I've just been back from a holiday in South India and I thought I'll share some exciting developments that happened whilst I was there. Besides being a holiday, the main purpose of my visit was to help out my parents in celebrating a grand house warming ritual..... THE VEGAN WAY!
The event also coincides with my parents going vegan!! It did deserve a grand celebration. The rituals for the house warming of the newly built house was done in accordance to Hindu style but without the milk, ghee or honey and used alternatives. Every single aspect of the rituals were vegan. The two day long ritual was attended by over 70 people including relatives and friends. Everything starting from the morning coffee till dinner were all vegan. Over 50 liters of soy milk was used. We had to specially buy many kgs of vegan sugar.
It just took us some time to explain the catering company of our requirements. But once they got the concept, they were glad to acknowledge and supported the cause. Also the priests were very cooperative and banned milk/ghee in the rituals. I am delighted to say it all went well.
The most important outcome of this event is that we got some excellent press coverage. Reporters and camera-man from a regional TV channel got interested and covered a part of the event. They shot an interview with me and with the president of the Indian Vegan society Mr. Shankar (shannade on this forum). We had to explain what it was being a vegan and the alternatives we use to follow an ethical life-style. The interview was aired the same evening. Hopefully, it would have many people thinking in a country where Veganism is very remote and ignored.
I also had a chance to meet a few Indian vegans including Mr. Shankar who delivered a lecture and a presentation to the guests on the truths about the Indian Dairy Industry. We timed the presentation just before the lunch so people were forced to stay. Shankar's presentation was received well and people watched the video with disgust. After the presentation, Shankar was swarmed with curious guests who collected literatures and wanted to gather more info. From reports coming in, some guests have already decided to boycott milk. Thats a start.
It has made my parents very happy as they wanted the event to be used to spread awareness of veganism. Its been a very successful event. The lunch was grand and had over 30 delicacies and people could not believe there was no dairy in it.
I could write forever about this fab event. But I don't wish to blog here. There are a few photos however...
The following photos, show Shankar giving his presentation using a projector. We din't have enough chairs to accommodate over 50 people. So we had to make them sit down.
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