I wonder if the BJP will win the mandate in the next elections despite the unprecedented economic progress that will hopefully be under the leadership of PM Modi? Debatable. The minorities will most certainly vote it out and so will the aggrieved farmers for whom its a question of simple diet and survival.
I wonder if the police stations in Maharashtra will start resembling cattle sheds and policemen cowboys. Based on what I hear in the press - just may. Does anyone remember how the UP police spent days looking for SP leader's buffaloes and that was way before the BJP raj.
I wonder what a poor farmer will do in a year of drought - feed his own family or look after his cattle. In dire situations people have been known to go cannibalistic so turning on his cattle is not an uncertainty. (el nino)
I wonder how the authorities will be able to tell for certain if the meat on a truck is actually carabeef from buffaloes or beef from cows? Most inspectors would not be able to differentiate it from even goat meat.
I wonder if more Bangladeshis will smuggle themselves into India now that the BSF have been told to keep a watch on cattle smuggling. Can't say; but it would be a great idea to import beef from Pakistan - after all cows over there are not considered "holy" there.
I wonder if Muslim meat vendors will stop selling goat and lamb meat to other communities based on excessive demand from their own. Quite possible as the butcher community may face undue harassment in proving "beef" from "carabeef" and may stop slaughtering any form of bovines all together.I wonder if there will be an increase in green houses gases in India based on the rise of cattle population. Possible and then maybe not - but there will be a drop in cow milk production as most dairies may not encourage reproduction of cows based on the economic drain in looking after them post them going dry.
I wonder if the custom officers at the airport will have to retrain their sniffer dogs to smell out beef in addition to drugs and other contraband. It would be a sight to see a dog barking at a person who has had a double steak on his flight to Mumbai.I wonder if more people will take up eating beef in Maharashtra now that it is forbidden meat and anything forbidden is exciting. Don't believe me - refer to Adam and Eve.
I wonder if there will be more cases of abandoned cattle resulting in a different kind of disorder including the return of the mad cow disease? That's a thought that is scary.
I wonder if pigs became major organ donors to humans then will they be given the title of "Holy Pig"? I wonder if anyone will refuse an organ from a pig at the cost of life and death even if a pig is taboo for some communities.
I wonder if protectors of chicken, goats, pigs, rabbits, buffaloes and other animals led to the slaughter house hire a prominent lawyer to file a PIL on their behalf? If it does happen then rats, pigeons, stray cats and dogs, horses please watch out - you may be next on the plate.Don't believe it then read "State may extend beef ban to other meat: Maharashtra government tells High Court"
A week back; my nephew called me apologetically to explain that the Customs at AbuDhabi airport had confiscated the 3 pepperoni pizza pies (frozen) that he had picked up for me from Chicago's famed pizzeria "Giordano's". Reason - pork. The pizzas were in transit (not even leaving the airport) with my nephew. He was waiting for his connecting flight to Mumbai. There is a very large expat community in the UAE - a Muslim Emirate; in fact 3 times the size of the total native population I am told. And, many of the expats are pork consumers. Yet you will never hear any noise about the absence of pork availability. People working there have accepted it as a local norm and moved on. No big deal. On the other hand, a Muslim nation to our east; Malaysia; allows vending and consumption of pork because of its large minority Chinese population. India decided to call itself secular on 15th of August 1947; and in doing so provided every citizen certain constitutional freedom - including right to speak, eat, and practice whatever faith that person deems fit. The theory of the ban by the govt. of Maharashtra vests on protection of; and prevention of cruelty to; animals. That's noble. So for starters how about protecting the wildlife in our national parks; punishing dairy farmers that abandon dry cattle; stripping of licenses of chicken and animal transporters that do not follow guidelines; and the list can go on. Banning a specific meat raises a stink of a very different kind; one that is obvious and dangerous. By the way; some 60,000 heads of cattle are smuggled into Bangladesh daily; where they are "processed" and "packaged" as "halal beef" and shipped off to the beef eating world. Apparently this so called "Bangla Beef" is much in demand as it tastes better. It should; as the source product has been raised organically and not on chemicals and unnatural feeds; and so, fetches a price premium. "Holy Cow!" for us and foreign exchange for Bangladesh.
Very well written piece
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