History of Indian Cuisines

Did you know that Indians used to eat alligators (the references probably meant crocodiles) but not potatoes and tomatoes? How did so many of Indians turned vegetarians? Why was beef prohibited? 

Hunters and Gatherers

Cave painting, Bhimbetka

India has a diverse culture, and not surprising, the food habit varies with it’s geography. Having a long history of assimilation of different cultures, Indian cuisines have also evolved over the years. Before the agricultural revolution people all around the world were hunters and gatherers. Hunting for meat was a common practice among Indian hunters and gatherers too, as evident from the pre-historic rock painting. Archaeological studies have shown that hunters and gatherers died more healthy than the bodies unearthed of the agricultural people. This is because the farmers diet was restricted to the grains they cultivated. Hunter and gatherers had a balanced diet from the meats, fishes, and the different fruits, nuts and vegetables they gathered. The native fruits of India includes mango,banana, orange, tamarind, jackfruits and Indian blackberry (also called jamun, from which Jambudeepa probably originated). Some Indian tribes, like those living in the islands of Andaman, have remained largely unchanged since the great coastal migration. They live in the forest and depend on hunting, fishing, and gathering. The tribals still use primitive bows, arrows, and spears to hunt. They love pig meat but hate to eat birds or deer. Honey is their favourite dessert. They hardly wear any clothes but are fascinated about their ornaments. The tribes of Andaman are yet to invent pottery and use hollowed wood as containers.

Farmers

As the earth got warmer, some of the hunters and gatherers turned to a quasi-sedentary agricultural lifestyle. Our ancestors tamed the wild and laid the foundation of our modern civilisation. This phase is known as the Neolithic revolution. The transition was not a sudden revolution that happened around 10,000 years ago. It was a gradual change occurring over thousands of years. Earliest evidence of agriculture comes from Ohalo II site in Middle East dating back to 23,000 years ago. Full-scale agriculture started much later, independently at different places around the world. Agriculture did not result in an immediate population growth as its benefits were offset by deaths due to malnutrition, disease and warfare. Evidence of early transition has been reported from north-central India. State Archaeological Department excavated a mound in Lahuradeva, Uttar Pradesh, in 2006. The mound was believed to belong to local goddess Samai Mai, who helped them with good harvest. The villagers were not far off. Excavation unearthed one of the earliest evidence of agriculture that started 9,000 years ago. Rice cultivation still dominates this part of India. Evidence of early agriculture has also been found from Mehrgarh where it started independently. The early tillers practiced shifting-agriculture. It is still practiced by some tribes of Northeastern India, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh. The local vegetables includes karela, cabbage, egg plant, okra, pigeon pea, cooking banana, onion, etc. Along with agriculture, they started domesticating livestock. The first evidence of domestication is found from the Middle East dated as 11,000 years old. It probably started in India during similar times. At that time India’s population was estimated to be around 100,000 people. Sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs were common animals that were domesticated. The quasi-sedentary lifestyle gave people ample time for art and craft. Art and craft led to trading, and the money from trading helped in the growth of Harappan Civilisation.

Early City Dwellers

Harappan Canal used for Irrigation

The roots of the civilisation was planted 8000-9000 years ago. The big cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro emerged around 4600 years ago. Burials of Harappan site contains personal jewelleries made of beads and shells and pottery containing food for afterlife. The food found in the burial sites gave indications of what these people ate. Wheat and barley were staple diet and different types of bread were made from wheat. At least four varieties of wheat have been found from Harappan sites. Pulses like chickpea, masur, mung and horse gram were also important as foods. Recent studies (1, 2) indicate that rice cultivation began during Harappan Civilisation far earlier than previously thought. They used ‘multi-cropping strategies across both seasons, growing foods during summer (rice, millets and beans) and winter (wheat, barley and pulses), which required different watering regimes’. The grains were stored in large granaries. From the huge quantities of bone one can estimate that beef, buffalo, mutton, turtles, tortoises, gharials and fishes were common in their diet. The people of Harappan Civilisation might have been the first ones to enjoy the delicious kebabs and tandoori dishes as evident from the tandoor ovens in their homes.

