vegetarianism in "Indian culture "

my friends always poke me when we are at some restaurant.... coz everybody over there has ordered there some crunchy , spicy chicken dish and they look to my vegetarian dish as something alien to them .
" i am a vegetarian " and i am proud of that . it is something by choice that till the 24 years of my life i have been  a vegetarian .
i am not promoting vegetarianism here and i would certainly not like people to become vegetarians becoz i do believe it is something of a choice . we all should have a freedom to eat .
vegetarianism in Indian society developed from a very early time and meat eating developed later . earlier Indian society had been living in a sustainable environment . there were trees , fruits , fresh water lakes , loads of food grains therefore Indians never relied on hunting .
on the other hand culture of meat eating developed in semi arid and arid regions were there was not enough of green environment and people had to rely on animals for food . they do not have any choice . and later it became there custom and culture.
all these happened during the evolution of their culture . there are many more examples to explain this . in India we celebrate harvest festivals , it starts with oonam in Kerala with the start of monsoon and ends with poongal in tamil nadu . in all these festivals we prepare food from our first food grains and other things also happen . in north India during lohri it is a custom to put grains in fire which is the first produce from our farms. in makarsakranti we til, gaud , choora .... all these are produced from our fields . whereas in west during thanks giving they have a custom to eat turkey( a bird ) .
in a globalized society which has developed in the recent century , a new multicultural and a multiethnic society has developed and it is easier to get influenced by it but i would still prefer to stick to my culture and stay vegetarian.
" happy eating"

society of India... part 1

my teacher says that "the society is defined by the status and position given to women in that society".
women had always held an important position in the Indian society. if we divide the Indian society chronologically then we find that every period has some important women character around whom the history has evolved. from sita, draupadi, to raazia sultana to rani lakshami bai to indira gandhi.... till the present society. i have given these names because i think some part of evolution of indian society has taken under these very names.
my teacher asked me ,"tell me what are the qualities u liked in sita?" i was struck.. as i didn't know much about her . my fiends helped be by answering that she was the first single mother of india. she took care of both her children luv and kush singlehandedly. she was brought up in the family of janak the great king but when her husband was asked to abandon the throne of ayodhya and move to village she left all the expense and left the rajmahal of ayodhya with her husband. this defines the greatness of the lady who didnt care about her own comfort and left every thing for her husband.
another important character of the pre historic time that i came across in my childhood was lady savitri who as the story tells chased the death god and asked the life of her dead husband and her wish was granted...
all these ladies have made the base of our indian society. they have left a rich heritage for the country.
the society under these womens were a patriarchial society and they maintained the values of the society.. the womens under those times were seen to be complete only when they were married, there mere existence was based on their husbands thas is why sita let the rajmahal and savitri ran for her husbands life..... and womens give their life after the death of her husbans.... the evil sati pratha came in the scenario... and after sometimes it became a culture and womens were forced to sit on the pyre after the death of their husbands.
someune has rightly said "good after some times becomes evil and then it has to be removed"
the indian society also grew with social evis like sat , child marriage . and all these made womens a liability  on indian society... which gave birth to a new social evil female infanticide... alll these have a sequence..
with all these indian society was growing , the women still commanded a good position but they also had a criteria... of giving birth to male heirs.... and those who couldnt were neglected and those who could were given good position in the society. all these strengthened the patriarchy.
some womens even in these times came up who were extraordinary and wanted to bring a change,, but they were few in numbers.... these included the likes of razia sultan, lakshmi bai etc.
the present scenario is also not different.... we still have a patriarchial society in india.
we still neglect their status... they could be wives , they coild be mothers, sisters , girl friends..... but we still have not given them the space to be themselves.... their life revolves around their father and afterwards their husbands... if somebody had a failed marriage the society look down at them.... if girls change their boy fiends the society call them prostitutes....it has become a never ending phenomenon.... a girl moving out in the night with a friend is looked down upon... she is looked as a commodity who could cherish their dreams and the girl is being raped
they are not safe everybody eyes on them. this is the society we are living in. government says eve teasing and rape cases envolve only 4% of the total criminal cases registered so dont make it hyper and create phenomenon in the society. but my question is why even this 4% why cant we have respect for them. why cant we accept them as they are