Why it's time for the world to go vegan

I have a nasty habit of questioning everything. It all began when I was 7. I questioned the existence of God and wondered - if he is revered so much, why is he sitting on shelves in our living room amongst exquisite crystals? 

He can't be a decorative item for God's sake. I had probably taken after my father. Born into a staunch Brahmin family, he chose to break the rules in more ways than one. Eating non-vegetarian food was one tiny rule he broke. My mother followed suit. Being a cooking enthusiast, she delighted us with fish curry, prawn curry, mutton biryani, fried chicken and scotch eggs. I grew up eating non-vegetarian food.

But my streak of questioning things came in the way. I began to wonder where these meals really came from. Didn't they involve killing? Non-vegetarian was a watered down label for various species of fish, shrimp, crabs, goats, hens and pigs. Why were we making them invisible by calling them one term? Is it because it is easier to not face the fact that we were killing animals?

At 14, I quit non-vegetarian food much to the dismay of my family. Everything was tried - reasoning, reprimanding, persuasion, making me the butt end of jokes in front of guests. Nothing worked. I would keep staring at Don, our furry white dog - if I wouldn't roast him up for a meal, why would I roast another animal?

I grew up with a clear conscience and occasional jibes about protein until the questioning began again. Late into adulthood, I started researching about the dairy and the egg industry. The horrors of it got to me. I knew that nobody who is compassionate could continue to consume dairy and eggs after knowing the truth. And that's when I decided to go vegan.

Vegan? What the hell is that?

1. Veganism is a philosophy and way of life that entails living by doing least harm to animals. Those who follow and adhere to veganism are called vegans.

2. Vegans do not consume meat in any form, dairy, eggs, honey, silk, leather or products that are tested on animals.

3. More than 150 billion animals are slaughtered every year for food and another 100 million are used for experimentation and testing. The latter may be for something as banal as your shampoo.

Gah! It sounds so tough - what's left to eat?

This question always makes me laugh because non vegans eat meat and eggs and drink milk but vegans eat tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, melons, mangoes, guavas, walnuts, almonds, cashewnuts, chickpeas, kidney beans, black eyed peas, pulses, sweets like laddoos, imarti, vegan cheese cake, vegan cupcakes and muffins... sorry but I don't have room to finish the list. My editor won't let me.

But what about nutrition? And protein? You need protein.

1. Want some protein? Eat spinach or broccoli. Want some yummy protein? Eat peanut butter.

2. Did you know that plants are made of protein too? But they are not whole proteins so they have to be eaten together with other proteins like beans, peas, nuts and seeds.

3. Let's take the example of beef. Beef has 20 per cent of calories from protein and 80 per cent from saturated fat and no fibre. But your friendly Rajma or kidney beans have 25 per cent of calories from protein, 5 per cent from unsaturated fat and 70 per cent from complex carbohydrates. And they're high in fibre. Take your pick.

4. Vegan diets are proven to be heart healthy and diabetes friendly.

But if I don't eat those animals? They will be everywhere. There is such over population.

Believe me, this is your tongue talking. Not you. None of the species we kill and eat today are natural. They are all man-made and bred. All of them. They are being produced because you eat them. As people go vegan slowly, their population will begin to dwindle and nature will take its course.

But milk? Calcium and vitamin D? How can you not have milk?

1. This is the biggest myth that Operation Flood propagated - that milk is healthy. The truth is milk is so acidic that it actually leeches nutrients from your bones when it is digested by the body.

2. Milk is designed to turn a calf into a heifer. I'm sure none of us want to be a heifer. By the way 65-75 per cent of the world's population loses their ability to digest lactose - a sugar found in milk - after infancy. You probably are lactose intolerant anyway.

3. Green leafy vegetables, tofu and plant mylks are great sources of calcium and vitamin D. Plant mylk - what's that?

A spelling mistake? Did you think vegans don't drink milk? We actually have more options.

1. Vegan sources of milk are spelt mylk.

2. They may come from soy, peanuts, cashew nuts, rice or my favourite - almonds.

But I like milk and I am not killing the animal. I'm just taking the milk.

Here's the truth about your milk - brace up!

1. Milch cows are tied to a stand for their life in cramped conditions, unable to move.

2. They are repeatedly impregnated in the most barbaric way by a human shoving his/ her hand into their vagina forcibly. That's insemination and it's not done professionally.

3. Bulls' testicles are electrocuted so that they squirt the semen required to inseminate a cow. What's natural about this?

4. Calves are almost immediately separated from their mothers so that they don't drink the milk. And God forbid, they are male. If they are, they're straight away taken to the slaughter house. End of story.

5. A cow that would live for 10-12 years, lives only for 3-4 years under these circumstances. She is sent for slaughter - for beef and leather. Some are skinned alive so that the leather is softer.

Even meat is better than milk. Milk involves a lifetime of slavery.

But why take all that trouble?

For three reasons - for the animals, for your health, for the planet and thus for the people around you.

1. Every year the UN releases a report saying that the only thing that can reverse global warming and climate change at a faster rate is if people adopt a vegan lifestyle. The media doesn't pick this up as much as it should.

2. Animal farming is responsible for more than 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. Going vegan is the simplest way to stop the damage.

3. Milk production is very harmful to the environment. To produce a gallon of milk you would use up 2,000 gallons of fresh water as against 900 gallons of fresh water that is required to produce a gallon of almond mylk.

4. Milk is directly related to high cholesterol, osteoporosis and many cancers because of the antibiotics that cows are given.

5. Meat is linked to colon cancer. In fact, a lot of meats have cancerous growths inside them which butchers remove. What's the most difficult thing about going vegan?

People. Non-vegans will typically feel threatened by the truth because they are innately compassionate and when they hear the truth, they will fight with you. Be prepared and remember, their heart is still in the right place. And then there are other things:

1. It will be hard to find packaged food. You'll have to read the ingredients before buying biscuits, snacks, etc. because a lot of things contain milk powder.
2. Family - you will face strong opposition. But stand your ground because when they see that vegan food is equally tasty and a lot of Indian food is actually vegan, they will accept things.
3. Eating out. India has very few vegan restaurants. But they are there and you can always find restaurants where you get a couple of vegan dishes.
4. Desserts - almost all desserts contain dairy. But there are now a number of bakeries that supply home-made doughnuts, cupcakes, cheesecakes and Indian desserts that are vegan.

By the way, Happy World Vegan day. As strange as this sounds, we do it for the animals and the people around us. We hope the planet lives long and healthy and there's an end to animal cruelty.