The cow is considered a divine animal in India. Cow meat (beef) is a big deal and has even cost several lives. Hindus worship cows and the holy animal is often referred to as mother.
For this Hindu man in New Zealand, it was nothing less than a nightmare when he got to know that he ate beef mistakenly. The blame is on the supermarket that misguided him.
According to Stuff, Jaswinder Paul bought 'lamb' from Countdown Blenheim supermarket in September last year. Only on cooking and eating it did he realise it was not lamb but beef.
Now, Jaswinder wants the supermarket to pay for his trip to India to 'cleanse' himself. The reason he is insistent - he has to close the shop he runs to visit home and forgo the income from there.
He claimed his family had not spoken to him since the day he mistakenly ate the beef and told them of it.
Speaking to Stuff, Jaswinder said, "According to my religion, I have to go back to my country and do sacred things for four to six weeks and be purified by priests, so I can continue on my religious path. It's a long process."
Jaswinder had in fact approached the supermarket in September 2018 itself with his complaint. A spokeswoman representing the supermarket admitted the error was at their end. They apologised and offered him a replacement too. A gift voucher worth $200 was also given. But, Jaswinder didn't respond.
Now, several months later, he has approached the supermarket and asked them to help him cleanse himself.
"I don't want to go to court against a big corporation. I just want to go home. I understand this looks like a simple matter, but for me this is very hard. I break my religion (vows) because of someone else's negligence. I know my society back from my home will not accept me with this breach of the religion's conditions," he told the paper.