The Vegan Journey of Sunil KG | VBI #026

 

My journey with cycling started with a cycle to work campaign supported by a company sponsored cycle. It inspired me towards the fitness & cost saving for fuel expenses. Gradually, I got associated with community riding within Bengaluru city involving environment-related initiatives. With all these rides, my endurance reached up to 100 KM rides within city outreach on every weekend.

As I was motivated towards an eco-friendly and healthy lifestyle, adopting Reduce, Refuse, Recycle, Reuse was imperative for me. After being confident by training with gogreengocycyling community, I started with short-long distances. 

To improve my strength and endurance, I started running for 10 KM, half marathon and marathons. Soon, I got inclined towards long distance cycling. Solo rides of 6000 to 10000 km and running barefoot marathons has now become my regular lifestyle. I’m an avid triathlete, and have actively participated in more than 30 campaigns for environment and health protection campaigns by various organisations. 

Having realised the cause and effects of highly processed food & beverage products on health and environment, the quest for opting better food sources closer to nature started. Although I wasn't a non-vegetarian, bling eating of poultry-based, seafood and alcohol consumption was there in the past sedentary lifestyle. With an urge to reduce body weight management and to improve fitness, my food consumption pattern shifted towards healthy lifestyle choices. Over the time, I’ve experienced that a vegan diet is the most viable choice for our healthy nutritional needs even in connection with a high intensity endurance racing format like triathlons, and the vegan lifestyle can provide results for long-term performances as compared to other dietary options.

Health, Environment, Compassion - all  the aspects had led me to veganism. I have been a vegan for more than 6 years. Initially, I had issues in figuring out the alternatives. However, that phase didn't last long.

I believe we beings are all connected with the Universe and it operates with Compassion. We need to align ourselves with the universe.

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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 Jaabili | VBI #011

A software developer and an animal lover. She loves gardening, painting, singing and upcycling waste products into useful products. All her upcycling experiments can be found on Instagram at @thesoulmushroom.

What made you go vegan?

As a kid, I was fascinated by nature and animals. A year ago, I read articles on how animals are tortured and brutally murdered just so we can include another dish on our menu, which devastated me. After that phase of research, I became a vegetarian and partly vegan. I have a sweet tooth and I used to occasionally eat sweets and desserts until a few months back. I felt guilty for eating them at times, but I also realized that it's a journey and we don't need to be perfect from the start. Instead, it's the steady transition that matters. Now, my mom makes vegan sweets for me with plant-based milk and I am happy to see them transitioning too! 

How was your transition phase or initial days being vegan? 

It was a gradual process. I remember watching some videos online. When I saw those videos, it was enlightening yet disturbing. I felt really bad for eating meat all my life. I started reducing my consumption. At first, I made sure that I had meat no more than once or twice in a month. Gradually, I no longer felt any craving to eat non-veg food. So, I first turned vegetarian. After that, I turned vegan around 5-6 months back.

Any particular struggle you faced being vegan and would like to talk about? 

I used to find it hard to explain to people why I turned into a vegan in the first place, especially to relatives and colleagues. But, now I feel that everyone needs to know this. This is something that could change their life in many aspects: their health, self-awareness levels or life choices. After months of research, I realised the health benefits of a vegan diet and its power to reverse diseases and heal the body.

What was the final turning point which made you take the decision? 

There was a turkey that came from a farm near my house. I don't know how but my dog, Ramu, and that turkey became really good friends. Once, my dog saved the turkey from a cat. They play together and enjoy themselves. It's really weird and nice to see them. Usually, dogs don't do that. 

After seeing their bond, I felt that if a dog can have such a conscience and make a choice to not eat the turkey, given he has enough food, can't we as humans who call ourselves ‘elite beings’, make the choice? Why can’t we do so when there are alternatives? 

How difficult was it from non-veg to become vegetarian and then vegan?

It was not very difficult but I felt like it was the peer pressure in the initial stage that delayed my transition. My relatives and friends would ask why am I suddenly not eating non-vegetarian food. I found it a little hard to tell all of them in my initial days. Apart from that, the transition was gradual and easy. I feel really happy that I took this step. Now, I see great improvement in my health and my thyroid is healing. I feel better and more compassionate towards other beings as well. 

