling CPI(M) don’t want to stand for elections (because they want to control the Party, which controls the people, although there’s no point in confusing this Communism with Malayali characteristics with any other slogan from abroad, including the infamous “dictatorship of the proletariat”).

Meanwhile, words from a language long forgotten are turning over in your brain. Madi. Enough. Venda. Don’t want. Enda peray? What is your name? Arka vote chaiyyam? Who are you voting for?

The hotel you’re staying in is like every other three-four star hotel anywhere in the country — everything is Made in China, from the furniture to the toilet fittings as well as the thick pile of carpet, although why hotels in such warm climes don’t keep their traditional chik curtains and red oxide floor is a discussion for another day — which means that their food tastes like blotting paper. The idlis are dry, the sambhar is thick, the watermelon juice has been artificially sweetened.

Venda.


Also read: Churches, chicken roll and a 5-hour journey between generations in Kerala


Hindi-speaking men in videsh

Better to get out and check out Thiruvananthapuram’s ‘hotels’. They are called hotels, but they are actually small restaurants on the street, with a couple of tables where you can gratefully dump your bag, sit down and just eat. The first night in TVM I stopped at the Akash hotel opposite the NDA media centre because I thought I heard a few words of Hindi – I doubled back. The cook, making a dosha (as versus a dosa in Tamil Nadu), seemed regular enough in his white chef cap on an open tava, but I loitered around. And struck gold.

Sure enough, the male waiters and the chef were speaking in Hindi with one other. Do dosa banao. Ek chicken roast. Ek meen curry. Stuff like that. Of course I had to go in and order. The guy at the counter was a full-blown Malayali — which means he didn’t understand any Hindi and very little English, so he helpfully shook his head from left to right, smiling all the while and saying, “aanh”. Then a waiter crept up and repeated an order in Malayalam. But he was one of them who I had just heard speaking Hindi. What was going on? Yeh kya ho raha hai videsh main?

Aap Hindi bol rahen hain, I said to the man. It was more an accusation than a question.

Of course, he said. “Main Jharkhand se hoon (I am from Jharkhand)”.

Before my eyes could pop out further, he was telling me his story. Hum paanch hain Jharkhand se. Giridih se. Das saal ho gaye idhar. Gaon jaate hain saal main ek baar. Lockdown jab hua, uske pehle hi bhag gaye. Phir phone aaya yahan ke maalik ka, ki aa jao (We are five people here, from Giridih in Jharkhand. Have been working here for 10 years. We heard the lockdown was coming so we escaped and ran home. Some weeks ago, the owner called and said come back).

For the princely sum of Rs 184, I bought a quarter chicken roast — it was to die for — and one Malabar parotta and an appam. A feast for anyone — north or south of the Vindhyas.


Also read: Amma’s memories, sour dosa & wishes for my ‘paati’ — a reporter’s day in western Tamil Nadu


‘Beef-eating Hindus’

The following day, both morning and afternoon were eaten up meeting people. Then it was was 4 pm and now I was hungry again. My driver, Aman, said he knew of a “hotel” near where he lived.

Food Box is run by Atul and his mother, Omana amma. Atul returned from Dubai and Qatar and other Gulf cities, where he worked at the W hotels, because of problems at home and decided to turn this space into a ‘hotel’. Remember this corner joint in Ambalamukku as long as your taste buds are alive.

There was chicken roast and beef curry and aviyal and rice (matta or red rice, of course) and parippu (a yellow dal curry with coconut) and sambhar. To wash down with warm water and mor (buttermilk with ginger and curry leaves).

Memories of Amma, my mother-in-law feeding us breakfast and dinner, day after day after day — looking after our material needs while me and my husband, journalists, tried to change the country — flooded over me. Amma had spoilt us all with her amazing ability to chop up the beans until you couldn’t make them finer, with seasoning everything with a spoonful of coconut oil, hoarding her imported-from-Kerala spices with greater passion than anything else.

How come you’re Hindu and serving beef, I asked Atul. He was surprised with the question. All Hindus eat beef in Kerala, he said.

We eat everything here. Fish and beef and chicken and mutton and pork. No problem.

Omana - Kerala
Atul and his mother Omana run Food Box ‘hotel’ in Thiruvananthapuram, and serve beef curry & chicken roast | Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrint

Omana amma smiled in the corner. This was going to turn out to be another lesson in how Kerala absorbed so many foreign influences, without turning away anyone. I decided to escape with a full stomach.

