Second proposition: Gujarat is riot-prone precisely because a large section of its population is vegetarian. In the north, the Hindus and Muslims share the same food habits, give or take a masala or two. Both are largely meat eating. They socialise and are in and out of each other’s homes. Hindus and Muslims attend weddings of the other community and break bread together at other festivities. On the other hand, a Gujarati vegetarian—I am not talking here about the sophisticated Ellisbridge crowd—will not eat in another Hindu’s house if meat is cooked in his kitchen. A bit like the Tamil Brahmins. The question of eating in a Muslim home doesn’t arise. It follows that the Muslim is not invited to dine in a Hindu home. In my ancestral village just outside Surat, they live in separate ghettos. This lack of fraternising results in a huge communication gap between the two communities.
