Chandra Shekhar Azad né Tiwari grew up in an extremely poor household but one that observed Brahmanical strictures. While living in Bombay ...
Chandra Shekhar Azad né Tiwari grew up in an extremely poor household but one that observed Brahmanical strictures. While living in Bombay he wouldn’t eat food cooked by fellow labourers. He had initially decided to live off dry snacks until he could buy his own provisions and vessels for cooking.
His attempts to learn cooking, however, ended miserably. He was either unable to start the cooking fire or would add too much water to the dough. With no way out, he exculpated that he had already eaten the food cooked by an outcaste labourer and therefore eating in a hotel would not be any different. Nevertheless, he remained a strict vegetarian.
Some years later, Azad’s associate Bhagwandass Mahour was puzzled to find him eating eggs and asked him: “Panditji yaha kya?” (What is this Panditji?). Azad replied: “Ande mein koi harz nahi hai. Vaigyanikon ne ise fal jaisa bataya hai” (There is no problem with eating eggs. Scientists have likened it to a fruit).
Mahour knew that “egg is like a fruit” was Bhagat Singh’s argument. Mahour reparteed that if an egg was a fruit then a hen could be nothing less than a tree. Bhagat who was present at the time burst...
