The Vegan Journey of Sai Krishna Anand | Vegan Beings India #072

 

Cows have been a big part of my life growing up. Ever since I was 3, I used to save food secretly and feed it to a cow that regularly showed up outside our house. You always hear that "cows need to be milked", but are never given the reason. Of course, society does not want you to know that the calves are taken away from their mothers, not given their birthright and that we use their milk instead for a 5-minute meal. Even the government subsidies dairy products in India to make them more available and profitable. All these facts drove me into a corner, with going vegan the only logical way out.

I read the word 'vegan' for the first time on a Vicco toothpaste, when I was around 16. However, being a cow lover since my childhood, I assumed that veganism is unnecessary since cows are meant to be holy in India and there would be no suffering in the dairy industry. Right? But no! 

At the beginning of 2019, I got introduced to Joey Carbstrong's (a famous activist) videos and the sheer graphic and disturbing content going around in the dairy industry shook me to my core. The fact that humans need to breastfeed off another species as a whole just sounded so wrong. I went vegan then, but regretfully, couldn't hold up in my college mess, with almost every other meal involving paneer. I decided to have vegan stints every time I came back home, but eventually, I had enough of my hypocritical lifestyle and ditched dairy for good in March 2020.

A month into my vegan journey, I saw Covid-19 put the world on brakes. This allowed me to conduct proper research into vegan diets and lifestyles in general. Having been actively going to the gym, I went deep into how to fulfill my protein requirements. As it turns out, it's almost too easy. Even before I went vegan, I used to consume plain, boiled soya chunks, and I just stuck to that alongside tofu and tempeh (And yes, soya is perfectly healthy to consume daily xD). Plant protein powders can directly substitute whey, which makes everything easier.

Another misconception I had before turning vegan was that the whole lifestyle would be more expensive. I could not have been more wrong! The fact is that you start getting creative with what you eat, and most of the creativity lies in the process, not the ingredients.

The South Indian diet is almost entirely vegan, as ghee, butter, and curd are mostly used as sides and not the main dish itself. Once I realised this, transitioning became much more comfortable. Moreover, I got to know that plenty of junk foods are unintentionally vegan. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out Oreos are vegan xD. Even though I don't have a lot of junk, it's always nice to have a secret last resort :).

Of course, there are expensive vegan mock-meats and processed foods, but that remains the case for non-vegan food too. There are always different tiers of prices based on whether the food is an easily accessible grain when compared to factory-processed goods. At the root, whole foods like grains, fruits, and veggies are still the cheapest and healthiest options, so there's not much truth in the "veganism is expensive" debate.

Thinking about going vegan for the rest of your life can be daunting at the start. Of course, once you make the connection between the food on your plate and the life of an animal, everything simplifies very easily. But it's easier to think about just trying to make your next meal vegan, one meal at a time. 

I've gotten used to eating much healthier once I turned vegan, and my endurance and recovery have improved a ton. Having plenty of water is very important to not just keep your body heat in check, but to shut down junk cravings. Personally, having alternative sources of hydration like watermelon, cucumber, tender coconut water, etc is a must-do for me, because it makes me think that I've eaten something rather than just hydrated myself. Either way, the end goal is to keep your body cool, and based on preference and availability, anything works well.

If you're passionate about vegan activism, the best tool in your hand is social media. Even if one in 100 react to some content and change, that's one less person harming animals. Try to constantly build up your knowledge in both industrial and health topics regarding veganism. It helps in convincing a person to take that leap. Every small bit is useful to plant a seed in someone's mind even without your knowledge!

Hey folks! I'm Sai Krishna, a native of Tamil Nadu. I just finished my CS degree at NITK and aspire to own an animal sanctuary sometime in the future :) I'm attracted to most outdoor sports, and I'm mainly a football fanatic :P Other than football, I actively enjoy going to the gym, running and cycling. I also play computer games in my spare time.

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The Vegan Journey of Chandan Mohapatra | Vegan Beings India #052

 

I rarely used to think about the ethics of eating meat. My concern was not for animals, but for myself. I thought that if eating animals is wrong, then I may get punished by karma. When I considered the ‘right or wrong’ of eating meat, I used to give myself silly excuses like “we kill and eat plants even though they have life”, “food chain” and “it’s okay to eat animals which are bred for the purpose of meat”. I considered these excuses as facts so that I can continue eating meat without any fear. Yes, I say fear because guilt was never in my mind as I never empathized with the animals whose flesh I used to eat.

Consumption of animal products was always the norm because of the upbringing in my family and due to society, which never encourages thinking about consuming animals’ meat, milk and other things which contribute to animal cruelty. 

When I came to know about Acharya Prashant, I started watching his educational videos like: how to focus on studies, how our mind works, etc. His videos provided me with so much clarity. Soon, I started following him regularly & watched his videos on various topics.

On the morning of 30th October 2020, one of his short videos popped up in my recommendations. That video was about meat and it was quite thought provoking. It opened my eyes because for the very first time in my life, I imagined myself in the position of the animals whom I used to eat. I considered it seriously. How would I feel in the place of the chickens, fish and goat?

