( L to R: Me, Citlalli, Jamar and Nick)

The Cow Eats Beef

As I flipped from one side to the other on my bed, lazily gazing out at the beautiful Sunday morning, the phone rang. Before picking up the phone, I wondered who would it be calling at 11 am on a free day. The brain decided not to exercise itself and I walked blankly towards the phone, clearing my throat to speak for the first time that day.

Nick Kosmas. He is one of my good friends at INI and typically Nick, Citlalli and I with a bunch of other people would hang out on holidays. Did we have any plans today? Without too much thought, I picked up the phone.

"Hey, I'd pick you up in about half an hour. Is that OK?".

Was I forgetting something? Did we have to go somewhere? Before I could ignite my engine of thoughts, came the answer, " Andy would be waiting for us. Lets not be late".

Ohh!! Andy. Yeah. Andy Alexander. I met him and his wife Suzanne at the City Reformed Presbyterian Church opposite the Phipps conservarory in Pittsburgh. As usual, Nick Citalli, Jamar and I had gone to downtown Pittsburgh to see the Carnegie Science Museum one sunday. At about 5 pm, we decided to watch a movie later in the evening. But Nick and Citlalli wanted to go the Church before that. Sure. Why not? Infact, I used to visit the Church on Christmas Eve in India. All of us agreed to go directly for the movie from the Church. And that how I was reintroduced to the Church.

I slept through some parts of the talk in the Church. Embarrassed, I ran down to get some coffee after the prayers. As is the ritual, I said 'Hello' to everyone who passed me. The rest of my gang was waiting in the car. As I turned back to rush, I almost dropped the coffee on the lady behind me. And thus, I met the Suzanne Alexander.

A couple of weekends and I knew many people in the Church. An Indian lady, Gayatri-who was a Hindu,visited the Church too. Nice people. Good food. Nice service and questions about faith and religion being debated. Amongst all these people, somehow I spoke to Suzanne and Andy a lot. By the second weekend, Andy had invited 5 of us to his place. Grace and another guy, Roger, completed the list.

So, here I was. Standing infront of my bedroom window wondering what would be on the menu today. It certainly is a good feeling to know that one does not have to cook for a Sunday. Lets see: there should be some salad, some bread, something to drink, some form of meat. That should be sumptuous. As I got excited about the food going to my near empty stomach, I realized it was time to get running and hit the road.

As we picked up Grace from her place, it was the 5 of us in Nick's Toyota. I was sandwitched between Grace and Roger in the back, while Citlalli was navigating and playing with the directions in the front. Andy's place was about 25 miles from Pittsburgh and we were on time. Since all of us met as a group in the Church only, the conversations hovered our own countries, traditions and beliefs. Nick was a Greek America, Citalli from Mexico, Grace a Christian from Muslim Indonesia, Roger from China and I, a Hindu from India. Even though I was a pro in America now, I had a tough time explaining how big India is, how the languages, the topography, the culture, the people, the color, the weather; everything changes from the north to the south and from the west to the east every 300 kilometers. In the heady cocktail of cultures around the world, we realized that we were on the wrong route, going away from Andy's place. All of a sudden, we had so much time to spend in the car, talking!!

After calling the Alexanders thrice and overshooting the correct exit twice, we finally made it. The place is in the middle of a wooded hilly terrain. A front and back lawn, picture perfect house and a huge black dog aptly named 'Bear'. As we exchanged the traditional greetings with the Alexanders and their kids, I was relieved to see a "home" with kids, dog, husband, wife, tv, sofas et al. Student life can sometimes make you believe that the present has been the everlasting truth. A welcome change. We talked, played with Bear and made ourselves "at home".

Lunch time. Suzanne was leading us to the delicacies of the day. There was a huge fruit/boiled veg salad, bread, boiled eggs, custard, cheese, a huge cake, sausages and beef. Wow. It was almost 16 hours since something had been added to my bulging underbelly. And then, without a warning, IT happened.

There are some moments in life when you are hit by something hard whilst you are least anticipating it. There are moments when your next word is awaited by a silent, open-mouthed anticipating audience. There are moments when you thought that the obvious was being questioned. Here I was, tasting the delicacies laid infront of me with my wide open eyes; the salivary glands already working overtime.

"Are you a Hindu, Ujjwal?"

Now what was that meant to be? Yes, I am. But here I was, standing in the kitchen of a Christian family, with 4 other ( I hate to catagorize) Christian friends. Why? Was it wrong to be one? Was a Hindu not supposed to be invited to a exclusive Christian lunch? Did everyone present there not know I was one? Was my going to the Church meant that I was suppose to be one? Being from the subcontinent pushes you onto a belligerent-defensive posture whenever the topic of religion comes your way; unanticipated.

"Yes Suzanne. I am one. Why?"

On hearing this, her face grew red. As I prepared myself to think of words incase I needed to say something politely, she spoke.

" Oh, I am so sorry but..."

But? But what? The pain of not knowing what was behind her mind had now started irritating me. Meanwhile, everyone had stopped from what they were doing. Every eye was fixed on me. My friends knew I was an Indian, a Hindu. Why were they not serving their meals and walking to the table?

"..I have nothing vegetarian in the meal. I know Gayatri is a..."

I had lost what she was saying. Probably that Hindus do not eat meat or something. And there was beef on the menu. Cows being sacred to most Hindus, beef is definitely not a welcome sight. There are popular folklores about how the cow is considered as a mata (mother) to us Hindus, how riots have been started by butchering them, how it is the pure form et al. Snap back to reality. I could hear nothing what Suzan was saying, though my eyes could see her speaking to me, with an apologetic flicker in her eyes. Before the complex situation could get unbearable, I did what I should have done a while ago.

" I eat beef. Dont worry. I eat almost everything under the sun".

There was a sense of relief across the room. I felt like a boulder had been dropped off my shoulders.

"He is not a true Hindu..he he..", Nick quipped.

The environment was lightened by the remark. The rest of the people carried on serving themselves. We had some great conversations on the table that afternoon. Inevitably, religion, the war, India, Hindu-Muslims, American culture, China etc were the favorites. Everything seemed so good because of the tasty food, thanks to Suzanne. It was almost 5 pm before we all left, to attend the Church service at 5:30 pm.

On my way back, as I saw the sun turning orange, I realized how much is there to life beyond our mundane routine. Also, a lesson leant on how not to assume things, not to imagine the implied and be polite but frank with people. I was a little ashamed too, wondering about the origins of my thoughts on what Suzanne had implied when she asked that question. Time to move on..

Clarification: I used to eat beef before that day and for my friends who believe I threw away my religious beliefs that afternoon, let me tell you, I had none.