As a vegan mentor, I was to write a small introduction to someone who needed a mentee. My small introduction took a larger form and I ended up pouring my heart towards the end. Here is goes:
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I was born into a meat eating family. Back in UK, my tween birthday celebrations usually meant a trip to McDonalds for what then felt like a mouth watering treat of fish and chips. Fast forward 13 years. After returning to India, my mommy went back to vegetarianism and insisting me to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. But just like most teenagers, I was way too intelligent than my own mom to decide what was best for me. In 2001 I met my cousin after several years. He was pursing his PhD in US and was visiting India on a vacation. I was utterly surprised, that he had chosen not to introduce meat, fish or eggs into his diet. Even being so far away from home, even when his vegetarian parents would have never known a thing about his newly adopted meet eating habits (if he choose not to share with them), even when he had all the chance to 'enjoy' his life, but choose not to. Piyush Bhaiya's revelation to problems such as world hunger, global warming and several other thoughts; all linked to increasing worldwide meat consumption; backed by deep reasoning and logic, and his stand behind a conscious decision of continuing a vegetarian diet, blew me away. I quit meat then and there.
Fast forward several more years later, a mom myself and a software engineer at Nordstrom; through a common friend, I came in touch a vegan ambassador on Facebook. The word and the concept was brand new for me. So for almost an year I would glance at his and other 2000 members' posts in a vegan group; created to connect Vegans; and rather choose to ignore their claims. As was evident from several posts, several of them were unrelated to each other and had by chance, accidentally or otherwise come across this vegan group. At the same time, quite unusually back then, no one person was endorsing their products. In my eyes, these people had emerged out as 'successful vegan leaders'. Leaders because, they had started the journey 20, 30 sometimes 50 years ago; all alone; with occasionally a few being blessed with a supportive spouse. These people had had first hand experience of animal torture, suffering and pre mature animal killings and unlike the majority of us, these people choose to put an end to that gruesome suffering. Some of them shared their tough journey. Their families were ruthless against them, these vegans were made fun of at family gatherings, they faced shame and sometimes isolation too; all because they cared for another living being. Another living being, who was not somewhere buried deep down in the food pyramid, who was not a profit making commodity, who had a life and a family of it's own and who had a desire to continue to live - just like humans.
I ignored those posts for a very long time, until in 2011, I finally made a choice to go vegan. Then the question arose - what about my kids? I have grown up with this absurd yet ingrained conation that a human can not stay healthy without cow's milk. My kids were my first priority, as I was responsible for bringing them to this earth. I felt the urge to fulfill their nutritional needs even if that meant at the cost of a calf's life. I felt torn apart between my new ideal world and the world I grew up in. Gradually through some contacts with strong vegan activists such as Richa Hingle, and more, I was put in touch with some very fine second generation vegans and other local vegan families with kids older than mine. With this knowledge - that with sufficient intake of greens, fruits and nuts my kids could not only stay heathy but also thrive; I was now all set on this vegan journey never once to look back, repent or regret.
When you send out positive energies of love and compassion out there in the world to those 50+ male calves, who are being killed every second world wide; and to their grieving cow moms, they reciprocate in the most unseen, unimaginable lovable ways.
Today with no dieting, shamefully no exercise, and 40 lbs lesser. With knees that don't need a surgery for growing pain; with a deo-less, if not exactly fragrant, but certainly bearable natural body scent; and with a better glowing skin that before; I am so proud that despite all the resistance from my closest loved ones in my life; I choose this path. I have a 7 year old boy. With close to 20 ear infections before his age 2, my home had converted into a mini dispensary (mini-pharmacy). After going door to door visiting several doctors from western medicines to alternate therapy, and hearing the same advise over and again, we finally had him off of dairy milk for several months; only to have his ear infections come back, when we restarted it. This was long ago I had heard the word vegan. With the cow's milk gone, so are gone all those painful ear infections. He wears thick frames though. My beautiful daughter, now 4.5 years is vegan since birth. She is strong brat. Sadly since she has alopecia, there is no month where I don't get to hear that her auto immune condition (alopecia) or my son's thick glasses are due to my bad food choices of not giving them the much needed cow's milk. I equate this stupid logic, to the same torture that women face in India from their mother in laws, for delivering a girl instead of boy - clearly knowing that the dad's chromosomes are responsible for the baby's gender.
There are people who have thrown all kinds of logic out there. Calcium logic, protein logic, random nutrition logic, plant feel pain logic, animal hierarchy logic, Krishna loved butter logic, 'but you are driving and also creating pollution' logic, 'why make decisions for your kids logic'. I have tried to address several of those in my previous blogs. People who could see a connection, have approached me, tried to change their lifestyle and taken an approach where animals are left alone as much as possible. Ironically others are still busy giving and asking for me for more logic!
The ground reality will always remain the same. I cant disassociate myself from the pain of a cow. She is a mom and so am I. I don't see a difference. But I do see several similarities between myself and those two Indian females, also very near and dear to me, who faced a lot of opposition for choosing a boy out of their caste. In the end their love won over all odds. These two strong women, came out victorious. In spite of their family's extreme opposition they got to choose and marry the love of their life.
In Geeta, Krishna says, "Focus on your doing, rather than bothering about their results as you would expect them to be; as the outcome is not in your hands". I try and try harder to follow it in principle, yet at the same time I anxiously wait for the day when my love for veganism - my life's third love (after my partner and kids) comes out victorious. I pray to Shivji to give me strength that after fighting all odds; like those two strong women, I too get an acceptance from that small bunch of people closet to my heart.