I wondered, though, what the BJP, trying to gain a toehold in the “shifting sands of Kerala politics” — a phrase I have hijacked from my Kerala guide and philosopher, Gouri Dasan Nair — makes of beef-eating Hindus. Presumably this is much worse than beef-eating Christians in the Northeast, where the BJP quickly dropped its insistence on beef purity when it wanted to fight the elections — it won Meghalaya, where it now runs a coalition government. But the people doing the beef-eating in Kerala are Hindu, supposed to be inside the fold, so what happens now?

For now, as the state goes to the polls on 6 April, the BJP is limiting itself to talking about Sabarimala and why menstruating women should be banned from entering it — there’s no discussion yet about the food habits of Hindus here. Venturing across the gastronomic lakshman rekha could be dangerous for a party even with such ambition.

For the time being, madi. It’s a word that Amma used often and which emerged after I had polished off my thali at Food Box. Enough.


Also read: Observing big changes, digging in to the best cuisine & humming Kishore on Assam poll trail


 

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158 COMMENTS

  1. Totally agree with Mr. Saravanan D’s comments. One Mr. Aakash says there are pork eating Muslims – which I’m hearing for the fist time in my life. Ms. Malhotra seems to have a real problem with Hindus eating beef in Kerala and BJP not doing anything about it! BJP better stay out of Kerala, this way their problem will be solved. And as far as I know, buffalo meat is what is widely eaten in Kerala and unfortunately it is categorized as beef. So let Kerala and Keralites live with their vices as long as religious fanaticism is not their sole purpose of life. All non beef eating states should learn a lesson or two about religious tolerance and communal harmony from Malayalees.

    • Ms Rajalakshmi: There are many Muslim who I know personally and who eat pork. Of course, they do not make a song and dance about it. But here in Europe, most people do not wear ineir religion on their sleeves and have a more relaxed attitude to religious restrictions and commands. Many Sikhs do not wear a turban; some upper caste Hindus eat beef; some Mulsim eat pork and drink alcohol; and so on.

      Beef is widely consumed in India by Hindus. Dalits, lower castes , tribals etc. consume beef as cows are abundant and beef is cheap. Restricting access to beef is a crime as many poor people lose an important source of nutrition. And in any case, almost all Hindus wear or use leather products and the demand for leather leads to cow slaughter. Indeed, the BJP iteslef promotes leather under its flagship Make in India scheme !

      The BJP would do well to stay in the BIMARU belt and leave Kerala to be the relatively peaceful and prosperous place it is. I also endorse your statement commending Mr Saravanan D for his wonderful post.

  2. An elderly Hindu relative of mine in Kerala could not afford heart surgery. He finally approached a Christian hospital which did the surgery almost free. And the surgery was done by a Muslim heart surgeon in the Christian hospital.

    That elderly relative of mine is a staunch Hindu. His daughters studied in Christian institutions at low cost. It is a well known fact that many Hindus study in Christian colleges in Kerala and there is no requirement to convert at all. In fact his daughters on their own volition go and pray in the Church to pray once in a while. They are staunch Hindus themselves.

    So request Sanghi politicians to keep their politics out of places where they are not really useful to anyone in their daily lives. I am aware most Sanghis claim to do social work but their impact is not sufficiently felt on the ground to be useful for the common man in most places. Maybe Sanghis should build more hospitals, schools and colleges to serve lower classes and low income groups, not just grand temples if they want to make a true difference to the vast majority of the lower classes in India.

  3. Heading itself is very insulting & annoying.India lost the ethical standards of journalism.
    Always trying to devide people at large.

  4. PROMOTING LEATHER – THE MAKE IN INDIA HYPOCRISY

    The BJP government is speaking with forked tongues when it comes to cow slaughter and beef consumption restrictions on the one hand and promotion of leather on the other hand.

    Thus, on the one hand, the Modi government promotes leather exports through the Make In India initiative where the leather industry is touted as one of the sectors in which India enjoys enormous comparative advantages. On the other hand cow slaughter is banned and you even get lynched for transporting cattle to the veterinarian.

