The Intersection Between Sexism And Speciesism

Last winter, we were doing a Vegan outreach near Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. We were speaking about Veganism, and distributing leaflets to the passersby. We are against leafleting because of environmental reasons, and giveaway the leaflets only to the people who looks interested/asks for them. A group of teenagers where passing by. A girl in the group stopped by, and asked us for a leaflet. We gave one to her. After receiving the leaflet she went forward to join her group. One of her male friend snatched the leaflet from her hand, tore it into pieces, and threw the pieces on the road. He said something to her in an angry tone which was inaudible. The girl turned to look at us, she was embarrassed. I was furious at the boy for tearing the leaflet and wasting resources. He could have easily returned the leaflet instead of wasting it.

Little did I know then that it was more concerning than merely the wastage of resources. Yesternight, while reading a study on how womyn are stigmatized for being Vegan, I realized that it was underlying sexism at play. It is a well known fact that Vegans are stigmatized by malzoans for being Vegan, but unfortunately, womyn are more stigmatized than their male counterparts. This is mainly because of the sexist belief that womyn cannot choose for themselves, and that their male counterparts have control over them.

Speciesism is as bad as sexism, because non-humyn animals, the victims of speciesism, are considered as the property of the speciesists, the humyn, just like womyn, the victims of sexism, are considered as the property of the sexists, the men. There is clearly an intersection between both kind of oppression. For more understanding on the issue, one can read "The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory" by Carol J. Adams

Caritas, Lux, et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

Mother

Oh mother, I can't tell thee how happy I am for thou,
as however in pain thou may be, thine condition is thousand fold better than that of a cow,
who in India is considered to be the holy mother,
but whose condition is not even a slightest better than that of an insect living in a gutter.

Thou must be thankful to thy luck,
that on the day of thy baby's birth, from thou he wasn't plucked,
and kept in a small crate till he is few weeks old and killed for veal,
without even thinking for a second that how woeful thou may feel.

While to give the most exclusive food to her child, mothers all around the world strive,
a mother cow, with sad eyes sees that her calves art from their own mother's milk being deprived,
so that her human counterpart can feed their lust on the milk that's not morally theirs,
which verily is not at all just or fair.

Today, while the mothers all around the world art being treated with respect,
their non-human counterparts art being treated merely as an object,
who art made to give birth just to fulfill their greed,
and at the death of the day, when they art no more useful, they art made to bleed.

People today art commemorating their own mother,
while ill-treating every other,
by consuming the flesh, skin and the milk that was not their own,
but of a mother's issue, who art in pain letting out a long, deep moan.

Meat, dairy, egg and animal skin,
which tears apart a mother from her kin,
art an insult to motherhood,
and to stop it, I will do all that I should.

In order to show my respect to thou,
I today take a solemn vow,
to free from cage every mother,
mine as well as other's.

To thou, oh lady and sire, I maketh an appeal,
that from a mother do naught steal,
her issue who art her only treasure,
merely for the sake of a moment's pleasure.

To all those who speaketh that I shouldst respect mother,
only mine's and naught other's,
I speaketh that a mother is a mother, thine as well as mine,
as well as of a bovine, canine, feline or a swine.

Oh mother, the world speaketh that I should celebrate how thou is related to me,
as if in this world, that is the only importance of thee,
but I think that we should celebrate the kind on person thou art,
and how in the betterment of this world thou plays a significant part.

~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

The Men In The Mask

Two men in uniform came by to ask,
about the whereabouts of men in the mask,
whom I know very well,
as they live not far from where I dwell.

They said that they are men of terror,
which to me seemed to be full of error,
as I know them to be compassionate men,
who have risked their lives to save many cows, dogs and hen.

They said that they are the chief,
of a group of vandals and thieves,
who break their ways into slaughterhouses and fur-farms,
in order to liberate animals from the jaws of harm.

They free the animals marked for death from their cages,
which cause business owner millions in damage,
which is considered to be a great crime,
as in this world instead of lives money is considered to be prime.

These men who are animal carer,
who works for the well-being of others,
of whose suffering nobody bothers,
are being termed as men of terror.

These men who fill you with awe,
are facing terror charge,
and are wanted by the law,
but are still at large.

They will finally be apprehended,
and will be wrongfully prosecuted,
and consequently be executed,
for protecting those who are not to be protected.

The law is illegally controlled by the businesses,
which use it as according to their selfishness,
and alter them as and when they please,
keeping law enforcement on a leash.