According to a paper published by Dr. Anindya Sarkar in Nature in 2016, the Harappan civilisation continued to flourish even after the decline of monsoons around 7,000 years ago. The crop patterns shifted from large grained cereals like wheat and barley to drought-resistant small millets and rice. The later crops has lower yield and thus in the later stages of Harappan Civilisation the large central storages were replaced by individual household based crop processing and storage system. According to Dr. Sarkar, this might have resulted in gradual de-urbanization rather than a collapse. As the cities started to get decentralized, the western sites were abandoned, and the population started to move towards east. The people of Indus had to interact with those living in Ganges plain, incorporating their culture, pottery, and language. After a bold experiment with urbane lifestyle they turned back to more stable agriculture. They diffused with the rest of India, but their journey continued.

Vedic Era

According to the latest genetic study there has been an influx of people from Pontic Steppe after the decline of Harappan cities. The new guest mixed with the locals and started a new Vedic culture that was agricultural, pastoral and philosophical. Vedas are ancient Indian scriptures that were probably conceived 3000-3500 years ago. Salt was rare and expensive. Spices were also limited to mustard, sour citrus, turmeric and long pepper. Along with the regular rice, wheat, vegetables and dairy products mentioned earlier, meat was a common food. Rice was mostly boiled, while sometimes they were fried as well. Ghee and vegetable oils were used to fry the food. Vegetable oils were made of sesame, mustard, safflower etc. Animal fats from fish, pig, alligator, bear and ass were also used. The texts mention more than 250 animals, of which 50 were fit for sacrifice. Meats of various animals like cattle, sheep, swine, deer, fowl and tortoise were sold in the market. Birds and fishes were also common. Epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata depicts the life of Kshatriyas who consumed rice with meat. Sita’s favourite dish was rice with deer meat, vegetables and spices. During Dasharatha’s yajna to beget sons many dishes of meat, like mutton, pork, peacock, and chicken, were served. The Pandavas ate meat and rice while in Kaniyaka forest.  Charaka, a principal contributors to Ayurveda of 3rd century BCE, considered meat as nourishing. He recommended deer, goat, hare, rohita fish, tortoise, parrot, quail, partridge, peacock and even alligator. Sushrutha, Indian Physician of 7th century BCE describes beef as pavitra (pure). Even Maharishi Yagyavilkya is said to have enjoyed tender beef. However, like with most things about India, there is no one law that fits all.  Some sections of Vedas specifically opposed killing and consumption of cows as they give birth to new life. Even killing of all forms of life have sometimes been discouraged as all forms of life has soul.

Buddhist Era

Sanchi Stupa by Ashoka

Jains and Buddhists have left a strong influence on Indian food habit, especially in North India. While rice, wheat, pulses and dairy products were still a staple food there was more variety in the spices like ginger, cumin, cloves, a sour myrobalan, and vinegar. Some of the spices, like black pepper, arrived from South East Asia. The Greek influence that started during Alexander’s time, also left its influence on Indian food, and vice versa. That is a reason why there is a lot of similarity between the two cuisines. Olive, lemon, zucchini spices, garlic and other herbs such as oregano, basil, mint, fennel and thyme common in our food are some of the influence left over by them. Coming of Sakas and Kushans from Iran also had it’s impact. Most of these new rulers turned to Buddhism. Buddhist principal of non-violence has led to decrease in meat consumption in India. Buddha opposed ritual sacrifices, but was not against occasional meat eating if the animal was unintentionally killed. Vegetarianism became common in Ashoka’s time (3rd century BCE), as he made Buddhism his state religion. Ashoka wrote in his edicts that no living being must be slaughtered for sacrifice or festivals. Cooking of meat that was common in the royal kitchens was also almost stopped during his rule. While most of Indians still consumed meat and fish, the Buddhists and Brahmins became strict non-vegetarian. Sacrifice of cows and eating beef became prohibited during Gupta Period (4th-6th century). Later, during Shankaracharya and Ramanuja’s (8th century) time animal sacrifices were replaced with sacrifice of vegetables and animals made of flour. According to 11th century Iranian scholar Al-Biruni, cow was an animal that was used for travelling, carrying loads, in agriculture, for milk and dairy products, and even the dung was used as fuel and manure. he thought that economic reason led to prohibition of cow meat consumption. Because of its usefulness, cow was also considered holy.