#GoVegan
For the humans
For the planet
For the animals
************************************
I was born into a meat eating family. Back in UK, my tween birthday celebrations usually meant a trip to McDonalds for what then felt like a mouth watering treat of fish and chips. Fast forward 13 years. After returning to India, my mommy went back to vegetarianism and insisting me to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. But just like most teenagers, I was way too intelligent than my own mom to decide what was best for me. In 2001 I met my cousin after several years. He was pursing his PhD in US and was visiting India on a vacation. I was utterly surprised, that he had chosen not to introduce meat, fish or eggs into his diet. Even being so far away from home, even when his vegetarian parents would have never known a thing about his newly adopted meet eating habits (if he choose not to share with them), even when he had all the chance to 'enjoy' his life, but choose not to. Piyush Bhaiya's revelation to problems such as world hunger, global warming and several other thoughts; all linked to increasing worldwide meat consumption; backed by deep reasoning and logic, and his stand behind a conscious decision of continuing a vegetarian diet, blew me away. I quit meat then and there.
Fast forward several more years later, a mom myself and a software engineer at Nordstrom; through a common friend, I came in touch a vegan ambassador on Facebook. The word and the concept was brand new for me. So for almost an year I would glance at his and other 2000 members' posts in a vegan group; created to connect Vegans; and rather choose to ignore their claims. As was evident from several posts, several of them were unrelated to each other and had by chance, accidentally or otherwise come across this vegan group. At the same time, quite unusually back then, no one person was endorsing their products. In my eyes, these people had emerged out as 'successful vegan leaders'. Leaders because, they had started the journey 20, 30 sometimes 50 years ago; all alone; with occasionally a few being blessed with a supportive spouse. These people had had first hand experience of animal torture, suffering and pre mature animal killings and unlike the majority of us, these people choose to put an end to that gruesome suffering. Some of them shared their tough journey. Their families were ruthless against them, these vegans were made fun of at family gatherings, they faced shame and sometimes isolation too; all because they cared for another living being. Another living being, who was not somewhere buried deep down in the food pyramid, who was not a profit making commodity, who had a life and a family of it's own and who had a desire to continue to live - just like humans.
I ignored those posts for a very long time, until in 2011, I finally made a choice to go vegan. Then the question arose - what about my kids? I have grown up with this absurd yet ingrained conation that a human can not stay healthy without cow's milk. My kids were my first priority, as I was responsible for bringing them to this earth. I felt the urge to fulfill their nutritional needs even if that meant at the cost of a calf's life. I felt torn apart between my new ideal world and the world I grew up in. Gradually through some contacts with strong vegan activists such as Richa Hingle, and more, I was put in touch with some very fine second generation vegans and other local vegan families with kids older than mine. With this knowledge - that with sufficient intake of greens, fruits and nuts my kids could not only stay heathy but also thrive; I was now all set on this vegan journey never once to look back, repent or regret.
When you send out positive energies of love and compassion out there in the world to those 50+ male calves, who are being killed every second world wide; and to their grieving cow moms, they reciprocate in the most unseen, unimaginable lovable ways.
Today with no dieting, shamefully no exercise, and 40 lbs lesser. With knees that don't need a surgery for growing pain; with a deo-less, if not exactly fragrant, but certainly bearable natural body scent; and with a better glowing skin that before; I am so proud that despite all the resistance from my closest loved ones in my life; I choose this path. I have a 7 year old boy. With close to 20 ear infections before his age 2, my home had converted into a mini dispensary (mini-pharmacy). After going door to door visiting several doctors from western medicines to alternate therapy, and hearing the same advise over and again, we finally had him off of dairy milk for several months; only to have his ear infections come back, when we restarted it. This was long ago I had heard the word vegan. With the cow's milk gone, so are gone all those painful ear infections. He wears thick frames though. My beautiful daughter, now 4.5 years is vegan since birth. She is strong brat. Sadly since she has alopecia, there is no month where I don't get to hear that her auto immune condition (alopecia) or my son's thick glasses are due to my bad food choices of not giving them the much needed cow's milk. I equate this stupid logic, to the same torture that women face in India from their mother in laws, for delivering a girl instead of boy - clearly knowing that the dad's chromosomes are responsible for the baby's gender.
There are people who have thrown all kinds of logic out there. Calcium logic, protein logic, random nutrition logic, plant feel pain logic, animal hierarchy logic, Krishna loved butter logic, 'but you are driving and also creating pollution' logic, 'why make decisions for your kids logic'. I have tried to address several of those in my previous blogs. People who could see a connection, have approached me, tried to change their lifestyle and taken an approach where animals are left alone as much as possible. Ironically others are still busy giving and asking for me for more logic!
The ground reality will always remain the same. I cant disassociate myself from the pain of a cow. She is a mom and so am I. I don't see a difference. But I do see several similarities between myself and those two Indian females, also very near and dear to me, who faced a lot of opposition for choosing a boy out of their caste. In the end their love won over all odds. These two strong women, came out victorious. In spite of their family's extreme opposition they got to choose and marry the love of their life.
In Geeta, Krishna says, "Focus on your doing, rather than bothering about their results as you would expect them to be; as the outcome is not in your hands". I try and try harder to follow it in principle, yet at the same time I anxiously wait for the day when my love for veganism - my life's third love (after my partner and kids) comes out victorious. I pray to Shivji to give me strength that after fighting all odds; like those two strong women, I too get an acceptance from that small bunch of people closet to my heart.
#GoVegan
For the humans
For the planet
For the animals
