The ‘non-veg lawyer’

AT the Bombay High Court in Mumbai, the appellate-side Bar association is known as the 'Advocates Association of Western India' (AAWI).

Members occupy two huge halls on the ground and first floors of the heritage building. These are commonly known as 'athra number' (18) and 'chhaatis number' (36) respectively.

As one discovers in most Bar rooms, here too chairs and tables are unofficially earmarked for a set of seniors and regulars. These are like reserved seats in railway compartments. When the occupants go to court, someone from the 'chamber' grabs the seat like a gratuitous licencee till the tenant returns.

On the periphery of these reserved spaces are the areas which sundry visitors may occupy when available. They are like passengers boarding unreserved compartments.

Before the air-conditioning of these halls compelled all doors and windows to be shut, it was a much less forbidding place. There was unrestricted ingress and egress to all. The rooms had the feel of large railway platforms, always crowded and full of the hustle and bustle of all kinds of lawyers and their clients. The 'chaiwallas' too did their rounds frequently.

Limited access and restricted entry have now made these Bar rooms seem somewhat like those first-class waiting rooms where second-class visitors, even if they manage to sneak in, feel out of place.

The story I narrate today belongs to those bygone old unrestricted times when the lunch break was the 'happening time' for all activity. Most seniors had their specially prepared dabbas (tiffin boxes) lovingly sent from their homes.

When they assembled and sat for lunch, there was a well-observed division of the 'non-vegetarian' and 'pure vegetarian' tables.

At the table of the seniors, their respective chamber colleagues too would sit. They all opened and shared lunch from their dabbas.

A similar scenario was observed on the non-vegetarian side of the Bar room. The pure vegetarian guys could not bear the sight of some lawyer from the other side enjoying lamb chops or chicken lollipops. They avoided even facing the non-vegetarian side during lunchtime.