Islamic Era

Islamic conquests left a drastic influence on Indian cuisine. Eating pork became less common as it was prohibited in Koran, and thus discouraged by the Muslim kings. Non-vegetarian diet got restricted mostly to mutton, chicken and fish, while Kshatriyas still hunted wild animals like deer. The Arab traders brought coffee, hing (asafoetida) and pista to India. Timurid Dynasty enriched our food with relishes like meats with cream and butter sauces, dates, nuts, and sweets. The Slave dynasty was followed by the Mughal rule. Almonds, biriyanis and pullao, samosas, baked breads, cream, rose water and kababs was added to India’s already diverse menu list.

New World Influence

The cuisine of India and the world changed after Columbus set foot in South America and Vasco da Gama reaching India six years later. Before then Mayan  and Inca Civilisations were like in a different planet. Their language, culture and food habit was different from the rest of the world. A lot of things that are very common in Indian kitchen today were missing from the kitchens few centuries ago. It is difficult to believe that papaya (Central America) guava (Peru) chilli (from Chile), potato (Bolivia Peru), tomato (Mexico, Peru) and maze (Mexico) were amongst the things that were missing. They all came to India from Latin America because of the slave trade. Our cuisine was enriched through the blood and sweat of the slaves working for the profit of European companies. Even paneer might have been a later Portuguise-Bengali invention. While some historians have provided evidence of Paneer in ancient text, others have considered the evidence as not sufficient. According to some historians, acidulation of milk was a taboo among Hindus, and only later in Bengal was it introduced by the Portuguese.

Variety is the Spice of Life

India is a melting pot of different cultures. Earliest migrations happened ~60,000 years ago from Africa. New set of hunters and gatherers arrived 12,000 years ago from Iran. Later, pastoral people from Pontic Steppe came. Alexander was the first western king to have crossed the Indus. After the decline of Mauryan Empire, the Indo-Greeks invaded the western part of India. The Indo-Greek rule was followed by a series of invasions by the Indo-Scythians, Indo-Kushans, Huns, Turks, Afghans, Mughuls and finally the Europeans. They all left their mark on Indian cuisine. When we enjoy the samosa, we must not forget that the concept of samosa was brought to India by the Mughuls, and the potatoes (along with chilies and tomatoes) stuffed inside it by the Europeans from Peru, and some of the spices that make it so yummy came from Southeast Asia.  Variety is the spice of life, and we would have missed the spice without all the intermixing. The vibrant colorful India is a legacy of that diversity. We can either choose to remember the bitter fractions of our past and fight or celebrate the uniqueness of our non-uniqueness. Our great diversity gives us this magnificent opportunity to show the world how to live together in peace and harmony. 

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Written by Subhrashis Adhikari

Author of 5 Questions of the Inquisitive Apes

"Engaging and entertaining, this page-turner is remarkable in its narration and will give you a new perspective on various aspects of life. Wellresearched and heartfelt, the encouraging tone throughout the book tries to motivate towards a happier life." - Times of India

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Rakhigarhi Woman and the Peopling of India

The genetic study done on Rakhgarhi fossil is finally out. The link for the two new papers are given below:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6457/eaat7487.full

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30967-5

To summarise....here is the latest story on peopling of India (considering that the major chunk of this interpretation comes from a single lady in a possible multicultural city)... lets try to fit this puzzle piece by piece...

Puzzle 1 BEFORE THE ERUPTION:

There may have been pre-Toba migration into India, but that has not left behing any significant genetic imprint.

Professor Korisettar would think otherwise. Similar stone tools have been unearthed by him below and above the Toba ash from few places in southern India like Jwalapuram. Middle Palaeolithic tools of 77,000 years old were excavated from below the Toba ash and of 35,000 years old above it. Without fossils there is no way to say they are Homo sapiens. Even if there was an older migration of Homo sapiens from Africa, and even if a lucky few survived the Toba eruption, they did not survive for long as our deadly ancestors were on their way.

Puzzle 2 AFTER THE ERUPTION:

Soon after the Toba catastrophe, the first notable flush of migration took place from Africa. It was called the Great Coastal Migration. This group of people started from East Africa and probably crossed the Bab el-Mandeb, a narrow strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. Then they rapidly migrated along the coast of Indian Ocean to reach south-eastern Asia. This process of migration is not a single journey, but a collection of short expansion from one place to another over generations that took thousands of years.

One of the reasons they stayed close to the coast is the harsh cold climate inland during the ice age. Whenever the climate warmed up these people moved inland following the rivers like Indus. This more sophisticated group of Homo sapiens replaced the ‘original Indians’. Some of the more adventurous migrants took the sub-Himalayan route, while rest kept following the coast. Few of the decedents of this new group of ‘Indians’ (will call them ‘early Indians’, distinct from the ‘original Indians’) then moved towards Southeast Asia and Australia.