Then, I realised the stupidity of the excuses I used to give myself. I came to know that plants are indeed living beings, but they are not sentient, as they don't have a central nervous system. So, they are unable to feel pain. When I thought about the food chain, it was not that difficult to realize that we are not part of the food chain anymore.

That day, I watched a lot of videos about impact on animals when we eat meat and realized that meat eating can never be justified, just like child abuse, rape and other injustices. That evening, I watched a 49 minutes speech about animal rights by Arvind, an animal rights activist. I watched it carefully and gained a lot of clarity and learned a new word: vegan.

Until then, I thought that only meat and leather were wrong. But, after listening to the speech, I came to know that dairy is equally cruel and I could not believe it. I was in complete shock. I decided to find out about dairy from other sources, so I searched and got a detailed video - Unholy Cattle of India. I could not believe it. 

To confirm whether everything in that video was true, I called one of my friends whose father has a dairy farm. He confirmed that it was true but told me to not get emotional and that it’s normal to artificially impregnate cows and buffaloes. He said that all the practices are compulsory to make the business profitable and that at the end of the day, it is about money. I cried so much after finding out that everything explained in the video was true. I felt very sad and disheartened because I was a part of the dairy and meat industry for 18 years of my life. I could not sleep that night because what I witnessed was so eye-opening. When I faced the truth, it did not take much time for the realization to set in. 

I told my younger sister and mother about this and showed them the videos. They too connected with the animals who are the victims. We realized that it does not make sense to love one animal, but eat another. We have a dog and we love her. We realized that the chickens, fish, goats, cows and other animals who are made to go through hell are as innocent as our dog, so we eradicated speciesism from our lives and decided to go vegan. 

Going vegan for me and my sister was not at all hard because we asked each other this question: Which one is easy:

 • To stop being a part of the animal Holocaust by going vegan and not taking things that did not belong to us or,

 • To let innocent voiceless beings suffer so much pain, suffering, lifetime in jail, continuous sexual abuse and finally, murder?

We were clear that now, whatever happens, we will never support this injustice. I promised myself that I will not only be a vegan, but also use my voice for the voiceless to raise awareness among people to make them understand how their daily choices are affecting an innocent voiceless being. I never had any transition phase.

After turning vegan, I found that one needs three things to go vegan: awareness, honesty and empathy. Since then, I have become more open minded and my ability to analyse things and situations critically has improved a lot. Now, I feel fitter and more energetic than ever. I feel I have become more friendly and honest.

My advice to non-vegans would be: Visit slaughterhouses and dairy farms, or watch the footage of what is happening there and honestly ask yourself: 

 • How would I feel if I were them? 

 • Do I really have to eat their dead body parts? 

 • If my taste is causing so much pain and suffering to an innocent animal who has done no harm to me, is it worth it? 

If you are against the injustice happening to cows in the dairy industry, and chickens and goats in the slaughterhouse, then it should be enough to go vegan.

To all the animal rights activists out there, remember, Veganism is a social justice movement just like our freedom struggle. Our freedom fighters fought for our human liberation. We activists are fighting for animal liberation. It’s an honour to be a part of this freedom struggle.

Hello everyone, I’m Chandan Mohapatra, a first year college student staying in Bangalore. I belong to an Odiya family. I love reading, watching videos about spirituality and I am into fitness activities like running, rope skipping, football and swimming. I do activism by making videos to raise awareness about animal rights. I have a younger sister and we both decided to go vegan together around a year back.

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The Vegan Journey of Arvind Krishna | Vegan Beings India #041

 

It’s been around three years been entirely vegan, meaning no whey protein either. Lol!

It was a combination of environmental, ethical, and health reasons that I turned vegan. I had a series of bad injuries, then after doing a lot of research I decided to go vegan. It was the best decision ever. I was able to recover much better than before and now I’m at the peak of my game at the age of 36.

Being vegan, in the early days, was very difficult for me. Our diet has a lot of dairy products in it. But I decided I have to stick to it if I wanna see results. Also, I strongly feel that even dairy products and how they are sourced are just as cruel as non-veg food is. Socially it’s been difficult since many don’t get it and when you go out you have to have a detailed talk with the chef etc! 

Initially, I was maybe shy to voice the reasons why I am vegan. However, now, I’m very vocal. People now listen since they see that I’m dominating on the court or looking better than before and as an actor, many take notice of that. So people are always looking for such results. Once they see that, they are more likely to listen. Then I tell them about the other reasons why I turned vegan.

After being vegan, I’ve lost fat. My skin is much better. My recovery after workouts is far better. My digestion is far better. I’ve noticed that I’m much calmer. My spiritual inclination has become clearer. My speech and diction too improved. I am not sure of the connection but non-veg and dairy do affect the thickness of the tongue I read somewhere.

I want people to see my work, my fitness, my results, and then I want to attribute a lot of that to being vegan.

To anyone up for the challenge: let’s lift, run and jump, and see who’s better! If I beat, then you turn vegan! :D

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