We live in such a dreadful time,
where compassion is considered to be an unpardonable crime,
where we prosecute those who liberate innocent lives,
on the back of whose suffering we illegitimately thrive.

~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

Unchain The Female Bovine

Many people have told me that it is Okay to rape and sexually abuse/exploit a female bovine because in return we take "care" of them (i.e. bathe them, groom them, feed them, etc.). It is a matter of common sense that non-human animals can and have taken care of themselves very well, and they do not require any human assistance for that. It is also evident from the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pobAqWCc8Fo) that they can meet their basic requirements and if they feel thirsty then they can quench their thirst on their own given that the Homo Sapiens haven't chained them in the very first place.

They also say that it is Okay to chain them 24x7 so that they don't "wander off". It is a scientifically proven fact that non-human animals are smart enough to take care of themselves and that they have a great knowledge of direction, even better than we Homo Sapiens. So the point that they will get lost is totally void. By making the point that they will wander-off if they will be unchained, they are also making a subtle point which they themselves are unaware of, and that is that those female bovine do not want to continue being their slaves and be sexually abused/exploited. Further, it is quite evident from the video that they can and do suffer from thirst and hunger as they are chained 24x7 and there aren't anyone to attend their basic needs. (Which wouldn't have been required if they wouldn't have been chained in the very first place). Further, they DO have the right to movement as and when they like to. We cannot strip them from that very basic rights of them.

So let me make it very clear that we are NOT doing them any favor by sexually abusing/exploiting them. So if we are sexually abusing/exploiting them and are consuming dairy/poultry, I expect that we show some integrity and accept the fact that we are doing so only to fulfill the lust of our taste buds. PLEASE do not try to justify it because whatever point we will put forward in its defense will be totally void. It is NOT Okay to perpetuate/deny/defend/justify wrong just because we are not at the receiving end of it. And stop calling non-human animals stupid. It is a scientifically proven fact that they aren't stupid. If we continue to call them stupid, then we are being speciesist and just doing so to make a void point of our human supremacy.

We do not deserve the wrongs we do, go Vegan.

 ~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

Something To Learn

Someone told me that since I am just 25 years old, I have much to learn. I personally believe that age has no correlation with the need of learning, and even if I would be unfortunate enough to live upto the age of 250, I will still have much to learn. I believe that everyone learn something new with every passing day. (Whether the things one learn is good or not is totally a different issue). And I really hope that what I will learn will be good things and not bad (including, but not limited to, indifference, hatred, speciesism, sexism, racism, perpetuating/denying/defending/justifying others suffering, etc.)

A couple of days back I had the opportunity of learning the fact that the name of a nation/religion/culture/race is more important then the well-being of the members of it. (Since this is not a good thing to learn, I am hopeful that I will unlearn it soon enough). There were people calling for the ban of a documentary just because it was exposing the atrocities the member of that nation/religion/culture/race were/are facing and thus asserting the fact that the name of a nation/religion/culture/race is more important than the well-being of its member. Also, some activists of that nation were offloaded, jailed and called "anti-nationals". It is really interesting to see how the people working for the better environment of a nation can be termed as "anti-nationals".

Now, at the same time, I also had the opportunity to learn about an incident where a nation ended a cruel and violent tradition of pig slaughter festival. The activists of that nation brought the issue to international attention. Did the expose brought a shame to that nation? It might have. But by bringing the issue to international attention, the activists made it sure that the issue is being addressed, and that people of the world will collectively voice for the end of it, which it did. Now it is very important to notice that because of it, the political heads of that nation did what was required to do, and stopped the wrongs instead of stopping the activist from voicing the wrongs, and thus asserting the point the well-being of beings are more important than the shame which is brought to a nation/religion/culture/race by the exposure of its wrong-doing.

I sincerely hope that we will make a world where people will be more concerned about the well-being of others rather than the shame the exposure of the atrocities of others will bring to a nation/religion/culture/race.

~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet. 

One "Fortunate" Day

It was the summer of 2003, I was 13 then, and was travelling to Varanasi by train. There was a Hindu saint/priest in our compartment. I don't know whether he was travelling with a proper ticket or not, most of them are freeloaders anyhow. As the train was heading closer to the destination, many had already deboarded the train. There was very few people left in the coach, and only three people in that compartment. He drew himself closer to me. He put his bhagwa cloth on my lower, and from beneath it, started fondling my penis. I moved from there. Some people will try to assert that that wasn't a sexual abuse, but I am certain that that was a sexual abuse.