Study of genetic data from Indian population reveals that modern Indians share 70 to 90 percent of their mtDNA halogroup with the ‘early Indians’. mtDNA comes from mitochondria, which we get from our mother, and hence it traces the path of the female lineage as males do not transfer the DNA of their mitochondria to their kin (apart from very rare cases). Similarly, the Y-chromosome is transferred from father to son, and traces the male lineage. Interestingly, only 10 to 40 percent of Y-chromosome halogroup comes from the ‘early Indians’. The tribes of Andaman are closest living people belonging to this group. The contribution of the later migrations to our gene pool is mostly from the males.

 Puzzle 3 BEFORE HARAPPA

The last Glacial Age lasted from 29,000 years ago to around 14,000 years ago. The dry coldness of the ice age that had forced humanity into the caves for thousands of years was melting. Out of the caves, into the land, human beings warmed up to new challenges. the earth got warmer, some of the hunters and gatherers turned to a quasi-sedentary agricultural lifestyle. Our ancestors tamed the wild and laid the foundation of our modern civilisation. This phase is known as the Neolithic revolution.

According to the new studies there was a 'second' (there must have been many such phases over such long time that might not have recognisable genetic imprint at the moment) phase of migration in Western India of Iranian hunters and gatherers around 12000 years ago. This is before agriculture was invented in the fertile crescent. They mixed with the locals, probably invented agriculture independently, and then went on the built the Harappan civilisation.

Evidence of early transition to agriculture has been reported from north-central India. State Archaeological Department excavated a mound in Lahuradeva, Uttar Pradesh, in 2006. The mound was believed to belong to local goddess Samai Mai, who helped them with good harvest. The villagers were not far off. Excavation unearthed one of the earliest evidence of agriculture that started 9,000 years ago. Rice cultivation still dominates this part of India. Evidence of early agriculture has also been found from Mehrgarh where it started independently. The early tillers practiced shifting-agriculture. It is still practiced by some tribes of Northeastern India, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh.

After the decline of Harappan Civilisation these group moved east and south and mixed with the indigenous people and forming the Ancestral South Indian group, or ASI...

Puzzle 4 AFTER HARAPPA

No civilisation can grow forever. Every civilisation has its weak points. Harappan Civilisation had many, especially the over dependence on monsoon and trading. The seed of the civilisation that was planted 9000 years ago in places like Mehrgarh, Bhirrana and Rakhigarhi have finally reached a saturation point. With the predictable monsoons becoming unpredictable, and the fall of key trading partner Mesopotamia, the weak points were giving away due to the burden of rapid urbanisation and growing population. The experiment with civilisation cannot be considered a failure as it survived for thousands of years. The Early Harappan civilisation lasted from 7500 to 4600 years before present. The peak of the civilisation was between 4600 to 3900 years ago. The record of the Mature Harappan phase can be found in the fortified cities of Kalibangan, Banawali and Rahman Dheri. The late Harappan phase lasted from 3900 to 3300 years before present. The rivers were drying up and the main trade partner Mesopotamia went into decline post Sargonic conquests. The demand for beads and shells collapsed rapidly. In Chanhu-Daro (Sindh, Pakistan), a Late Harappan site, hundreds of abandoned semi-finished long-barrel carnelian beads were unearthed. These once precious items, that were the primary drive for the local economy, have suddenly lost their worth. In Mohenjo-Daro a skeleton has been found in a street, called as Deadman Lane by archaeologists. There are many sites that have been completely abandoned. These are signs of stress in the late Harappan society indicating collapse of civil order.

According to a paper published by Dr. Anindya Sarkar in Nature in 2016, the Harappan civilisation continued to flourish even after the decline of monsoons around 7,000 years ago. The crop patterns shifted from large grained cereals like wheat and barley to drought-resistant small millets and rice. The later crops has lower yield and thus in the later stages of Harappan Civilisation the large central storages were replaced by individual household based crop processing and storage system. According to Dr. Sarkar, this might have resulted in gradual de-urbanization rather than a collapse. As the cities started to get decentralized, the western sites were abandoned, and the population started to move towards east. The people of Indus had to interact with those living in Ganges plain, incorporating their culture, pottery, and language. After a bold experiment with urbane lifestyle they turned back to more stable agriculture. They diffused with the rest of India, but their journey continued.

