Goats

Today was a big day. For the first time since arriving in India I broke my streak of vegetarianism and ate some goat, but more importantly, for the first time in my life I purchased an animal that I was intending to eat while it was still alive and watched be killed, skinned and cooked right before my eyes.

To understand why exactly I was eating goat, one would need to go back in time one week to a day of rainy construction. On that day, last Friday I think, we woke to discover that for one day we were halting work on our normal project and joining forces with all the foreign volunteers and day laborers in the Kanda Valley to build the cement roof of what is going to become the new community center. When we arrived at the site, Andrew and I quickly realized that today was going to be a little bit different from our previous days of work. First, we noticed that after laying the first bits of cement, the workers stopped to perform a brief puja, or prayer, that involved lighting incense and applying tikkas of paint and rice to everyone foreheads. Next, we watched as they took a break to enjoy a special breakfast of spiced potatoes and chai. Finally, we looked at each other slightly confused as all the workers stared silently at a man who had just arrived with a goat.

Needless to say, what happened next was quite shocking and somewhat disgusting to our American eyes, but we quickly recovered from the shock as we learned that the slaughter of a goat is a pretty common ceremony when construction is being completed and that the goat is then always served to the workers. We then went back to work, eagerly awaiting the special lunch ahead.
When we gathered for lunch, however, we soon abandoned our plan to eat the delicious meat after we learned from our host that goat is very expensive and that most of the workers could only afford to eat meat on a few occasions every year. Feeling slightly guilty, we abstained from the meat and ate our normal meal of dal and rice.
One week later, as we were faced with the impending completion of another roof, we asked whether Sadhu, the man we had been working for, had made arrangements for the meat for the final pre-building ceremony. Through our Hindi teacher and sometime translator, Binit, we learned from our host family that while Sadhu was planning to get meat for the ceremony, he could not afford to buy a whole goat. Upon learning that a goat would cost around only 2,000 rupees, or $40, Andrew and I decided to take matters into our own hands and provide the goat.

Thus, today we woke up gave the money, which turned out to only be 1700 rupees, and half an hour later met what would briefly be our new property. We then walked to Sadhu’s house to observe the pre-construction puja and sacrifice. I can’t lie, watching the sacrifice was even more disgusting the second time, mostly because we were only 10 feet away, but it seemed to please everyone else greatly, so we smiled and then joined in the massive “Machine” of people and construction.
Three hours later, when the work and the cooking had finished, the goat had been systematically cut up and cooked while we worked, Andrew and I, along with two of our other foreign volunteers were escorted into Sadhu’s mother’s house to eat the first pieces of meat. After finishing the delicious meal, we stepped outside and were quite surprised to find not only the workers, but also a large number of the neighborhood women and children, nearly thirty people in all, enjoying our gift. Standing off on the side smiling was Sadhu, clearly overjoyed, not by the fact that he had meat to eat, but by the fact that he had meat to serve to all his relatives and neighbors.