    The Modi government brags to investors and solicits them with the following pitch:

    – The Leather industry in India is consistent in its high export earnings and is among the top 10 foreign exchange earners for India;
    – The Leather industry in India is an employment-focused industry, providing jobs to about 4.42 Mn people;
    – India is the 2nd largest producer of footwear, 2nd largest exporter of Leather Garments, the 5th largest exporter of Leather Goods and 3rd Largest Exporter of Saddlery and Harness items;
    – Domestic market is expected to reach USD 18 Bn by 2020;
    – India produces 3 bn sq. feet of leather on an annual basis

    Ref: bit.ly/3uob1xx

    My questions to the many bhakths and Hindutva intellectuals who want to ban beef consumption and the slaughter of cows.

    – Should India shut down the leather industry ? After all, principles are more important than paisa right? So why does the BJP promote the leather industry? Shut it down and hand over the industry to Pakistan.
    – How many bhakths eschew the use of leather? After all, even the PM uses leather products like shoes, belt, wallet etc. right ?
    – How many jobs are being destroyed in the leather industry due to these idiotic policies?

    See the glaring hypocrisy here ? Expect any foreign investors to come to India when they know that India has these absurd laws in place and BJP sponsored vigilantes run amok?

    As Napoléon Bonaparte said:

    “In politics, absurdity is not a handicap”

    • There are two aspects to the cow vigilantism and its creation of lawlessness. Leather industrialists are quietly moving business – to Bangladesh, even Bulgaria. Bangladesh has higher per capita income now than India ! And why not, they are working within their abilities and limitations, and are not posing as vishwa guru.

      The second problem was aged cows when let lose, destroyed crops, so farmers were mad. Then they sent cows out illegally to BD – corruption thrives, the police take bribes, and they have to sell the cows for lower prices, because it is a buyer’s market for BD, as the seller is desperate to off load just to save his crops. The BJP does not have the money to look after cows in shelters, when it cannot look after ordinary people.

      In any case, all this is hypocrisy as you know. Al Kabeer is a big beef exporter and the owner is Hindu. He can get round by paying off the BJP and VHP. It is the small butcher business that is in trouble. Religion is used as a cover for the concentration of business in the hands of the few.

      Yesterday, The Print reported that in Haryana, they have brought an arbitrary law of no meat sale on Tuesday. Sikhs and others are mad. Again the small meat shop owners are affected and they are complaining as large online people can supply on Tuesday. Hence, it is a ploy to favour the big business, and drive out the small ones from the competition. The large businesses will then pay off the BJP the protection money they ask.

      This style of crony and mafia capitalism backed by vigilante laws will put off FDI.

  5. Keralites are cunning one, they go to any extent for earn money. Beef eating hindus are there but I haven’t heard about pork-eating muslims so far. Political crimes are on top in India, may be due to communist cult. Muslims violate law and order but no administration bothers, appeasement politics is the reason. Youth don’t tend to work in kerla but are ready to do any petty job in out of state. Overall people are hypocrite, lazy and fraud.

    • Why don’t you BIMARU barbarians go and do what you ate good at – hunting for more Nirbhayas and Aruna Shaunbaghs to rape and ravage, murder more baby girls, lynch some more Dalits and Muslims and overpopulate by breeding like sewer rats…..let us in Kerala be…….And don’t worry we’ll continue to focus on development, healthcare etc so that we can keep contributing the much needed taxes to feed your sorry lazy underdeveloped arses…..

  6. SARAVANA BHAVAN AT SIACHEN GLACIER ?

    In 2015, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, extended the ban on the slaughter of cattle to the Armed Forces. This has meant that the 130 odd Military Farms operated by the Indian Armed Forces and the roughly 25,000 heads of cattle will now be let loose. Presumably, the vegetarianism drive of the BJP will make Indian soldiers tougher and unbeatable when confronting their decidedly meat eating Chinese and Pakistani counterparts.

    Saravana Bhavan, the south Indian chain that only serves vegetarian fare will probably open an outlet in the Siachen glacier and perhaps also at Golwan. Maybe piping hot idlis submerged in sambar and masala dosa with coconut chutney may just be what the military men need to win battles at high altitudes !

    As the American writer Patrick Rothfuss said:

    “Power is okay, and stupidity is usually harmless. Power and stupidity together are dangerous”

  7. It is interesting to see there reaction of two kinds, based on misinterpretation of the article.

    Firstly northerners are enraged because she highlights beef eating is normal to Hindus in Kerala. Certainly, Keralans are too civilised and will not lynch people over a cow. That is of course taken by northerners as saying ‘see there are civilised Hindus in other places, who happen to eat beef, and more importantly would not think of indulge in beastly cruelty to humans by lynching them over it.’ The message is meant to broaden the mind of the northerner, but he will tend to react with fury and incomprehension – he is backward, but backward people do not like to be told that.