4000-year-old Harappan Civilisation woman did not have a particular DNA called R1a1. What is so special about this gene? This gene is common in ANI population, who received it from the pastoralists of the Central Asian Pontic steppe region, the grasslands located between the Black Sea and the Caspian. ANI is dominant in the modern North Indians. This would mean that there was another phase of migration from Iran into India after the decline of Harappan Civilisation.

Puzzle 5 MUNDA MYSTERY

This piece is related to the Austro-Asiatic group. The people speaking Austro-Asiatic language are found in both India and South-East Asia. What is the connection between the Indians and South-East Asians? Around 117 million speak Austro-Asiatic tongue. In India they live in Andaman-Nicobar, Chota-Nagpur (Munda) and North East India. This language is distinctly different from the more commonly spoken Indo-Aryan or Dravidian language. Austro-Asiatic group is genetically identified from the Y-chromosome lineage (for example O2a1-M95 if you are really interested) found on both sides of the Bay of Bengal. There are two way of explaining this distribution. Either the group originated in India and then spread towards South-East Asia and Australia. Or, alternatively, the group originated in South-East Asia around 20-40,000 years ago, within the population of people who went there during the Great Coastal migration. There was a later backflow of this group into India around 10,000 years ago, just after the Last Glacial Maximum. Some studies suggest a later migration around 4,000 years ago. Whichever story one likes to believe in, it is certain that there is an intimate relationship between the Indians and South-East Asians, a connection that will last well into the modern era.

Puzzle 6 MODERN INDIANS

Modern Indian population is a mixture of ANI and ASI, though ANI is still dominant in North and ASI in South. We are made of all those migration events, and can hardly claim to be pure race....like no one else in the world. The free mixing, however, did not last long. Caste system became rigid around 2100 years ago and people stopped mixing freely....This corresponds to the time of Saka invasion, later followed by Kushans...

There have been migration into India of different groups of people from the West, and also from the East. Whether Aryan language was brought into India, or spread from India can be debated, but not the diversity in our genetic pool. I am sure there must have been mixing of different cultures that resulted in rise of ancient India and its achievements. India assimilated the knowledge of the migrants at different phases and in turn contributed to the global knowledge. We can see the exchange of ideas in the similarity between Indian and Iranian mythologies. Indian Asura was Ahura for the Iranians. The enemy of Vedic people was the god of the Zoroastrians of Iran. Interestingly, Daevas, which sounds like Devas, are the enemies of Zoroastrians. Daevas originally meant the shining ones. Later, Daevas became younger gods or wrong gods. The English word devil has its root in the word Daevas. The cultural exchanges and migrations have made the sub-continent a melting pot of different genetic pools leading to the colourful diversity of India, something we must proudly celebrate.

Written by Subhrashis Adhikari
Author of 5 Questions of the Inquisitive Apes

"Engaging and entertaining, this page-turner is remarkable in its narration and will give you a new perspective on various aspects of life. Wellresearched and heartfelt, the encouraging tone throughout the book tries to motivate towards a happier life." - Times of India

Read More

EAT YOUR MEAT: NO REGRET

We are born naked, wet and crying… and then things start getting worse. But, no one said that life is fair. On second thoughts, life has a weird sense of humour. It is equally unfair to everybody. Which kind of makes it fair. So, when a lion hunts and kills to stay alive, it is kind of fair if not lovely. What is however unfair is to call a lion aggressive because it ate a scared dear. Lions are aggressive not because of what they eat, but because of evolution. The genes that care for the life of a deer went extinct out of hunger. But the amazing thing is that, they are actually very peaceful, much more than some of the herbivores.

If you think elephants are peaceful, you have never seen a wild elephant in a jungle, or an angry rhino. Can you guess how many Indians were killed by tiger in the last 5 years? Around 200. How many did elephants kill? 1713! Do you know which animal is the most lethal killer? Hippo kills more than lions, leopards and crocodiles every year in Africa. It is a myth that eating meat makes you more aggressive.

One might argue that humans are different from animals. To prove that, different experiments have been done globally. They proved that the likelihood of consuming meat resulting in aggressive behaviour is same as the chance of getting raped because you are wearing a mini-skirt. There are people who think both of them are true…. however, truth is that there is no correlation. What some of the researches did find however is that short temper is associated with deficiencies of omega 3 fatty acids, magnesium, zinc and Vitamin B12. Some of these deficiencies are actually linked to vegan diet.

