Just as we were at a loss for a good Indian entertainer in these hot summer days, comes a new twist in the latest episode of the Great Samosa Battle of New Jersey.
Think of it as Season 2 of the Great Samosa Lawsuit.
On one side of the Samosa legal battle, you have a bunch of vegetarians.
And on the other side, stands Moghul Express restaurant on Oak Tree Road, Edison (NJ) that we once reviewed negatively for serving crappy Indian food.
Yes, both parties in the Great Samosa Lawsuit are of Indian origin. ๐
Generic Picture of Samosas
In Season 1 of the Samosa case, the plaintiffs (i.e. the Indian vegetarians who filed the lawsuit) lost the battle to win damages from Moghul Express for serving them Meat Samosas instead of the Vegetable Samosas they had ordered.
Citing spiritual injuries over eating the meat samosas, the 16 Indian Hindu vegetarians had asked for compensation for emotional distress as well as to participate in a religious purification ceremony along the Ganga River in the Indian holy city of Haridwar in Uttaranchal state.
The Indian vegetarians’ argument essentially ran as follows:
Hindu vegetarians believe that if they eat meat, they become involved in the sinful cycle of inflicting pain, injury and death of God’s creatures, and that it affects the karma and dharma, or purity of the soul. Hindu scriptures teach that the souls of those who eat meat can never go to God after death, which is the ultimate goal for Hindus. The Hindu religion does not excuse accidental consumption of meat products. One who commits the religious violation of eating meat, knowingly or unknowingly, is required to participate in a religious ceremony at a site located along the Ganges River in Haridwar, Uttaranchal, India, to purify himself. The damages sought by plaintiffs included compensation for the emotional distress they suffered, as well as economic damages they would incur by virtue of having to participate in the required religious cleansing ceremony in India.
Although Moghul Express acknowledged serving meat samosas to the party ordering vegetarian samosas, it won the first round.
Thank God, the Samosa case did not end there.
What would all of us desis in the Northeast starved for entertainment do.
Not for us, the effete Singham or Deiva Thirumagal.
Hey, we want something meatier oops juicier.
Moghul Express – Feels the Heat
(File Photo)
Mercifully for all of us, the aggrieved Indian vegetarians appealed against the original court ruling.
And the Good Lord heard our prayers for entertainment.
Now the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey has ruled on July 18, 2011 that the case can proceed on one of the grounds – Breach of Express Warranties.
With the case back in court, Season 2 of the Great Samosa Battle of New Jersey promises entertaining times ahead.
Moghul Express in Edison, New Jersey must certainly be feeling the heat.
Related Content:
Moghul Express Review
Season 2 of NJ Samosa Lawsuit – Hot Entertainer added by SearchIndia.com on
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Off-topic: the chorus of this song reminded me of a recent rock track using cuss words for chorus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y-suQWFOfg
I can be wrong.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Which song are you referring to? A Lady Gaga number from her recent album?
hear from 2:13 the ba ba sounds like bagh bagh from DK bose song
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Maybe, but I’ve Been Thinking About You is a much better song.
Thank you.
off-samosa: You haven’t reviewed “The Fighter” yet, right.. it is showing up in InstantPlay now. Bale looks interesting in the few scenes I saw.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’ll likely watch it soon but won’t review it.
This is coming from the people whose saints like vivekanandaji ate beef and whose gods/goddesses (kaliji,bhairava ect.) are offered goats by the hundred thousand!?
LOL you never hear about nepali hindus complaining because almost all nepali hindus eat meat, same goes for the ones in bengal and kerala..when i went to a local indian restaurant one time,this one bloke comes in and says he wants to order some food as he is sponsoring lunch at the NW ohio mundir and wants to offer the food as prasad and that the food must contain no meat,well guess what the pansy ordered for himself to take home? F##KING TANDOORI CHICKEN!
LOL if that’s not a double standard,i would like to know what is.
p.s has anyone else tried the veggie burgers from BK?they’re actually not bad at all,i had one yesterday and man,it’s way better than the frozen one’s you get at the store….
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: This is coming from the people whose saints like vivekanandaji ate beef …
Really? But when you write something interesting like that you must provide links so that we can read more about it.
2. BK Burgers? Yes, a few times. ๐
3. But the point in the Samosa case is that the buyers asked for Vegetarian Samosas and were given Meat Samosas. When you shop, you must get what you ask and pay for.
