The Vegan Journey of Abhinav Bajpai | VBI #025

 

After doing outreaches on vegan awareness in 6 metro cities of India, I came to a conclusion about the problem: Lack of exclusive vegan options and awareness. Hence, I co-founded Kolkata's first vegan cafe, Ubuntu Community Cafe in 2019. The response to the cafe has been great and quite satisfying so far.

Before this, I was working as an environmentalist and that's when I got to know about the connection between animal food products (meat, dairy, etc) and climate change. That was my initial spark. Thanks to an open-curious mind, I researched and found the health and compassion angle of my diet and lifestyle. So, I became vegan for all of the reasons around 5.5 years back. After turning vegan, I understood the true meaning of the phrase that ‘We are what we eat!’

Being a minimalist, it was not a big challenge in adopting the lifestyle for me. Dairy-based desserts were my last and longest excuse but didn't last more than 2 months. A larger challenge was to be aware and be among people who don’t resist the idea. I was a vocal activist and learned a lot about how not to put the message and how to put the awareness to have a positive outcome. When I became vegan, I was in South India. The basic food options are by nature vegan there, so it was very easy for me. We found out that Kolkata didn’t have that many options then. Hence, our choice was Kolkata for the cafe.

All of us are changing the world through our constantly evolving habits. We need to understand the impacts of our habits on ourselves and the world around us, and take necessary steps. Together we need to create a better world for ourselves.

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The Vegan Journey of Diya Gupta | VBI #024

 My vegan journey started 3.5 years ago when my family and I came across a vegan festival in Mumbai. Compassion for animals inspired me to go vegan. After turning vegan, being a chef I got a chance to work with a whole new variety of new ingredients and I loved the challenge of changing non-vegan things to vegan. This move also made us part of a huge vegan community and we got a chance to meet wonderful people and share experiences.

The transition was a little tough for me and it was difficult in social situations when I went out with friends. However, being a chef I loved the process of learning vegan food and making it look attractive. A tip for vegans is to keep motivating yourself by watching documentaries and having amazing vegan food to keep you committed on this journey.

My biggest achievement was during the 2020 lockdown, when I got a chance to make 1000 peanut butter balls for charity with Million Dollar Vegan, a global nonprofit dedicated to educating people about veganism. On 15th August 2020 in collaboration with million dollar vegan, we donated 1000 gift boxes to the women and children of Kamathipura, Mumbai. The box contained peanut butter and chocolate truffles, made by me and sanitizers and masks by other vegan brands along with a leaflet spreading awareness about veganism. It was a wonderful experience for me and I was so proud to be able to help with the initiative. I am extremely thankful to million dollar vegan for their efforts.

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The Vegan Journey of Richa Sharma | VBI #023

 

I’m Richa Sharma, a teenager, and a self-made vegan chef. I love spending time with any animal I meet.

I had a negative approach towards veganism in the beginning as I loved paneer and cheese a lot. I thought I would have to leave everything and stick to that one whole veggie meal, but when I went vegan my perspective changed and I tried new recipes almost every day. I got to know how amazing veganism is. I got more disciplined and learned how to control taste buds especially when it’s animal products. Yes... it is hard to control everything but someone's life is more worthy than anything else.

My twin and I, both were huge supporters of PETA. Those horrific videos made me go vegan without even worrying about any alternatives. To me, veganism is a discipline. Personally, I don’t do activism nor convince anyone to go vegan. It takes determination to be a vegan...to leave your ego aside and help animals. Veganism is not a choice but a token of kindness towards animals. Although I don’t do activism, I rescue any animal/bird in need. I’m kind to animals/birds and insects in my surroundings. I cuddle some of them instead of shooing them off.

I feel so positive after turning vegan. I have discovered so many dishes that can be veganised and I’m loving them.

The one belief that has kept me vegan is that “No meal is worthy especially when it comes from terrible sufferings and screams of innocent beings.”

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The Vegan Journey of Vismaya Kulkarni | VBI #022

 

I'm a psychology graduate & an animal rights activist. I aspire to contribute to the field of animal psychology some day. I've been trying low waste living since quite a while. I'm the founder of @luna.upcycle.store , an upcycling store on Instagram. My heart is where art is. I have a blog too!

I remember watching Peta's videos on Facebook back in 9th grade. I can clearly recall the horror the animals went through in those videos. I spoke to my mom about it, who then introduced the term 'vegan' to me. Unfortunately, back then, there wasn't much awareness & exposure about veganism in my 14 year old self's life. But, as I grew up, so did my love for dairy. 

When I got into college, I still used to watch Peta's videos occasionally. The fear & tears in those animals' eyes as they were being dragged, gives me chills even today. One day, I looked at my dog, and it just struck me. I realised, if I didn't want the same thing happening to my dog, then how could I let it happen to other animals? 

My empathetic self soon knew that I had to go vegan, but I didn't know how. Fortunately, at college, I met many other vegans & got the exposure to veganism & alternatives that I badly needed. That's when I turned vegan overnight, because I couldn't let even one other animal suffer because of me. I soon learnt that I had to do my own research on it, and when I did, I learnt about even more benefits & results of going vegan- like for the environment, my own health, etc. But to this day, my number one reason to go vegan is for the animals.

Since the products I was craving were easily available, it took a lot of will power on my side to continue being vegan initially. I still feel like, if my will power was not that strong like it was, I would've given up easily (but thank goodness, I didn't!). This is why I always tell people, if I can do it, so can you. 

A major achievement of mine would be showing people the truth through my page @planetontheplate and them going vegan because of that. I feel like I've not only changed so many animals' lives, but also people's. I have also hosted multiple events & have also been a panelist at few. I realized being vegan isn't enough, I have to have a holistically sustainable lifestyle. So, I've been trying low waste living, which led me to create @luna.upcycle.store, where I use items deemed as waste to create beautiful & functional products from them.

With all my efforts, I aim to make people aware of the truth as well as help them adapt a vegan & sustainable lifestyle.

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