Chicken or beef? Airline pays for wrong choice

KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 9 (Reuters) A court has ordered Malaysia's national airline to pay a Brahmin Hindu 20,000 ringgit (5,775 dollar) to compensate him for mental anguish suffered as a result of being served a chicken meal during a flight, local media reported today. Arvind Sharma, a cargo agent for Dell computers in India, experienced depression, shock, stress and humiliation after the chicken meal on the Malaysian Airline System flight from Bangalore to Kuala Lumpur four years ago, magistrate M Rajalingam said.

''Being born in a Brahmin family, having been brought up in the Brahmin way of life and being a vegetarian accords him a social status and is addressed with the honorific 'Pundit' in India,'' Rajalingam was quoted as saying by New Straits Times.

''The tort committed upon him in this instance has been fortified by the evidence that he is a strict Brahmin who has never consumed meat in his life.'' Arvind threw up after tasting the chicken, the report said, having originally ordered a vegetarian meal.

REUTERS SV SSC1010