[Raj_Copi_Jin]

Dear Ramanathan,

Culture has an impact on genes over a length of time. This is not a baseless statement. This has been proved scientifically by anthropologists beyond doubt. If your ancestors had chosen deliberately to follow a certain cultural practice(culture includes specific food habits too) and had followed it for a long time it would mean your genes have been influenced sufficiently by these practices. Why do you want to experiment now with a 180 degree turn around?

Once in Kerala I was in a hotel partying with friends ( in Kottayam). Many of my friends are hard drinkers who can manage their drinks well. I do not drink alcohol. a christian friend in the group that day was insisting that I should taste a peg of good quality whisky and when his request became repetitive and insistant, another friend of me who is also a christian said this to his friend " Leave him alone. Dont make him taste liquor. Knowing him as a pattar (malayalam for brahmin) I wont recommend that . If he gets a taste for whisky he wont stop with a peg or two or three as we do but will go full length into it to find what is there at the end. That is what a pattar is". May be that is why I recommend to every brahmin friend of me to avoid liquor. I know there are pattars who manage themselves well despite the drinks. I do not mean that they are not pattars.
Cheers.