I have no intention to turn everyone into a meat eater. There is nothing wrong in becoming a vegetarian as long as you take care of your deficiencies. Agricultural revolution is the root cause of our food deficiencies, and the related disease. Archaeological studies have shown that hunters and gatherers died more healthy than the bodies unearthed of the agricultural people. This is because the farmers diet was restricted to the crops they grew. Hunter and gatherers had a balanced diet from the meats, fishes, and the different fruits, nuts and vegetables they gathered. Paleo-diet might be the best diet for our body.

A strong argument in favour of vegetarianism is the brutal killing of animals. The argument has some validity. Animals have feelings and plant don’t is however just excuse. Who are we to say that plants do not deserve a moral standing? Jagadish Chandra Bose showed that plants are sentient beings. They do not like being eaten. They do get scared, they scream and warn their neighbours when a giraffe starts eating them part by part. To defend themselves they become poisonous. They even warn their friends, who turn poisonous too. The fruits are not meant to attract you, but it contains food for their children. That is why some fruits are poisonous. Plants do not have nervous system like we do, nor does it have the neurons to think like we do. That does not mean that they do not think. They think the way they do. Plants have their own ‘nervous system’ that is a complex network of excitable tissues carrying electrical signals. The bioelectrical field might be a primary source of learning and memory. Yes, plants know what you did last summer. They can even see, hear, smell and respond. What do we do to these sentiment beings after harvest? We chop them, cut them into pieces, and burn them. And we do not feel a thing for these poor creatures just because they are different. We have genetically modified them so much that they have become unhealthy, just like the chickens in the farm. We have made them fat, just to have more of them. The domesticated plants cannot even reproduce by themselves naturally. Their inability to run away or scream is not an invitation to have them for dinner. Our morality is misplaced. Morality is just a cultural construct. It varies from culture to culture. Just because two opinions have different concepts of morality, it does not make one of them right.

The only reasonable argument in favour of eating vegetables is environment. The amount of water and farmland used to maintain a livestock leaves behind a large carbon foot print. Cows and pigs are the most environment unfriendly. It will help the environment if we reduce consumption of red meat. It will help the environment if we manage the amount of fishing and maintain balance. It would help if we feed chickens their normal food that contains proteinaceous insects rather than grains. It would be more kind if we stop painful slaughter of animals. But going vegan is not going to save the world, but only delay the calamity. Food habit is not the core problem, it is the growing population. We have bred worse than rabbits. It is that habit which needs change. Going vegan and having a lot of children to increase the future food consumption is not going to help.

If you are a vegetarian it might be difficult to accept that, you might even get pissed off. I know that feeling since i got pissed off when I was lectured on why vegetarian diet is heather and morally better. There are two things most people don’t like: number one is to change, and number two is the way things are. Most of the time we do not like to change the way our own group behave, and we hate the way things are with other groups. American psychologist Joshua Greene calls this behaviour the Tragedy of Common Sense Morality. It is easier to care for people who are similar to us, rather than those who are different. Contrary to the popular belief, experiments have shown that it is our emotions, rather than reasoning, that drives our moral judgment. With respect to most controversies, we have already made up our opinion, and only use reasoning to backup our claim, rather than rejecting it. Such ‘confirmatory’ reasoning makes us fall for propaganda, be it in favour of vegetarianism, or against it. There are studies that show plant based diet can be good for health, like prevent cancer. Then there are studies that show otherwise. We prefer to believe the study that only fits our prejudice. Tragedy of Common Sense Morality results in heated debates in the modern polarised world.  Conservatism vs Liberals argument has spread like a viral from west into India. Lets not spread the virus of food habit debate here too. Be it veggies, be it meat…eat what you want to eat. Be it veggies, be it meat…eat what you want to eat. 

P.S. This article was written after I was lectured on why Vegan diet is good, based on pseudoscience logic. I have nothing against any particular form of diet. Its a  personal choice. 

