Going vegan for animal rights

He is now in the process of creating these videos in other languages to educate more people about veganism. Arvind became a vegan in 2014 after chancing upon a video titled Best Speech You Will Ever Hear by Gary Yourofsky. 

“Gary was a vegan animal liberation activist who didn’t sugar coat the fact about what humans do to animals and ultimately end up doing to their own health and the environment. When I was done watching his video, I knew I had to do something and eventually ended up becoming vegan a few weeks later. Gary later became my inspiration and role model,” says Arvind. 

The dietary transformation was easy, points out Arvind. “I eat as much variety and, in many cases, the exact same things I used to eat back when I was a non-vegan. It’s just replacing a few ingredients,” he explains. But there were struggles. 

“However, a few months after becoming vegan, frustration set in — not because I could no longer eat meat, milk or eggs, but because of the astronomical amount of abuse and violence met out to animals. Everyone around me, including my family and friends, were turning a blind eye to this and consuming animal products. They even mocked me for taking a stand. These were the same people who cried if their own pet died! I hoped someone like Gary would come to India and make the masses realise the evil they were doing. In the end, I understood that I had to be that person,” he adds.

Three years later, Arvind now promotes veganism with the help of informational videos. “Through these videos, which are made in Tamil, I have reached out to thousands of Tamilians and changed dozens of them, explaining why veganism is a moral imperative. My girlfriend, Arshvani, and I work together on the script, the music and the animations. We use humour to counter the usual excuses people give to continue exploiting and killing animals,” he explains. Arvind also claims that the belief that animal meat is a must for proteins is unscientific. 

“We first need to understand that all protein is made by plants. Grains, beans, pulses, vegetables and fruits all contain protein. They argue that they do not have a complete amino acid profile, but this is true only if you eat one sort of food the entire day instead of a balanced meal. Humans, whether you believe it or not, are actually herbivores and not carnivores,” he signs off.