(Image source from: Unilad)

An Indian origin Hindu man in New Zealand is fighting a David vs Goliath battle against a local supermarket after he ended up eating beef because of a mistake made by the store.

Jaswinder Paul, who moved to New Zealand two decades ago, had asked the store to fork up round-trip airfare to India so that he can purify his damaged inner being.

Jaswinder Paul says Hinduism mandates that he now come back home and "do sacred things for four to six weeks, and be purified by priests". "It's a long process," Paul told Stuff.co.nz, a local news website.

Paul's fight with the grocery store dates back to September earlier this year when he bought a package of "roast lamb". According to Stuff.co.nz, Paul, who runs a barbershop, cooked the meat and ate it before realizing it was actually beef and not lamb, that the label on it claimed.

And ever since, Paul said, his family has turned down to talk to him.

Paul realized that he must cleanse his soul in order to "continue on (his) religious path". And so, Paul approached the supermarket - Countdown in New Zealand's Blenheim town - and asked them to fund his 'yatra' back home.

The supermarket apologized for mislabeling and consequently offered Paul a gift voucher, according to a spokesperson for the supermarket who spoke to Stuff.co.nz.

But Paul declined, in hope that the supermarket would come to its senses and pay up the money required for a cleansing trip back home. However, the supermarket did no such thing.

And now, according to Stuff.co.nz, Paul is considering knocking on a court's door, even though he does not want to. "I don't want to go to court against a big corporation. I just want to go home," Paul said, adding that it may look like a "simple matter" but for him, it is "very hard".

"I know my society back from my home will not accept me with this breach of the religion's conditions."

By Sowmya Sangam