I had kept my silence till now. I am fully aware of the fact that being silent about the wrongs is a heinous crime, and I am guilty as charged. Our silence is the biggest weapon that they use against us. But this is not about my plight. My plight is not at all important. It is about the plight of others who have suffered/is suffering similar fate. I don't know whether what happened to me was right or wrong, but what has happened/is happening to other's is definitely wrong. We live in a very grievous world where beings (male/female, human/non-human) are being sexually abused/exploited. And there are people who are trying to perpetuate/deny/defend/justify it as they have the luxury of not being at the receiving end.

I have kept my silence about was done to me, but I'm not going to be silent about the wrongs that is happening to others. I am not against the materialistic luxury of people, but I won't let people have the luxury of perpetuating/denying/defending/justifying wrongs on others just because they are not at the receiving end of it. I'll speak against it and will make sure that one fortunate day they will be stripped off their luxury of perpetuating/denying/defending/justifying wrongs on others just because they are not at the receiving end.

Sexual abuse/exploitation IS sexual abuse/exploitation no matter how much they deny/defend/justify it. And we are all, in one way or the other, guilty of it. If we are consuming dairy/poultry we ARE contributing to sexual abuse/exploitation of others (in this case, non-human females). But you can bring an end to it by going Vegan.

P.S.: There are some people who assert that a sexual abuse/exploitation is not a sexual abuse/exploitation if the victim does not show any psychological disorder. Although I wish that everyone will be safe and no one will have face such fate, but if on some unfortunate day someone gets sexually abused/exploited, ask that being to show psychological disorder, or else the sexual abuse/exploitation won't be considered as sexual abuse/exploitation.

~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

The Religions Of Peace

What kind of people does this? These Muslims are so brutal, they kill millions of innocent animals mercilessly to appease their God on Eid. First they start with killing innocent animals and then ends with killing "innocent" Homo Sapiens. This is the very reason why I burst fire-crackers on Diwali.

Oh wait, this isn't the picture from Eid but is from Gadhimai Festival. My bad. Carry on Hindus. Jai GadhiMai!!

People say that I should be proud of my Hindu linkage. Seeing the merciless slaughter of innocent animals, I am very "proud" of my Hindu linkage.

~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

Birthday Greeting!! (Vegan)

We are all gathered here today,

to celebrate this auspicious day,

which is marked as the birthday,
of hope's ray.

Many years ago you took birth,

in order to bring peace on Earth,

and to bring to an end,

to all the atrocities on our fur friends.

You became a Vegan after foreseeing,

that to contribute to the well-being,

 of the Earthlings as much as you can,

you have to become a Vegan.

By becoming a Vegan,

you not only increased your own life span,

but also have enhanced the state of the environment,

by taking part in sustainable development.

With every piece of meat,

you decided not to eat,

you saved an innocent life,

who otherwise would have been slaughtered by a knife.

And by not consuming dairy,

you saved many cattle from atrocities,

which they are subjected to in monstrosities,

whose very thought is extremely scary.

With leathers and wools that you decided not to wear,

you saved many animals from the fear,

of being taken away from their kin,

and being killed for their skin.

We are thankful of you,

who had a compassionate view,

and took a decision that was ethically right,

and which helped in ending other's plight.

So I and your foster kids,

whom you rescued as strays,

take the opportunity to bid,
you a very happy and a vegan birthday!!

And we wish that you our dear,
lives for many more years,
and may your heart be full of song and your life be content and full of cheer,
and may great accomplishment in your life be the things that be seen by a seer.

Happy Birthday!!

~Love, Light and Truth;

The Unknown Poet.

Edible Weapon

You don't need a bomb detonator in your hand to kill tens of thousands of people in a single day, a kitchen knife will suffice.

Food, along with water, which are the basic necessity for the survival of a human being can be used as a deadly weapon to control or to create mass destruction. Almost 1,50,000 people die every day and starvation alone accounts for 25,000 lives out it. This number is much larger than AIDS, malaria and TB combined or any terrorist attack till date. If any other country would have been responsible for so much death, countries would be waging wars against each other. But in this case, its not some other country which is responsible for death on such a large scale, but that country itself.

When a country is under an attack by a foreign force, it spends billions of dollars to offset the attack, but in case of starvation why don't governments do something to prevent it? Is it that the world doesn't produce enough to feed everyone? Mahatma Gandhi's answer to this question would be, “The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.”