How was veganism received by your family and friends? How did they react?

They were surprised by my sudden decision. They argued saying “Even plants are living beings, so should we stop eating plants?”. I explained that plants don't have a central nervous system and they don't have pain receptors. It's not required to cause suffering to other beings in order for us to survive. We have better choices and alternatives which are healthy as well as tasty.

In the case of my family, I'm telling more about why I'm vegan and how it benefits everyone. My parents are animal lovers and love gardening. Feeding animals like birds, squirrels, and stray dogs is their everyday routine. But they are not very aware of the systematic oppression happening. They think that without dairy, they won't get calcium and other vitamins. Gradually, I'm making them more aware and now they are trying to reduce the consumption of non-vegetarian products. They've almost turned vegetarian.

Earlier they were concerned about me and opposed my decision. But I was very stern and didn't change my opinion. When they realised that I was serious about my decision, they started trying to know more about veganism. I told them everything about it and the animal cruelty in the dairy and meat industries. I also told them about the health benefits of a plant based diet. I explained how it is traumatic to all the animals as well as for us to consume antibiotics. They also started their research and I feel so happy about it.

How is the transition for your parents?

They haven't adopted veganism completely. However, they have reduced their meat intake to a large extent except for the occasions when they go out. It was quite easy even for them because we don't eat out a lot. The only problem that occurs is when people keep questioning them when we go to family gatherings. Otherwise, it's not very tough.

Please tell us more about your upcycling and gardening.

I always try to make something useful out of waste products. Since I'm into gardening, I upcycle all the plastic waste that I have gathered over the years into planters. Mostly, I grow plants in them, or make some art and home decor pieces and gift them to my friends. I love art and music too, so I try to incorporate that into my upcycling experiments. I make gift items out of upcycled products. For example, I use coconut shells to grow plants or to store jewellery or as food bowls. I try to upcycle as many waste products as I can.

I started an Instagram page called thesoulmushroom recently. I want to document my journey of upcycling and conscious living in it. I post upcycling ideas on it. I created it so that others can also get inspired to live a more low-waste and eco-friendly life. 

A message for non vegans...

You don't need to be perfect. Start slowly by just limiting your animal product consumption and transition into a vegan lifestyle. Also, ask yourself why you want to go vegan. This is the most important part and don't shy away from doing your own research. I promise you'll never regret this decision :)

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The Vegan Journey of Vikash Bihani | VBI #009

Vikash Bihani is an environmentalist and a vegan for animals and the planet. He has worked for the environment and animal organisations including Greenpeace India and FIAPO (Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organization).  At present, he is the co-founder of Kolkata's first vegan cafe named "UBUNTU Community Cafe".

How did your vegan journey start?

I am an engineer and quit my job as one in 2013. I joined Greenpeace as a full-time employee after that because my passion was the environment. During those days, I realised how much plastic we were using. Right from our toothbrush to our daily use products, we use a huge amount of plastic. I started the change with myself by using eco-friendly products and always taking public transport. I have worked on myself a lot. In that journey, I got to know about how food is affecting our climate. Around 5 years back, when I got to know about all this, I turned vegan. Nobody used to talk about that back then. Now the situation is better, the awareness is increasing.

Although I was a lacto vegetarian, dairy also has a huge carbon footprint on the environment. I gave up dairy within a month. Initially, it was a little tough but the fact that I was living away from home helped. Even after quitting dairy, I didn't term myself as a vegan because I realised many products which I was using that time had milk solids, or they were animal tested. Gradually, in 3-4 months, I removed all the non-vegan products like toothpaste, shampoo, soap etc. Even today, I keep myself aware.

During this journey, I considered starting a vegan cafe. I thought it would be a good example to make vegan food accessible and also to show people how we can have equally good food without causing cruelty. Our cafe embodies Bengali dishes. We have vegan dishes of meat, chicken and prawn; everything is veganised.

Tell us more about the Ubuntu Community Cafe. How is the response?