    Some Keralans are also annoyed. Highlighting beef eating Hindus makes Keralans look abnormals (although the author’s intent was to portray that as a positive trait). Other Keralans want to make the point that there are Keralan Hindus who share Sanghi resentments against Muslims and Christians.

    Just as the author has been attacked by northerners and the Keralan Hindutva type, I have been denounced by both as a northern ‘liberandu’; by the first for not accepting the supremacy of cow belt and Gujarati Hindus to impose their culture on Kerala, and the second as a northerner who does not know how the Hindus in Kerala are suffering and living under terror due to Muslims and Christians.

    • Mr Akash: You make a neat typology of the reactions that have come in to your many incisive, and as is to be expected from you, thought-provoking comments here.

      Frankly, Sir, after nearly 7 years of Führer Modi’s carpet-bombing of the country with his vile, vicious and vacuous ideology called Hindutva, one should not be surprised that it has started to spread even in the educated Southern states of the country. Thus, there are pockets of Hindutva nonsense in certain areas of Kerala, just as there is nasty Islamism in some regions and equally bigoted evangelical Christianity as well.

      But in general, the average Malayali has nothing but a bemused contempt for brash, loud-mouthed North Indians and their cult like devotion to Führer Modi. He knows that purveyors and propagandists for “acche din” and their previous synonyms come and go in Delhi and he cannot trust them. He knows that he needs to go to the Gulf or outside India to make a living. He also knows that strong, relatively clean and human capital development focused economic policies have generally been provided by successive state governments in Kerala. The average Malayali knows that Adityanath’s thuggish Hindutva or then CM Modi’s pogrom centric development styles do not yield high levels of literacy, good medical care and high standards of living. It was indeed comical to watch that saffron thug Adityanath descend on Kerala and proffer advice on how to run the state !

      Despite all that, it is true that Hindutva ideology, sadly has made inroads into Kerala. Even otherwise respectable people like metroman E.Sreedharan seem to have sacrificed their principles and jumped into the Hindutva bandwagon. And it is truly sad that these Keralite Hindutva fellows behave like their semi-literate, uncouth, itchy-testicled North Indian gaurakshak brethren to indulge in some cheap name calling. I have scanned through the comments and none of them succeed in refuting your fact-based assertions Mr Akash.

      The comments of these Hindutvadis remind me of a quote from Socrates:

      “Life is full of questions. Idiots are full of answers”

      Do write often Mr Akash – always a pleasure to read a sane, sober comments that expose the absence of “achche din” in Modistan.

      • It is Gujaratis and northern Indians who spoilt India. One wit remarked India was partitoned due to three Gujaratis – Gandhi and his Ram Rajya, Patel who endorsed partition enthusiastically saying ‘if the limbs are diseased, cut them off’ and the equally obstinate Jinnah !

        The chief architect of modern India’s downwards slide was Advani. He comunalised Hindus and leigitimised mob politics in the 1990s. Worse people like Modi were to follow. And even worse is to come with Yogi.

        In the south, Bangalore and Karnataka were communalised by the influx of northern Indians and Sanghis. Before, Kannadigas were mild mannered sobre fellows – like Kumble and Dravid. They were proud of Tipu, they saw him as one of their own. Now they too have been communalised. They breed Yeddis and Tejaswi Suryas, all foaming at the out with an exaggerated Hindu pride and rage.

        Hence, it was a matter of time before they assaulted Kerala. The existence of a people who were not burning with resentment had to be changed. Sabarimala became an issue of Hindu pride – fortunately, no Muslims and Christians were involved, the rage was against the secular left which ‘did not give respect to Hindu sentiment’. Against Muslims, they look for some issue and lie about it – Harry keeps raising Moplah rebellion of the 1920s to you. The RSS rages against it although it is not in any Keralan’s mind, and they see it as an agrarian uprising against landlordism, just like the farmers agitation of the present is not a Sikh uprising. The Sanghis are also trying to pit Christians against Muslims in Kerala. But Christians know the attack against Keralan Christians on the train recently.

        All this is backed by money power. The Kerala BJP’s Surendran now flies by helicopter. With money, people can be bought.

        Despite all this, the Keralans have the education and intellect to resist becoming dumb bhakts. A Keralan told me that even the BJP’s Rajgopalan mentioned that the BJP has problems in Kerala because the people are too literate !

