തണല്‍

ഈറന്‍ മിഴിയുടെ ആര്‍ദ്രതയിലും 

നനവ്‌ പടര്‍ന്ന കവിള്‍ തടത്തിലും 

വര്‍ഷ മേഘങ്ങളുടെ വിരഹ ദുഃഖം ഞാന്‍ കണ്ടിരുന്നു 

കൊഴിഞ്ഞു വീണ മല്ലി പൂക്കള്‍ 

കാലടിയില്‍ ഞെരിയാതിരികാന്‍ 

വഴിമാറി നടന്നപ്പോളും  

ചാഞ്ഞു വന്ന ചില്ലകളെ

 സ്പര്‍ശിക്കാതെ ഒഴിഞ്ഞു 

മാറി നടന്നപ്പോളും 

പെയ്തു തോര്‍ന്ന മഴയുടെ 

ബാക്കി പത്രങ്ങലില്‍ നിന്നുള്ള 

ഒളിച്ചോട്ടം ഇവയെന്ന് ഞാന്‍ അറിഞ്ഞിരുന്നു 

എങ്കിലും ഞാന്‍ എന്റെ നിഴല്‍ നിന്നോട് ചേര്‍ത്ത് വെച്ചു  

വര്‍ഷവും വേനലും മാറി വസന്തം വരുമെന്ന പ്രതീക്ഷയില്‍ 

ആ വസന്തത്തിന്റെ നിറവില്‍  നീയെന്റെ 

നിഴലിന്റെ തണല്‍ തിരിച്ചറിയുമെന്ന വിശ്വാസത്തില്‍ 

Yes, I am a vegetarian

"Oh you are a vegetarian? so what will you eat? " Honestly, this is the most annoying question in my life. Even the standard question " If you are not employed, why don't you have a baby? " annoys me a little less. The point is if you eat meat, good for you, but please don't talk to me like i am missing the best thing in the world. It is like telling a person wearing a cooling glass if you remove it, you will see better. The one wearing cooling glass obviously knows how it is without wearing that. It is just that he made a choice to wear it because he feels more comfortable that way.

I am a vegetarian by choice, not because i am a brahmin, not because my parents forced me to, not because i am on a diet, it is just because i am comfortable being so. I am not one of those people who smirk when i see someone is eating meat on my table, i am comfortable handling non veg, I just don't put in my mouth. So please mind your business and eat whatever you want, i can order my own food.

I have heard this theory that we are really three people, the person we think we are, the person others think we are, and the person we really are. and i believe in it. Because mostly if we care about what others think about us, we really cannot live life to the fullest, and the distance between what we think we are and what we really are should be minimum, for me being a vegetarian is about closing down that distance. I don't know why but the two things that disturb me the most is when someone forces me to do something i am really afraid of and when i am hurting someone knowingly. Both these things actually define the who i really am part because these are involuntary reactions that come from inside me. Now about the who i think i am part, I believe if i force myself to eat meat without thinking about it, i am actually hiding a real part of me which aches.

I can always think of meat as just food and chew it down by ignoring my own feelings and just by thinking aaah, its tasty . But the truth is at some point later that day or the next, the real me pops into my mind and will start disturbing me. I can always shut it down and ignore it again but then, i will be running away from who i really am and the distance between the real me and the one i think i am keeps on growing.

So my dear friends, when someone says that person dosen't like something accept it, they may have a good reason for it, which either you won't undrestand or which they do not want to share with you, so please don't force people to do things your way, it might be right for you, but remember that is not the only way. There is always a path that is right for every person which only they can identify.