Sagefrakrobatik
26 September 2009, 08:10 AM
To veg or not to veg in Mumbai?
A12 Tuesday May 30 2006 Times Union Jacksonville
In the populous Indian city, eating meat could leave you out on the street.
By Ramola Talwar Badam
Associated Press
Mumbal, India—Never mind pets, smokers or loud music at 2 a.m. House hunters in Mumbai are being asked “Do you eat meat?” if yes, the deal is off. As the city of 16 million formerly known as bombay becomes the cosmpolitian main nerve of a booming Indian economy, real estate is increasingly intersecting cuisine. More middle class Indians are moving in and more of them are vegetarian.
“Some people are very strict. They wont sell to a nonvegetarian even if he offers a higher price than a vegetarian,” said real estate broker Norbert Pinto. Vegetarianism is a centuries-old custom among Hindus, Jains and others in India. The government estimates India has 220 million vegetarians, more than anywhere else in the world.
“Veg or nonveg?” is heard contantly in restaurants, at dinner parties and on airlines. And the question has long been an unwritten part of the interrogation house hunters must submit to. But its becoming more open, and its effets more noticeable, in Mumbai, which attracts immigrants from strongly vegetarian states, as well as followers of the Jain religion.
In constitutionally secular India, there’s no bar to forming a housing society and making an apartment block exclusively Catholic or Muslim. Vegetarians say they, too, need segregation. “I live in a cosmopolitan society,” said Jayantilal Jain, trustee of a charity group. “But vegetarians should be given the right to admit who they want.”
Rejected home seekers have mounted a slew of court challenges to the power of hosing societies to discriminate, but India’s highest tribunal ruled the practice legal last year. “Its just not fair. It’s a monopoly by vegetarians,” said Kran Talwar, 49, a prosthetics engineer who has seen vegetarianism take over restaurants and grocieries all over his neighborhood on posh Nepeansea Road. “If you step out to eat, there’s nothing for miles because everything around is veggie,” he said.
While Indians are accustomed to housing socities demarcated by religion, seperation by diet has meat eaters worried. Vikramaditya Ugra, a youn Mumbai banker in search of an apartment, said vegetarian colonies were fine in neighboring Gujarat, a state dominated by Vegetarians. “That’s in tune with local sensitivity,” he said. “But to impose this restriction is not right in a cosmopolitian city.”
What do you think of this? I had this article for a long time but just recently came across it while i was looking for otherarticles to see what i wanted to write my paper on for one of my classes.
A12 Tuesday May 30 2006 Times Union Jacksonville
In the populous Indian city, eating meat could leave you out on the street.
By Ramola Talwar Badam
Associated Press
Mumbal, India—Never mind pets, smokers or loud music at 2 a.m. House hunters in Mumbai are being asked “Do you eat meat?” if yes, the deal is off. As the city of 16 million formerly known as bombay becomes the cosmpolitian main nerve of a booming Indian economy, real estate is increasingly intersecting cuisine. More middle class Indians are moving in and more of them are vegetarian.
“Some people are very strict. They wont sell to a nonvegetarian even if he offers a higher price than a vegetarian,” said real estate broker Norbert Pinto. Vegetarianism is a centuries-old custom among Hindus, Jains and others in India. The government estimates India has 220 million vegetarians, more than anywhere else in the world.
“Veg or nonveg?” is heard contantly in restaurants, at dinner parties and on airlines. And the question has long been an unwritten part of the interrogation house hunters must submit to. But its becoming more open, and its effets more noticeable, in Mumbai, which attracts immigrants from strongly vegetarian states, as well as followers of the Jain religion.
In constitutionally secular India, there’s no bar to forming a housing society and making an apartment block exclusively Catholic or Muslim. Vegetarians say they, too, need segregation. “I live in a cosmopolitan society,” said Jayantilal Jain, trustee of a charity group. “But vegetarians should be given the right to admit who they want.”
Rejected home seekers have mounted a slew of court challenges to the power of hosing societies to discriminate, but India’s highest tribunal ruled the practice legal last year. “Its just not fair. It’s a monopoly by vegetarians,” said Kran Talwar, 49, a prosthetics engineer who has seen vegetarianism take over restaurants and grocieries all over his neighborhood on posh Nepeansea Road. “If you step out to eat, there’s nothing for miles because everything around is veggie,” he said.
While Indians are accustomed to housing socities demarcated by religion, seperation by diet has meat eaters worried. Vikramaditya Ugra, a youn Mumbai banker in search of an apartment, said vegetarian colonies were fine in neighboring Gujarat, a state dominated by Vegetarians. “That’s in tune with local sensitivity,” he said. “But to impose this restriction is not right in a cosmopolitian city.”
What do you think of this? I had this article for a long time but just recently came across it while i was looking for otherarticles to see what i wanted to write my paper on for one of my classes.