    • Don’t lynch people for cow ,but chop a guy 51 times because he didn’t agree with your politics or cut off another s wrist because you feel he offended your prophet or slaughter a teacher in front of his 7th std students.
      All very civilized acts in god’s own country.

  8. Beef eating Hindus, pork eating Muslims, beef, pork and chicken eating Christians, malayalam speaking jharkhand employee – what a sensational heading . The author should have realised before giving a sensational caption that Kerala, the God’s own country , is very different from the rest of states of India. Kerala culture is very unique and the Keralities do not allow the dung and pee to get into their craniums. Keralities live happily with peace and perfect harmony without showing religious intolerance against one another. This is the very reason why Keralities celebrate the harvest festival called”ONAM” by one and all irrespective of one’s cast and creed.

    So it is better for author to stop writing such sensational article about Kerala for some monetary benefits without knowing the culture and the unity in diversity attitude of Keralities…..

    • Mr Vishnu Chari: You hit the nail on the head when you say:

      “.. Kerala culture is very unique .. Keralities do not allow .. dung and pee to get into their craniums ..”

      Alas, dung and pee culture has now inflitrated the highest ranks of government and most of the black hole called BIMARU. Hopefully, Keralites will vote to keep these false prophets away from God’s own Country. And perhaps give metroman E.Sreedharan his marching orders and pack him off to some BIMARU paradise !

  9. We can see lot of comments on beef or about religions based priorities. Yes, it is a fact that many are acting as protectors of Cows and at the same time they conveniently ignore the fact that India is the second biggest exporter of beef. Someone may say that it is the meet of buffalo. Why supporters of Cows not bothered about banning export of beef from India and why Indians prefer to migrate to beef eaters countries like Europe, Australia, USA, Canda, Middle East etc? Can’t you make India a Vegetarian country? Please do something better to save all the animals and birds. Stop killing fish also.

  10. We can see lot of comments on beef or about religions based priorities. Yes, it is a fact that many are acting as protectors of Cows and at the same time they conveniently ignore the fact that India is the second biggest exporter of beef. Someone may say that it is the meet of buffalo. Why supporters of Cows not bothered about banning export of beef from India and why Indians prefer to migrate to beef eaters countries like Europe, Australia, USA, Canda, Middle East etc? Can’t you make India a Vegetarian country? Please do something better to save all the animals and birds. Stop killing fish also.

  11. Visit of St Thomas is a myth ……..You like it or dont like it Hinduism is a part and parcel of India Christianity Islam are from foreign country whatever you do cant make them Indian…………

    • It might be myth, not sure… But Hinduism is full of myth and very less truth and this religion came to Kerala around 10 th century after bufhism and Jainism

      • How could it be if Buddhism and Jainism are the byproducts of Hinduism? Making comments for the sake of replying is rubbish.

    • You bray:

      “.. Christianity Islam are from foreign country whatever you do cant make them Indian ..”

      Is there a checklist of sorts that identifies the features of Indians as opposed to non-Indians? For instance, will this checklist of yours flag the North Sentinalese of the Andaman Island Archipelago as being Indians? What about people from Sikkim ? Nagaland? Tribals ?

      I think the world would be grateful to you if you can publish this checklist that helps identify Indians fron non-Indians !!!

  12. I am always agree with walteyer famous proverb ,Main aap ki bato se sahmat hun ki nahi ,lekin vichar pragat karane ki aap ke adhikaro ki rachha karunga ,
    But do not show your arrogance against hindusm ,cow is verry sensible and useful for huminity ,lots of Hindus beliefs that’s cow is mother ( GAU MATA),and more than 99% indian are never use beef .

    It’s a hateful article n never support such foolish writers .

    • Mr Rupesh: Do you wear or use leather products? Doesn’t your demand for leather not result in the slaughter of cattle? CAre to inform me as to why the Gau Mata revering BJP government backs the leather industry through its Make in India initiative? Want to hand over to Pakistan, Bangladesh and China an industry that employs more than 4 million people and is one of the top foreign exchange earners for India?

      If you really believe in this gau mata stuff, demonstrate and ask Modi to shut down the leather industry. But please do not go about lynching people who wear leather – I know it runs against your gaurakshak instincts and the Hindutva philosophy you adhere to. But don’t lynch !

