Peas I received

It was in 2012 just after completing my MD when I moved from Dibrugarh, Assam to Hyderabad that I had attended a workshop that focused on healing oneself with diet. It also opened my eyes towards the vegan way of life. I remember trying to quit meat and milk in the following one month, against hubby's resistance and then giving up. Had experimented with nut milk chai, nut milk curd and also one Sunday I had made a completely oil free Chicken biriyani which tasted great. After coming back from the workshop I wrote down the following lines which when reading now after 8 years seemed to be a precious reminder to me.

15.8.2012

Just attended a refreshing workshop called "Peas vs pills" by Dr. Nandita Shah in Hyderabad. 15th August seemed an apt date, we celebrated our independence. Independence from what? From external influence. Cant say we became independent, but sure can say that we were made aware that we can be.

The take home message for me was not turn yourself vegan for good health, for me it was "listen to your own body, it tells you better than any doctor". Ofcourse I knew it, but had to hear it to ring a bell within.

Lots of eye opening info... technical, medical, animal farming, lots of motivational videos sensitizing us to the unecessary pain we cause to sweet cute creatures, our own Earthlings... the stupidity of supressing body's cries with medicines when it is trying to tell us something... easy tasty vegan recipes, vegan alternatives for non vegan products... all that and more resources that are easily available on the net. What made this workshop more than these resources was the exposure to the vegan way for a continuous 9 hours in a group, that is interested to listen along with 3 tasty vegan meals, all this by a doctor who has been reversing diseases with dietary change since many years. It is imperative that at the end of the session all of us but one, raise our hands to say we will surely turn vegan atleast for one month.

The question that comes to an inquiring mind is that how is it that we had never earlier questioned all the senselessness that appears stark as soon as it is pointedly shown to us. It is our tendency to let ourselves be swept by ideas without questioning much. Instead of being swept away from one idea to the next it is imperative that we start using our instincts from now on, the existence of which we had forgotten long back. I feel that more important than identifying ourselves as a vegan, a herbivore, or a raw vegan, than identifying products as vegan or non vegan, than worrying over how to obtain a supposedly super food thats not available locally, is to develop the acumen to listen to ourselves over any one else, any one.  And this goes far beyond our diet, it is applicable in each aspect of our life.

All the valuable knowledge which we heard so many experts share today, are within us too. The only thing that is waiting is our readiness to tap it. Every Earthling is unique, so will be their experience, their diet, their truth. Dont be satisfied till you find your own. 

P.s. After 8 years am yet to reach any degree of satisfaction in my personal level of inquiry