IF SLAUGHTERHOUSES HAD GLASS WALLS...
Pic.: Azriel D'Souza
“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian.”
Because
I was born and brought up in a typical coastal region and in a typical Christians
household, right since I was a baby, I got accustomed to certain non-vegetarian
food habits… mutton, chicken, pork, beef, fish – and, shall I say, “anything
that crawled except two-legged human species”? Yes, I grew up eating whatever people around
me ate – and, many times, what they could afford. Just like dogs and cats
around us loved to eat mutton, chicken and fish, some humans like us, too, loved
to eat the same. A few of my friends and neigbours, particularly brahmins, ate
only vegetarian food. All others, including non-brahmin Hindus and GSB’s, ate
non-vegetarian food. Yes, they did not touch pork and beef… but, their lifestyle
did include the rest of non-vegetarian
food.
Every house had dogs and cats. The sophisticated pets
came much later when good amount of money came home. For most of us, dogs were
a bare necessity… They guarded us from thieves and intruders. Both dogs and cats
kept breeding more and more puppies and kittens, and they were all welcome…
Some lived, some died… some strayed away… and, some were taken away by some of
our neigbours to raise at their homes… These dogs and cats ate our leftover
food. We had tough time bringing ration home… Leave alone bringing special food for our dogs
and cats!
But, our dogs and cats never complained… They were so
happy with us, and we were so happy with them… that we all made a great
household!
Frankly, in those days, we never heard of any ‘animal
activists’… the dog-lovers and cat-lovers. We never heard of NGOs against
cruelty on dogs and cats. All of them came much later, and they came only in
these big cities…
To
me, all animals are innocent and adorable. When I so passionately stand for a
dog and a cat, I should, also, stand, with equal passion, for a goat, sheep,
cow, buffalo, fish or a bird (chicken) I throw my blind eyes to…
I get angry when I see a dog or a cat beaten to death. But,
where is my heart, my conscience, when they slay – so brutally, so brutally, so
brutally – all the animals and birds that I eat as my daily food?
Is my compassion for animals only selective, as per my convenience?
Why don’t I first stop eating animals, birds and fish and
then advocate the cause of cruelty against dogs and cats?
The thought is too disturbing for me… And, I mean it.
“Meat may taste good,” said Evan
Baldonado, “but the guilt of eating it tastes far worse.”
GERALD DICUNHA
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