Written by Subhrashis Adhikari

Author of 5 Questions of the Inquisitive Apes

"Engaging and entertaining, this page-turner is remarkable in its narration and will give you a new perspective on various aspects of life. Wellresearched and heartfelt, the encouraging tone throughout the book tries to motivate towards a happier life." - Times of India

Read More

The 'Prince' who Slapped the British Officer

It was a regular day at Government College of Art & Craft of Kolkata on the morning of 8th December 1930. There were over 11,000 students in the college, majority of whom came not from Kolkata but from other parts of the Presidency, especially East Bengal. 16 year old Barindra Chandra Nag, a talented art enthusiast, came to Kolkata from Dhaka to study in the arts college. He was staying at his uncles house. Mukul Chandra Dey was the principal of Government College of Art & Craft of Kolkata at that time. Under his influence Indian identity was established in the arts taught in the college, which was otherwise British controlled. At a time when nationalism was spreading like wildfire, an arts college could not be left behind. The rising sentiments against colonialism often created minor friction between the Indian students and the British Officers. On the fateful day of 8th December a British officer insulted seven young students inside the campus of Government College of Art & Craft of Kolkata. Barindra Chandra Nag, my maternal grandfather, was one of them. In the heat of the moment, he and his friends gave a tight slap on the white face of the arrogant officer. As he turned red out of embarrassment and pain, he instructed his men to catch the rebels. All seven of them ran in different directions, but not before deciding to meet soon at the Howrah Station.

It was the same day when three men, Benoy, Badal and Dinesh Chandra Gupta, decided to take matters in their own hands. ‘Operation Freedom’ was launched in the same year to protest against the police repression in different Bengali jails. The three young men were after the brutal oppressor Col N S Simpson. The attacked was planned at the heart of Kolkata in Writer’s building. Dressed in European attire, they came out from the shadows and fired at the police officers. Simpson was shot seven times, three of which hit his head. The trio escaped to the second floor, but was soon surrounded by the police officers. It was a short bloody fight in which the three managed to injure many British officers. As they were running out of bullets they decided to commit suicide. Badal died on the spot, Benoy died in the hospital, and the lone survivor Dinesh was hanged on 7th July the next year.

As the police were busy in Writers Building, my grandfather and his friends quietly gathered at Howrah Station and hopped into the first they got hold of. They had no money with them, but after some persuasion they managed to get tickets in return of their wrist watches. Only after they got hold of the tickets did they realise that they were headed towards Chennai, where their life was going to take a new turn. Their names were already rusticated from Government College of Art & Craft of Kolkata. It was difficult to get admission again. Once the dust of settled down, they went to Shantiniketan to meet their Principal Mukul Dey. But Mukul Dey refused to enrol them back. Disappointed they returned to Chennai, hoping to get enrolled in the Madras School of Arts and Crafts. Debi Prasad Roy Choudhuri, a famous sculptor and painter, was the principal the college. Thanks to him Barindra Chandra Nag got another opportunity to chase his dream of becoming an artist. While not actively involved in revolutionary activities, he was never quite out of it. Once while returning back to Kolkata he was arrested by the police. They mistook him for his elder brother Prafulla Chandra Nag. Prafulla Chandra Nag was an active arms revolutionary, and was wanted by the police. The looks of the two brothers were more similar than their names. It took a lot of convincing and involvement of his mother to get him out.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose took Chennai by storm on 3rd September 1939. Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar had invited Netaji to Chennai. Thevar was a colleague and supporter of Netaji from their Congress days, and now a leader of All India Forward Block. When Netaji addressed the public, over a thousand people gathered to listen to the ‘Lion of Bengal’. Within a short time my grandfather became popular in his new college in Chennai. Because of his white complexion his friends gave him the nickname of ‘Prince’. Prince was assigned the duty to paint a welcome poster for Netajiby the Bengali community. At the bottom of the poster was written a word that caught Netaji’s eye. It said ‘Probashi’, meaning ‘emigrants’ since they came from Bengal to Chennai. Netaji called my grandfather, patted his back for the lovely poster, and then politely requested him to replace the word ‘Probashi’ with ‘Bharatbashi’, or Indian. At that very moment Prince realised what Netaji was trying to do. He was trying to unite the whole of India by erasing the regional boundaries. That was his secret magic to free his motherland. The Prince, who once slapped a British officer and escaped, died a free man. He was not alone. There are so many small incidences of revolutions, threats and slaps on the white faces that made the British Government scared to stay in India any longer. They all contributed their little bit to make India free. The secret magic of Netaji was working.

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P.S. I GOT TO KNOW ABOUT THIS BIT OF OUR FAMILY HISTORY FROM MY MOTHER

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