The world produces enough food to feed everyone, but most of the food gets wasted. This happens mostly when cooked food gets un-utilized/uneaten or when raw food are fed to livestocks.

Food wastage by being un-utilized/uneaten accounts to 300 million tonnes of food while by feeding to livestocks accounts to nearly 760 million tonnes of food.

We can mitigate the wastage of un-utilized/uneaten food by doing weekly auditing of our grocery so that we don't buy new grocery before consuming the previous ones, by only cooking the amount of food that is actually required, by completely eating what is served in our plates and in the case of excess, by distributing excess of food among the needy.

The wastage of food by feeding to livestocks is the largest part of wastage and which poses severe threat to both, human health and environment.

We feed millions of tonnes of grain to factory farmed animals to filter nutrients through their organs and getting very less amount of food (meat) thus we are wasting a large chunk of food which would have been fed directly to the starving people.

In United States itself, some 95% of soybean and 75% of corn is used as livestock feed in order to produce 1 pound of beef from every 16 pound of grains. If this amount of grain would have fed directly to people, we could have ended world hunger by now.

Out of 22% of the global total Greenhouse gas emission which is caused by the agriculture sector, nearly 80% of it is accounted for the livestock production. As the available technologies for reduction of emissions from livestock production would reduce non-carbon dioxide emissions by less than 20%, we advocate a contraction and convergence strategy to reduce consumption of livestock products, mirroring the widely supported strategy proposed for greenhouse-gas emissions in general.

It is estimated that nearly 70% of the former Latin American forest cover has been cleared for grazing of the livestock, which takes 1/3rd or Earth's entire landmass and hence is the major cause of deforestation.

By choosing a completely plant base diet, we can not only safe billions of animals from terrible fate but will also be able to feed millions of starving people in addition to saving environment from a catastrophic destruction.

Philip Wollen have said, "Every morsel of meat we eat is slapping the tear-stained face of a starving child." Stop using your kitchen knife as an instrument for mass murder. The change is in your hand. Give priority to fork over knives.

Think before you eat and save the planet, humans and animal. Go Vegan!

By Harshad Gupta

My Journey To Atheism

Disclaimer: This post is not written to hurt any religious sentiment of any faithful religious person of any faith by any mean. (Readers discretion advised.)

[Above cartoon is drawn by Dan Piraro, an American cartoonist and a Vegan. Link: Bizarro.com]

"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." ~Abraham Lincoln

I am an Atheist, but I was not born one, to the contrary, I was born in a secular conservative Hindu family twenty two years back, who taught me to be spiritual instead of being religious and to respect every religion without any discrimination and made me to believe in what I used to say, "There is only one true God. And he is "God", who has no name, no religious followers, who is impartial to all creatures, who is just God." But one day something happened that shattered my faith in that "God", not any particular (as the the world thinks that there are many "Gods" in this world, who are all against other all) but in all sorts of "God" (if they do exist). That event made me think on what Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism said about "God":

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?

Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing?

Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing?

Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing?

Then why call him God?”

My second year finals were over and I was enjoying my summer vacation. That day, contrary to my habit, I went to bed early and consequently woke up early to find that it was a winsome morning in which I should go out to have a morning walk and enjoy some fresh cool breezes complimented with the sweet song of birds. After walking for half an hour or so, I felt urge to go to a restaurant, famous for its "kachauri and sabji", a kind of breakfast dish usually enjoyed by resident of the city of light which is known by the name of Varanasi, which also is my home town. But, as it was too early in morning, the restaurant was not open for business, so I went to the Ghats on the bank on River Ganges to sit there and enjoy the lovely morning. After devouring there for sometime, I thought of going to the an old bridge on the Ganges. On my way to the bridge on my bike, something happened that cannot happen just by chance but had some reason for its happening, (as according to the philosophy of Truth, "Every thing has a reason and every thing has a time" and as I have written in one of my blog post about happenings titled, "Happening, for a good".) I was taking the narrow street to the highway and just before their juncture, my bike went low on gas and it stopped there. There were two gas stations on either side of the highway, so I thought of giving my bike a little push to the gas station on left. As I was pushing my bike, I crossed a slaughter house, which I had crossed many times before also, but in those times may be I didn't noticed it, but this time I did noticed it and to add up to it, this time I was also a Vegan. The sight of the slaughter house completely baffled me, and this is when I thought that, "How can someone not be dazed by seeing how people take pleasure in others agony?" I was completely stupefied, and thought how can someone, in the holy city of Varanasi, murder some sentimental being so heartlessly. Then a thought sprouted in my mind that, it is not people who are solely responsible for the cold-blooded show of barbarism but are also the words of "mighty", "all generous" "God", which have been noted down in their holy books, that let these butchers murder so pitilessly. From that time onward, I decided to be an atheist and work against these Gods for the betterment of our non-human animal friends. This is when I read a quote from an anonymous writer that, "I am not interested in any religion whose cow, goat, pig, chicken, fish and other sentient beings have yet to experience freedom from the belly of its followers." and understood why majority of the Vegans are atheist.

