My Three Silly Resolutions for 2021

My dad always encouraged me to be a vegetarian when I was a kid. He was against the killing of chicken, lamb, cow or fish. Good for him but why did he have to pull me into that treacherous path? Anyway, I grew up without even the smell of chicken-eggs in our small house. However if I turn back the clock and look at my childhood, I don't think I ever regretted being a vegetarian. My mum used to make the best Indian cuisines for me, of course vegetarian. However on one occasion when I was drunk during my teenage years, I tasted fried meat for the first time when my friends disguised it for fried cauliflower. That was the beginning of a new me. Like a busted dam, I began to explore everything around me. My palate ended up expanding to the furthest corners of the world - to anything that walks or flies or moves, but plants.

A few weeks back, my dad saw a picture of mine devouring a well-cooked lamb on a Facebook post. I don't know what triggered it or what went wrong in his mind. He ended up sending me a video link to a documentary. I watched this documentary a couple of weeks back, about how the meat industry is contributing to global warming. I started feeling bad about myself. It made me so depressed and guilty that I took a resolution to try and eat more vegetables and less meat. My plan would be to avoid meat for 6 days a week. Though not fully convinced I made up my mind to give it a go.

It has been only two weeks and there is still a long way to go. Meanwhile I also read an article about human digestive system being more evolved towards vegetarianism. Once again, I'm not fully convinced but I'm gonna give a try. By all accounts, Dad, I hate you!

My second resolution is not quite serious like the first one. It may sound a bit silly, OK, it is actually silly. Well, I'm guessing that everyone has experienced this one. You walk on a narrow footpath but see a man walking towards you in the opposite direction. You brain says, "Be a nice person, give him way, he looks old". Then you think, "Why should I? He should give you way instead". However before you make any decision because you're too good to be true, the guy steps out of the way and gestures at you to take the footpath while he waits there patiently.

The only trouble is that the distance between you and this man is more than 20 feet. Your brain says, "Do I have to walk the normal speed? If I walk the normal speed this poor man has to wait even longer and that will be rude, or do I have to run so that it is like acknowledging his good gesture and not letting him wait longer?". Another example of a similar situation is when a good-willed colleague of yours opens the door and holds it for you as politely as possible, and trying to be the nicest person in the whole world. Once again the trouble here is when the door is too far away that you have to rush to make do. No matter how pissed off you are, you end up pulling a fake smile and a big thank-you note.

I hate to be that person who pushes other people to make tough choices by being polite but unintentionally arrogant. I believe that when we make small choices in our day-to-day life we ought to be mindful enough to make the right decision. So my second resolution is to be always present in the moment and not absent-minded which I usually am; to be mindful enough to make the right decision at the right time - neither early nor late but right on time.

My third and last resolution is not to be be distracted by YouTube suggestions. I usually open YouTube with a plan to watch a one-or-two-minute video, but always end up binge-watching all the related videos spending an hour or two. So my last resolution is not to be distracted by YouTube suggestions or Facebook suggestions and take care of my well-being.

I wish everyone all the very best of 2021. Stay safe.

By the way, Dad, I don't hate you. I was joking.