From being a hard core non vegetarian till May
2006 to eggetarian till 2016, he turned vegan when he got to know about eggs
and dairy. He is a software engineer, who loves cycling, badminton, and
outreaches. He was a person who could eat flesh and eggs for the whole week if
it were not for the auspicious Fridays and Saturdays. Presently, he takes every
opportunity to spread word about animal rights and the most favourite of his is
bus-journey activism.
Can you take us back to 2006, when you had quit non veg. What made you do that?
I was habituated with meat; I could eat it every day. Apart from Fridays and Saturdays due to a religious belief, my family used to consume meat the whole week. We would eat eggs, chicken, mutton, anything. I used to consume meat the most. On Sundays, I used to go to the market to purchase them too. I used to choose live chicken which was most healthy. In 2005, I was a student living in Hyderabad for my coaching. To reach my coaching institute I used to take an auto ride early in the morning everyday. There was a big slaughter house on the way and every day I used to see many goats and sheep standing outside of that slaughterhouse. One early morning, I saw three very young calves running in the opposite direction during the same auto ride. There was a guy chasing them on the road. Definitely, they would have been killed that day. I started thinking that this shouldn't be happening to the calves. Then, I realised that the plight of goats, sheep and chicken are also the same but I was consuming them. They also have the right to live. My transition began that time. I quit eating on my own, however on being insisted by family, I used to consume meat a bit. Within a few months, by June 2006, I had completely quit all sorts of meat.
You used to love egg so much, how difficult was
it to quit it?
It was instant. I watched the male chick’s maceration video of the egg industry a friend had shared on Facebook and got to know the cruelty behind it. Until then, I wasn't aware of it.. I didn't know about how equally cruel the dairy industry is! After watching various documentaries like cowspiracy, Forks Vs Knives, Earthlings, World According to Monsanto, Deadly Dairy, I understood the cruelty of the dairy industry too. I transitioned over a period of time. Few months before that, I had started consuming cheese and became quite addicted to it. I wanted to gain weight and for that reason I consumed cheese a lot. Curd also was my favourite. It took me a few weeks to quit dairy products but finally I turned vegan.
How was it at home? Were your parents convinced
easily?
My parents were not very convinced, but they never used to force me. My mom used to say sometimes, "I've made nice non-veg food, you can try it once and might change your decision". However, nobody forced me to eat meat. There were queries regarding why I am doing so.
You mentioned facing Hemoglobin deficiency. Can
you elaborate more on that?
In 2017, a year after I became vegan. I was diagnosed with very low hemoglobin at around 6.5 (Normal level: Male: 13.8 to 17.2 grams per deciliter ; Female: 12.1 to 15.1 g/dL). I felt lethargic all the time, I lost weight. I used to gasp for breath after climbing just around 15 stairs to reach my office on the first floor of a building. I can't express in words how I used to feel then. I used to feel like vomiting many times, sometimes dizziness too. I was finding it hard to taste things properly. But, I didn't know it was because of hemoglobin deficiency. After consulting the doctors, I got to know that due to low B12, my hemoglobin had reached such a low level. One doctor recommended transfusion, which I found bizarre. I went to an allopathic doctor, and he told me that I need to start non-veg food or dairy products until I recover. I told him non-veg and egg wasn't at all possible, even milk too. He asked me to start at least curd. I consumed curd for around a month. In addition, I had to take B12 shots for around 2 months. I had to consume beetroot juice, peanuts and jaggery too. So, I was fine within a month itself.
After that, I started analysing whether I will have to consume curd everytime this happens. I started researching on my own. I found out that consuming curd was not at all a necessity. It is not produced naturally by any animal or plant and has to be supplemented. Thus, I started taking supplements as per recommendations. Till now, I have never faced that situation again. Nowadays, many packaged foods are also fortified with B12. So, consuming them also can help people, but supplements are required.
Note: You can find about B12 supplements, dosage and more here: https://sharan-india.org/vitamin-b12/
Do you take any particular care regarding
nutrition in order to be active in sports?
No, I'm quite a simple person and eat regular food items. In Pune, I eat mostly from dabbawalas. It consists of roti, sabzi, dal and rice. Apart from that, I consume fruits.
How and when did your animal rights activism
start?
When I was having B12 deficiency, I used to find my food tasteless. So, I started looking for a vegan restaurant to see if that food might help. During that time, I got to know about the restaurant “Granny's Bowl”. There I met Jaya for the first time. She is the owner of that restaurant. I had an idea that we can have big billboards on the road promoting veganism the way it is done in western countries. I didn't know whom to talk to about this. I called Jaya and asked her if someone could sponsor that. Then, she mentioned Darshana Muzumdar. She is an animal rights activist. I talked to her, and we had a good discussion. She mistook me for the sponsor. I clarified to her about it. Later, she added me to the Living Free FIAPO group and asked if I can raise funds for that. That's when I came to know that there are so many vegans out there. I was a guy who used to shy away from talking to strangers. I wanted to do activism, but I used to think that people won't speak or listen to me.
In that group, there were frequent posts about outreaches. I used to think that convincing people to change their food habits or even talking to them about it would be difficult. One day, I watched Darshana's “morning walk talks” video. She was talking to some people and telling them about the dairy industry. I watched a few more videos of that outreach. Similar conversations were there in all of them and people were getting convinced. Then, I realised that this is quite easy and I can do it myself.
I told the group that I want some leaflets and I want to do it my way. I wanted to do it in buses because I used to commute by bus every day to my office. Darshana asked me to contact Astha from Vegan Outreach. I spoke to her and she asked me to come to one of the outreaches to collect the leaflets. Astha and Vaibhavi were already there. They were about to start the outreach. I took the leaflets from there and was about to leave. Then, Astha asked me if I wanted to do the outreach that day, since I was already there. They explained to me how to go about it and made me feel comfortable. When I saw that people were listening to me, it was a great experience for me. All this gave me the confidence to reach out to people. After that, I used to speak to people during my commute, at least one person a day. Most of the time people used to listen to me, and as the number of listeners increased, so did my confidence. Earlier, I used to be nervous to initiate the conversation. However, over a period of time I became quite comfortable.
Once, as I was coming back from the office, I met two ladies on a bus. I started talking to them about the cruel dairy industry. They were asking questions about the nutrition aspect too. By the time the conversation ended, they were quite convinced of what I was saying and agreed to my point of view. Coincidentally, they also got down at the same place. At the end, I got to know that they were homeopathic doctors. They said that whatever I told them made sense, which only means that even the doctors just memorise things without even asking themselves questions like, “Is milk not liquid baby food? Yes, then why do we recommend our patients to drink the milk of other species?”.
Your message to non-vegans...
We've become insensitive to the sufferings of others.“Others” is not defined and is different for everyone. Everyone has their boundaries. That boundary needs to be expanded so that we are compassionate towards not selected beings, but all the creatures on this planet. Many times, we turn a blind eye to the sufferings of others by thinking that it’s not our concern. If this sort of mentality continues, you can never expect peace on Earth. Please join the movement to make the world a better place to live in.