You must be thinking that why a faithful religious follower like yourself is reading a crappy post of a non-faithful person speaking ill of the mighty God, so I want to make you aware of the fact that like me you are also an atheist. But you may be thinking that, how you being a faithful follower can be an atheist, then for that I will like to quote Stephen H. Roberts who said that, "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." 

Embrace The Future

A sustainable future is spreading its arms to embrace us all, like it was doing twenty years back, when leaders from every corners of the world where flying down to Rio for the first Earth Summit, to witness an unprecedented political will and commitment among governments to make a paradigm shift to sustainable development.

In June this year, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will once again fly down to Rio to attend the Rio+20, which is offering us a unique opportunity for our mutually interdependent world to secure renewed political commitment for Sustainable Development.

At Rio+20, seven critical issues like jobs, energy, cities, food, water, oceans and disasters will be dealt with, by focusing upon two theme agreed upon by the member states:

1. Green economy within the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.
2. Institutional framework for sustainable development.

Out of these seven critical issues, food is an issue which when dealt, can help us in dealing with other issues like public health, climate change, forest preservation and social justice.

Food which is one of the basic requirement for the survival of a being, along with water and shelter, is getting scarce as the human population surges towards predicted 9.1 billion people by the year 2050 and thus there is a call for an immediate change in our personal dietary habits as well as governmental policies pertaining to agricultural industries.

Advocating a Vegan lifestyle is the most effective yet the most neglected strategy for reducing food crisis, climate change, and deforestation, and therefore organizations should consider advocating veganism as a major part of their global warming campaigns. At a minimum, environmental advocates should mention veganism in any information about the actions the individuals can take to address global warming. Government policy should also encourage vegan diets. Possible mechanisms should include an environmental tax on meat similar to one already recommended on gasoline, and a shift in farm subsidies to encourage plant agriculture over animal agriculture.

Albert Einstein, a noted physicist can be attributed for the quote, "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet" which clearly depicts that a shift from an animal-based diet to a plant based diet can help us in tackling following issues:

1) Food Crisis: In many reports, it has been estimated that an animal based diet will consume 20 kilos of grains to produce one kilo of edible beef, 7.5 kilos of grain for a kilo of edible pork and 4.5 kilos for a kilo of edible chicken. Thus, if we consume the present amount of grains directly instead of feeding it to the livestock in order to produce the aforementioned amount of animal based food, we will be able to feed more mouths with the same quantity of grain that we produce at present and hence can tackle food crisis.

2) Public Health: A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that red- and processed-meat intakes were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality, and that the higher the red- and processed-meat intake, the higher the risk.
The report states that the people who consume animal-based food are 27% more likely to have cardiovascular disease, 20% more likely to have cancer and 11% of deaths in men and 16% of deaths in women could be prevented if people decreased their meat consumption to 4 g/1000 kcal.

3) Climate Change: According to a paper by Prof. A J McMichael, PhD, out of 22% of the global total Greenhouse gas emission which is caused by the agriculture sector, which is equal to that of the industries and slightly more than that of the transportation sector, nearly 80% is accounted for the livestock production. Methane and N2O (which are both potent GHG and closely associated with livestock production) contribute much more to this sector’s warming effect than does CO2. Halting the increase of GHG emissions from agriculture, especially livestock production, should therefore be a top priority, because it could curb warming fairly rapidly. As the available technologies for reduction of emissions from livestock production, applied universally at realistic costs, would reduce non-carbon dioxide emissions by less than 20%, we advocate a contraction and convergence strategy to reduce consumption of livestock products, mirroring the widely supported strategy proposed for greenhouse-gas emissions in general.