      You can see the website of the leather sector here: bit.ly/3uob1xx

  13. I’m a Keralite myself and I don’t know why there’s this much hate the towards this article. But I personally could acknowledge the scenario from the journalist’s perspective.
    I mean the fact they used the title to draw much more attention, is an obvious move, there’s nothing to be surprised. That’s how it has been with news agencies and it’s not much easy for them either.
    And she would be surprised at the very sight of Hindus consuming beef, just as much as we’re surprised at those questions from other north Indians (I personally hate to divide us on the basis of regions) relating to the consumption of beef by Hindus. It’s just a cultural shock and nothing more. It’s not like she condemned their actions, but it was just outta curiosity, to which the lady(Omana Amma) replied with a smile. There’s no reason to be butthurt about that. We should just learn to accept people for what they are regardless of the region or anything and we could try to respect her point of view as she was brought up in a culture which could be quite surprising for us. And since when is it acceptable to be hateful towards someone who’s just being curious?
    It never is.

  14. All said and done, Keralans have something that makes them stand out in a positive sense from the rest of India. They demonstrated that during the flood relief in Kerala. Christian fisherman rescued many people with their boats. Muslims open their mosques and gave people shelter. Likewise many Hindu officials in the administration distinguished themselves in service of the citizens. Keralans received accolades in the international media. Contrast the difference between Kerala and the north in the handling of Covid. After the outbreak of Covid, northern Indians jumped on it and saw it as an opportunity to bash Muslims. In Kerala, the health minister Shailaja Teacher foresaw the danger and put into operation a scheme in Jan 2020 for tracking students returning from China. Kerala was therefore praised in the international media.

    Whereas India is getting a bad press internationally, Kerala receives a positive image, so they must be doing something right. This infuriates the Sanghis and they are working overtime to create communal disturbances in Kerala.

    Recently the BJP has appointed metro man Sreedharan to contest for the BJP. Sreedharan showed all the familiar bhakti for Modi – and anger against Modi’s critics. He walked out of an interview when a TV interviewer questioned whether he was comfortable working with Modi’s polarisation. He raged that the media was vilifying Modi continuously and unfairly . He wanted positive news.

    Recently, a Keralan sent me a video of a BJP candidate approaching a Christian Father asking him to support him, saying the Christians are being disadvantaged like Hindus, by Muslims. Some of it was in English, so I could understand. The BJP candidate fabricated a story that Muslim imams were getting salaries from taxes paid by Christians and Hindus. The Quint and The Hindu newspaper explained that this was a lie. Imams in Kerala (like all other associations including toddy workers) who contribute to a pension fund get a pension as per their contributions. The Christian father listened politely but did not reply to the BJP man – the Father’s contemptuous silence showed he did not believe it ! Christian leaders were not taken by the BJP’s effort to use Christians to bash Muslims. The same BJP fellows had raised complaints against Christians for dominating the fishing industry.

    For the BJP, it is not beef, it is about Hindus being antagonistic to Muslims and Christians. That brings power. And power is money. The country is secondary.

  15. Holy Crap! Another wannabe ‘journo/blogger’ trying to instill malyalism to malayalees. When are you going to accept reality for what it is and not try to force fit us into a forced narrative as the powers that be would like to portray us! Read my lips – We are mallus, we are educated, we love our culture (the mundu, up or down, being part of our cultural identity), we love all our people and really have no time to waste on pedantic and bhakt inspired unravelling of the Keralite. We have no beef with you or your ilk – let us be!

    • Je suis d’accord !

      Bhakths and itchy-testicled North Indian gaurakshaks should get out of Kerala and take metroman E.Sreedharan along with them to their BIMARU black holes !

  16. As some one said earlier, Ms.Journalist, has not done enough research in the subject.
    95% of beef we eat are Buffalo meat. Cow meat consumption is few only.
    In between Christian churches in Kerala is mentioned as Latin Catholic and Roman Catholic. Ms.Journalist, for your information there is only one church in Kerala, which is coming under direct authority of Vatican. That is Latin Catholic Church.

    • This leftist communist Jyoti Malhotra should be taken to court for hurting Hindu sentiments as beef eating , was she blind not to see pork eating Muslims in Kerala. This communist was feeling at home to charge and disgrace Hindus in Kerala and disturb peace in Kerala.

      • ‘Jyoti Malhotra should be taken to court for hurting Hindu sentiments as beef eating , was she blind not to see pork eating Muslims in Kerala.’