For instance, you can’t go to Best Buy and pay for an iPad 2 and then come to discover your bag contains the nobody-wants-that-junk Samsung Galaxy 10.1. No no.
i didnt think it was such a hot topic,wendy doniger briefly quotes a newspaper clipping from the time he visited chicago,
http://books.google.com/books?id=4osYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR25&lpg=PR25&dq=vivekananda++beef&source=bl&ots=4L9ZVDypgr&sig=upFFlJmlIXfkdRT8zQi_4wa_3wI&hl=en&ei=nWQwTphI6d_RAZGp_YYD&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=vivekananda%20%20beef&f=false
try this link,it should work
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Since the above source book for Vivekananda’s beef-eating is published by the Christian Literature Society of India, we must treat its contents with caution and skepticism!
my point is that most hindus in india and nepal are non vegetarians so that guys claim that hinduism has zero tolerance for meat eating is complete bull-$#hit!
I am a vegetarian myself but i would never sue someone for accidentally serving me meat samosas!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: i would never sue someone for accidentally serving me meat samosas!
Do you really live in America? ๐
yes i do,i recently (well it was in june) visited the shrine of the holy relics in maria stein ohio and had darshan of a piece of the true cross
http://www.mariasteinshrine.org/
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Do they sell Samosas in the Pilgrim Gift Shop?
Americans who have not tried Indian food don’t know what they’re missing!
no they dont,if you want that,go to baps chicago(bartlet) for good prasad(samosa’s)
Ganga cleansing etc argument is really funny. ๐
@rama dasa
Yes I know even some Brahmins eat non-veg. But still that doesn’t justify giving meat samosa instead of veg samosa.
Btw why do you read documents written by Christian society of India? Are you a converted Christian? And what is Maria Stein? Is it a shrine or museum?
I am not a christian.
FYI im NOT Indian, at least not ethnically. I have many friends who are priests,one of whom is a catholic father from mumbai and another who is an evangelical missionary who has churches in odisha(Orissa). Marie stein is a town in NW ohio where the Shrine of the holy relics is located.It is a combo shrine- museum like BAPS chicago or ISSO amdavad swaminarayan museum built by HDH 1008 Tejendraprasadji Maharaj of whom i have had the great fortune of meeting. BTW the original article was posted in a newspaper from the early 1900’s which was reprinted by the “Christian Society of India) the FACT that vivekanandaji and his disciples ate beef is well documented in wendy donigers book”Hindus an alternative history” as well as several other places(see link)
http://www.purebhakti.com/events/tour-reports-mainmenu-64/962-houston-radio-sri-krsna-and-demigods.html
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Nothing in above link supports Vivekananda ate beef. It says his followers ate beef.
All these vegetarians are looking for are some free samosas, a free roundtrip to Hardwar and some pocket money.
It is fine entertainment that they are not giving up easily. ๐
It was really funny reading http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a3059-09.pdf especially the description of samosas ๐
@rama dasa: “This is coming from the people whose saints like vivekanandaji ate beef and whose gods/goddesses (kaliji,bhairava ect.) are offered goats by the hundred thousand!?
LOL you never hear about nepali hindus complaining because almost all nepali hindus eat meat, same goes for the ones in bengal and kerala..when i went to a local indian restaurant one time,this one bloke comes in and says he wants to order some food as he is sponsoring lunch at the NW ohio mundir and wants to offer the food as prasad and that the food must contain no meat,well guess what the pansy ordered for himself to take home? F##KING TANDOORI CHICKEN!”
——
Facts that are immaterial to the fact that the clients were vegetarian and were given a wrong order (what meat was it, I wonder?).
Their needless hyperbolic response (cycle of sin, etc.) and the frivolousness of the lawsuit is duly noted, but ME deserves the scorn and wrath of its aggrieved clients, even though it seems like this was purely accidental and not intentional on ME’s part (would be a dick move if it were).
Messing up someone’s order is almost unpardonable in the food service industry- the likes of which you see elaborated with much vitriol on Yelp or any other food review site.
The negative publicity from this fracas alone is enough to malign what is according to SI, a restaurant already serving crappy Indian food.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: what meat was it, I wonder?
We ran a search on the court documents and it mentions just meat. No details provided on the kind of meat.
Hey Kamal, please provide details on what kind of meat was served to those vegetarians? ๐
2. The lawsuit and the resulting stress must have subtracted a decade from Moghul Express’ partner and CEO Kamal Arora’s life.
I wonder why they didn’t settle out of court.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Our hypothesis is that the plaintiffs (i.e. the Indian vegetarians in this instance) may have hired a lawyer on contingency basis, which means the lawyer makes money only if he wins.
In a contingency lawyer situation, it’s hard to settle because the stakes and settlement term are higher.
2. It’s also possible that Moghul Express may have underestimated the gravity of the situation and the determination of the aggrieved vegetarians who were served meat samosas.
hey im not saying that moghul was NOT wrong to mess up an order.
I would have been upset too…..i would’nt have taken them to court and asked for 2,000$ plane ride to india to visit hardwar.
Again someone who asks for something and gets something different has every right to complain,but asking that the restaurant get on its hands and knees and beg for mercy by paying for a trip to india is going a little too far.