4) Forest Preservation: Prince Charles on Deforestation: “We have 18 months to halt deforestation of the rain forests to preserve life on this planet.” (European Parliament, 14 February 2008)

According to a report by UN FAO, ranching-induced deforestation is one of the main causes of loss of some unique plant and animal species in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America as well as carbon release in the atmosphere. It is estimated that nearly 70% of the former Latin American forest cover has been cleared for grazing of the livestock, which takes 1/3rd or Earth's entire landmass and hence is the major cause of deforestation. Further, the loss of these precious forest area posses treat of extinction of wildlife that are to be found in those forest area.

5) Social Justice: Justice is a term that means "righteousness". When we speak of justice, we speak of justice for all, irrespective of any discrimination and not confining it only to certain strata of the society. So when we speak of justice, why do we forget the justice for the livestock animals? Why can't they enjoy an equal right of well-being? When we consider about the adverse effect of climate change due to food habits, not only on the lives of people living in USA but also on the lives of people in Africa, then why don't we consider the effect of it on the lives of all the billions of animals that are wasted just for few pounds of meat? I believe that if justice will fall upon these billions of animals then only there can be any genuine chance of social justice for each and every one of us, as Dr. King has rightly said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

So, more than anything else, we should shift from an animal based diet to a plant based for the sake of being just to these billions of animals that are wasted every year just for few pounds of meat.

It will be very interesting to see if our leaders and policy makers will take some bold steps to embrace a sustainable future, which have been waiting for years to be embraced, by making polices that will encourage plant based agriculture and discourage animal based agriculture and thus make a paradigm shift to sustainable development.

~Caritas, Lux, et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

[Image Courtesy: tcktcktck.org]

A swift transition from a Vegetarian to a Vegan!!

There is nothing in our life called bad times. Its only a perception. Only good time & better time exist. The time which we consider bad time are actually better time of our life. Bad time are the best teacher we can ever have, they teach us the thing that nobody can ever teach us. So its up to us whether we perceive it as bad time & waste our life thinking why we had it or as better time and learn something out of it. A similar such event happened with me which made me think in a new light. Bad times are not necessary the times in which any bad happens to us but are also the ones in which we do something bad upon others intentionally or unintentionally.
Till the end on 2009, i used to be a Vegetarian and was in vain that i do not inflict any harm on others, but one fine day while i was discussing the ill-effects of a non-vegetarian diet with a non-vegetarian friend of mine, i realized that there is an element of "bad" in vegetarian diet also. I visited the dairy farm the following day and saw how we use/harass/torture the cattle animals in order to get dairy product out of them. Being an animal lover, it completely shattered me and i decided to go Vegan.

But this decision of mine which i recently had taken was something which was not "kids stuff" for me as i belong to a society where, unfortunately, after a brief history of non-violence, people where turning violent by adopting a diet that involves harm to others. Further, being a person who completely loved milk product and who "literally" used to survive completely on lacto diet, consuming nothing other than at least 1.5 Lt. of lacto product on a daily basis, Veganism was some thing really hard for me but the thing that kept me going was the consideration that how can i harm the source of the thing i love completely.

Being a part of a society where Cows are respected as much as our mothers are and where the milk products are considered holy and where it is an integral part of religious ceremony, excluding it from my life was difficult. People here are of the view that cows are like our mother. If it is so then i ask them to visit the dairy farm and see for themselves how these "mothers" are treated, how they are chained, made to stand in their own feces, injected with oxotocin so that they can milk more, and are made to bear many other inhuman treatment (check PETA India site or a blog by a Vegan for more detail, as i am not feeling it right to discuss here now about the things of which you don't even considers checking morality, maybe some next time) which, if you truly love your mother, won't ever want to happen to her. So how can we tag a cow as a mother if we continue to treat her like that or how can we do all this stuff if we respect her as a mother?

Now, they say cow is divine, if it is so, then how can we make her bear so much pain that we inflict on her in order to get some milk, or if we inflict so much pain on her how can we call her divine? I don't know whether she is like a mother or divine, all i know is that she don't deserve the wrong that happens to her.

People also talk about the implication of Veganism on health raising the question that from where would i be getting all the required nutrients and vitamins, highlighting the rumor that Vegan are pale and weak. Well, to this i can say that its a complete lie that Vegans are weak because i have been a Vegan now for almost one whole year and i am happy to say that by managing the diet properly, including all necessary minerals and vitamin Vegan source in my diet, i am much healthier in addition to being much happier than i was when i was a Vegetarian.

So, i will like to end this with saying that you don't deserve the wrong you do, so Go Vegan!!