The people of Kolkata love food, and they say that they are ready to die for good food. I decided to start a vegan cafe in Kolkata because even though it is a metro city, it has no vegan cafes. Thus, we started Ubuntu Community Cafe. Through this cafe, we also support activism, giving discounts to local activists who do street activism. We also have a big place on the terrace which we use for screening movies and documentaries related to health, veganism, and the environment. Recently, we did a screening of ‘The Game Changer’ and ‘A Prayer for Compassion’. We do a lot of engagement and through this, we bring together not only vegan communities but a lot of other communities as well because it's very important that others too get to know about veganism.

So far, the response is really good. Nowadays, even some non-vegetarians are coming to try these food items. Even in the present situation of lockdown, some of our customers are calling us and enquiring if we deliver our food. All this is quite motivating.

Big organisations working for the environment like Greenpeace, often don't say directly about animal agriculture. In your 3 years at Greenpeace, what are your insights about it?

When I was working with Greenpeace, I didn't know about animal agriculture and veganism. Even our campaigns had no mention about it and they never spoke about it. However, in recent times, they have started talking about animal agriculture. I asked the higher authorities about it, and they said we can’t suddenly come up with a new campaign without researching it. I understood their point. I got to know about another organisation called FIAPO - Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations. Earlier, I was volunteering with FIAPO during the weekends and doing my activism. Then, I realised that I'm done with Greenpeace and I moved to FIAPO as a full-time employee at Chennai. Till May 2019, I was working with FIAPO and then I moved to Kolkata and started my cafe.

How was your experience at FIAPO?

I was working in FIAPO at Chennai, the only employee there at that time. It was a little challenging compared to Greenpeace but yes, that was also related to sustainable development. I was mostly working with Jain communities in Chennai. These communities follow the path of ahimsa. My job was to talk to their religious gurus. I made them aware of how our milk is produced and how we can substitute that with plant-based milk. The campaign was more focused on ahimsa rather than veganism. I made them understand about animal cruelty. Because of their busy schedule, I used to go visit them early in the morning and had to wait in long queues. However, I did enjoy it and got to know a lot of the Jain community in Chennai.

What were your challenges while starting Ubuntu Cafe?

The first challenge was to find a place. Another issue was that it was a vegan food place so I received less support from my family. Also, we were starting in a place (Kolkata) where the majority of people eat non-vegetarian food. My partner and I started it with our savings and with the help of our friends. For one month we searched for a small and nice place to start the cafe. After that, we started setting up everything and finally, we launched in September 2019. We are India's first fully eco-friendly cafe. We don't use any single-use plastic. All the furniture is upcycled from waste material. We have a sofa seat which we got from an Ambassador taxi. During the time of setting up the cafe, we used to visit Rabindra Sarobar, a very famous lake in Kolkata. We used to talk to random people to make them aware of the issue as well as to tell us about our venture. We went for around 100 days and met many people. We met many vegans during this time as well. We met a person who is vegan for the last 30 years. However, all of them were isolated. After that, we also started potluck to get together. Throughout this, we met a lot of new people and it was a good experience. In September, when we started the cafe, most of our customers were vegan or someone in the transition phase. After 2-3 months, many non-vegetarians also started coming when they got to know that there is similar food available to what they are used to, except that it is plant-based. The good thing is they are liking it.

How is the vegan community in Kolkata?

I know around 200 vegans, so there are many vegans in Kolkata. On January 19th this year, The Telegraph, the leading English Daily in eastern India, covered our detailed story. It was only possible because of the support by many of them. The entire community is helping us move ahead.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

We all are learning and vegans aren't mocking anyone. The problem is not about right or wrong, but the lack of awareness. I would request non-vegans to explore those things, which are kept hidden by the media, government and the businesses. We need to work on ourselves to make the Earth a better place.

One more thing I would like to add is that many non-vegans and people who are in the transition phase say that being vegan is expensive. It is expensive only if you opt for high-end products like almond milk, mock meat or mock chicken every day. But most of the regular Indian food is vegan by default and full of nutrition. Be it rice-dal, roti-curries or idli, dosa, poha etc are by default vegan, given you don't add ghee or butter in them.

A message to non-vegans...

Every vegan was once a non-vegan and we all are learning every day and working on ourselves to become better. We are together on this journey of compassion. Believe me, if I can be vegan, then anyone can.💚💚

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