Chickening out.

I was a wee nine year old when i first ate a chicken burger(by mistake), marched up to my mom, and announced that I had enjoyed it immensely. Ten years later, almost to the day, I tasted chicken again and liked it, again. Blame a bad second experience for the huge time gap.

Every time I'd go out with friends or cousins, they'd stare at my 'measly' plate, look admiringly at their own plate stuffed with meat and scoff at me for not trying the obvious. And being a Punjabi and a vegetarian is the equivalent of bringing a six pack to an AA meeting-- people look at you like you're defying your life's calling.

But old habits die hard. You can't suddenly decide to stop biting your nails, so switching over to being a 'non-vegetarian' was going to take some time and mental preparation.

Then one day, I was ready. I knew I was. It was just a matter of when.

Hello, July 4th, 2010.

The waiter brought my Chicken Tikka Masala. I took a long look at it, thinking to myself that I had DEFINITELY not thought this through. You can't change nineteen years worth of eating culture in a second. Can you? I was comforted by the very wise words of the person sitting across me- 'Relax. You don't have to eat it if you don't want to.'..'Well', I thought, I'll just wait some more then.'

But the problem with waiting is you never know what you're missing.

I took one look at that beatific smile and dug right in. And I'm so glad I did! And I realized all that apprehension was for nothing. That's the beautiful and terrible part about being human. You adapt to anything very quickly.

'Aapko aur kuch chahiye?'

I gave a quick nod, and the menu card was thrust into my hands. After much deliberation and passing around, Butter Chicken was ordered. By now I was feeling like quite the pro. Not to mention a little uncertain. Paradox much, I know. But I knew all I needed was the quiet assurance of those perfectly familiar eyes. 'Don't worry, I've got you', they seemed to say. 'You're doing fine.'

As it turns out, I WAS doing fine. I managed to have a wonderful time, and exponentially increase my eating options. 'And finally managed to gain purpose in life' were the words said to me. Jesus, we all love to exaggerate =P

All in all, it was a lot less dramatic than I'd expected. And I'm glad I went ahead with it-- I didn't want to wait ten more years you see.

But what I'm most happy about is that the next time I go out to eat, and someone says- 'You're a Punjabi right? You can't be a VEGETARIAN', I don't have to smile and shrug anymore.

That's right, folks. Bring on the meat, I promise I'll try not to chicken out.