        That comes across as a burning inferiority complex with respect to Muslims.

        There is plenty of evidence that Hindus in Kerala eat beef. There is scant evidence Muslims eat pork. You made that up for compensation as you somehow see Kerala Hindus are disgracing Hinduism (as defined by the north). You think Hinduism should be certified by the north. Kerala Hindus represent a loss of face for your claims about Hinduism and the cow, so you react thus.

        The real issue is Hindus (in the north, not Kerala) kill human beings over the cow. That is abnormal. No species kills it own over eating another species. That is how the outside world sees it – not just the west, but people in Kerala and other parts of India.

        I don’t know why you bring Muslims and pork. No Muslim in India is killing anyone for eating pork. He avoids it.

    • Mr Maneesh: There are many egregious errors in your pathetic post.

      There are 2 kinds of meat: buff and beef. The former is buffalo meat and the latter is meat derived from the cow. Both are eaten all over India, including in Kerala. Indeed, the BJP, realising that many Hindus actually eat beef and ever willing to discard ideology for votes, allows the consumption of beef in 8 states: Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim and Lakshadweep.

      As regards Churches. There are many denominations of Catholicism in Kerala and not all of them come under the authority of the Vatican despite Portuguese attempts to Latinise Christianity in Kerala and extend Papal power to Kerala. TThe arrival of the British saw the introduction of the Anglican Church in Kerala and this church opposes the Pope. More recent evangelisation has resulted in the introduction of Protestantism in Kerala.

      Things are a lot more complicated and nuanced at the grassroots than your simplistic worldview Mr Maneesh.

  17. Not all Hindus eat beef in Kerala nor do all Muslims eat pork.

    Two, the story of St Thomas in Kerala is one of pious belief, not history. It’s a sixteenth century myth based on a Portuguese misunderstanding of the so-called Gospel of St Thomas which the church always dismissed as spurious. That text anyway claimed that St Thomas traveled to what is now Baluchistan, not Kerala!

    What we have evidence for is that a Thomas, a merchant from Syria, moved to Kerala in the 4th century. He was a monophysite Syrian Orthodox who moved to avoid persecution by the Greek church. But to say that Christianity came to Kerala before it went to Europe reveals an ignorance of church history. The Epistles in the New Testament Bible were written in Greece and Rome. No Christian scripture was authored in Kerala. The Christian scripture was originally penned in Greek, not Malayalam!

    • Mar Thoma did come to Kerala to the Jews of Kerala. You can see accounts of Knanaya Thoman asking local Christians of their tradition and them explaining to him that they are of the 500 families that Mar Thoma converted to a form of Messianic Judaism aka Christianity. The Jewish aspect was preserved until 1600s when the Synod of Daimper banned practicing of Judaism by Christians (of Jewish descent).

    • There has been mention of St Thomas trvel to India in ancient accounts like the Hymns of St Ephrem in the 4th Century.
      There is no clinching proof of St Thomas coming to India , but we accept it based on faith of the traditions of our forefathers. If Hindus can accept their Gods, Saints and Epics without proof then so can we.

      • George,

        The Hymns of St Ephrem the Syrian mention the Iranian coast, not the lagoons and backwaters of Kerala! I said the visit of St Thomas was pious belief, not history. You are right in that it’s like the Puranas.

        And Nathanial’s point of St Thomas alleged outreach to the Jews of Kerala is also myth. The first mention of the Jewish presence in Kerala was in the 12th century.

    • Ms Arundhati: Many Dalit Hindus all over India eat beef as do tribals, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Parsis etc. Also, there are no restrictions against the consumption of beef for Sikhs.

      What people eat depends on their religion, region, caste and even class. Modi’s one size fits all approach will not work. About time Hindutva intellectuals like you get that into your skull.

  18. I am not happy going through is article this is so judgemental and a company which is so established should go through what they publish.

    Why don’t you change the caption to cows milk drinking hindu? And write another story? Where the cow has to go through insemination then give birth and being mechanically milked until blood comes from this mammary glands. And later at its old age its send to streets at the mercy of plastic bags as slow killer of cows.
    Writer of this article please do an article of the same if you think you are a true HINDU and explain what is Hinduism as well as its origin and term hindu. I challenge you for the same

    • It made great sense what ever you just said, but I do have this feeling that this article is not just portraying Kerala is a beef eating state, but some cliché’s and typicality of some! This is more of a lighter note article than a case study

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