I remember walking into the Bhagwan Mahavir Park in Panjim and chancing upon a restaurant there which served only vegetarian food. In Goa. I was delighted. This was surely a sign that God loved me. I also saw a wall hanging in the restaurant with the Namokar Mantra written on it. It was wooden and rather beautiful. The restaurant owner knew nothing about it and said that the previous owner had left it. The restaurants in that park are on an annual lease of some sort, so they often change names and management but amazingly, they continue to be vegetarian restaurants, and for me this was a sign that Goa accepted me. Sounds so OTT (over the top) but after having been offered only overcooked beans and cabbage soup as vegetarian food, I was in need of some recognition that vegetarian food is in itself a world of possibilities.

Nowadays when you google “vegetarian goa”, you get a lot of options for eating out. There are fancy vegan restaurants and wholesome Udupi offerings. This was not the case when I first began to consider the state my home. I was born in a Jain family in Manipur, and even though I went...

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