Since articles are written well before printing date, I always miss reporting on the lively discussions about meat consumption, sacrifice and favourite dishes that goes on without fail every Eid-ul-Azha, as if it were a ritual of the festivity. So last year I made some notes to write up this year. Here goes.
A favourite topic of the so-called enlightened souls is that sacrifice has become meaningless. Needless to say, sides are taken for and against the topic and battle is joined. Its a wonder the debate does not become a full fledged battle, with meat used as missiles and meat bones as weapons. It could be because we are not all that barbaric; or perhaps nobody wants to spatter their Eid clothes with masala and grease and meat bits. I don't know.
I enjoy participating. I belong to the pro-sacrifice team. But I must admit that the anti-sacrifice team is not therefore anti-religion. A relevant point they make is that sacrifice, even in Makkah during Hajj has become virtual ritual since you only pay for the sacrificial goat and are issued a ticket on which a time is written.
At that time your goat will be slaughtered and you must say the relevant prayers. In Karachi too, most people just pay for their share in a sacrificial calf or camel. So the participatory aspect of the ritual is nil.
Another interesting point was mentioned concerning Pakistanis living abroad in the West. They simply send money home and expect their families to do the sacrifice on their behalf. However, the family at home does not personally undertake the task. The money is handed over to one of the charities like Eidhi Trust.
In most cases while the exact amount for a sacrificial animal is sent, the donor makes it clear that there should be no slaughter even by the charities. The money should be used for orphans and widows. Even when an animal is slaughtered outside your house it isn't your uncle or daddy who does the sacrifice. It is the local butcher. Most men today do not know how to do it, and if they attempted they would probably botch the job.
The patent point of the pro-sacrifice team is that Eid is the one time in the year when the poor get a taste of meat. This argument is not holding up too well however except in cities. One sees large consignments of frozen sacrificial meat arriving from Makkah for the poor of Pakistan and Afghanistan who live in distant villages that can be reached only on foot after a two-day trek. So what will be the quality of the meat that reaches the poor in such villages? The meat is probably air-lifted and dropped by helicopter to the villages, we argue.
The cynics ask if we have heard of such an arrangement or are we merely indulging in wishful thinking. (How rude!) Another cynic said even if the meat was air-lifted the militants in the villages up North are likely to think there is an enemy attack, that the army has mistaken northern areas for South Waziristan. They will try to down the helicopter with a missile launcher.
A stalwart of the pro-sacrifice team said sacrifice was good for business. He told about how some fellows earning in Dubai and other places invested in sheep breeding and made millions through the sale of sheep for the sacrifice. Since the company comprised business-minded persons, even if they do not actually do business, there was much interest in this enterprise and questions were asked even by the anti-sacrifice team mates, although some doubted big money could be made from sheep breeding.
Last year nothing more could be said in defence, but this year one of the investors revealed the whole business procedure in an interview. He said the profit was much more than millions, it was in billions of rupees. The anti-sacrifice team who are business-minded must have heard or read the interview and must be thinking seriously about investing in sheep breeding. If so, by next Eid-ul-Azha they may have a change of heart and become pro-sacrifice. There are always jokers in the company. One of them said he was vegetarian. So instead of an animal could he perhaps sacrifice a watermelon.
Both the pro and anti sacrifice teams were about to pour the kidney masala over his head, but he "made good his escape," as we say in crime reporting. One thing about meat consumption: it makes you so pleased with the whole world that you forgive them their sins.
If we were not eating meat, I tell you, one of the fanatics in the company might have murdered the vegetarian. My advice to vegetarians is they should never confess their bad habit in the company of meat eaters. Its dangerous; a meatbone can really hurt.