Friend Took Crisps From My Packet

[Guest Guest]

1) Can those who have completely ruined my post, please stop commenting - you are ruining the concept of this forum. Just be net gangsters on your own msns. Thanks

2) Aimed at Papi

a) in my original post i stated that i maintained a level of humility. i also stated that i informed my friend - if i had taken his crisps, i too would have pollutted his crisps. I think you need to read the post properly. "If someone told me he won't eat the food I touched because it's now polluted, I would be highly offended." you are insane to think this given the fact that he tells you that if he ate your crisps - he would have pollutted yours too. Level playing field mate.

b) how can you say "it's unhygenic to share food". the concept of vand kay shakna is all about sharing. and the concept of langar is about sharing food. Again, if you read my post properly - i asked you to formulate a technical response for me. you have failed to offer anything.

c) Further, your comment "Sucham was not there in the first place, how do you know the person who was involved in making the Crisps kept sucham?" is completely irrelevant. I asked you to explain how I can explain the concept of sucham.

2) Aimed at everyone : it's amazing how people can't explain the concept of "jhooth" and "sucham".

3) Aimed at everyone : my friend is a gora.. i can't say "it's jhootha".

4) Aimed at Prabhjoyt Kaur : so it's ok for me to eat the crisps if my friend wasn't a meat eater???

I still hope the sangat can help instead of bikkar amongst themselves.

Thanks

I am very familiar with the suchum and joota situations arising from social interactions at the canteen, in restaurants, and when sharing a flat with people who may use your utensils or washing up sponge.

I have often said to people I don't like to drink a bottle after you have drank it or I can share my food but don't pick it from my plate, let me give it to you with a clean spoon. Or even please don't taste food on the pan, pour it out with clean spoon and taste it.

The key to understanding sucham is that sucham is not about other people polluting you. If your making food eg dhal/sabji and you started tasting it and put the spoon in the saucepan then you have made the food joota. No matter if your the only person eating it, it is joota. Therefore joot is not about other people instead it is about food manners. There is a certain way that Eastern culture dictates for food to be handled. One of those is in how food should be prepared, others on how to share food and infact if your friend opened a crisp packet and ate it and gave it to you then it would be considered rude and so him eating a packet you ahv already eaten from is rudeness on your part.

The underlying reason for this can be likened to aspectic techniques in surgical theatres. If you and your friend are not medics it would be hard to explain but essentially you do not want to contaminate 'make joota' from yourself or from other people. I suggest you do a scientific experiment, poke a container of food about and do not poke the other container and in the final container get 5 or 6 people to poke then see which one goes off first or contains most germs.

Regardless of outcome it is simply considered disgusting to eat the food container that has been fingered by yourself or other people. You would rather eat the fresh container that no one has touched and this is what is sucham. It is nothing to do with sharing or other people being dirty. We are all dirty but its about finding the best way to maintain 'cleanliness' an alien concept in western culture but one very predominant in the East. The most likely reason being that the hotter climate meant food handling had to be considered carefully and so the sucham and joot methods evolved, as a method prehaps to decrease cases of food poisioning..

But (you don't need to tell this bit to your friend)the crisps weren't in true form sucha in the first place as we cannot guarantee factory manufacturing process...same with coke bottle etc but its still better to maintain sucham as a box fingered by 5 people is worse than that done by 1 person.

Hope that helps.