Guest guest Posted November 22, 2009 Report Share Posted November 22, 2009 Veggie delite! Celebs turning vegetarian is fairly infrequent in India, surprisingly enough; and doing so on ideological grounds is even rarer GARIMA SHARMA Times News Network As soon as Viveik Oberoi became the latest desi celebrity to convert to vegetarianism, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was quick to congratulate him. Whether Viveik meant to argue a case for any cause or not, it is being portrayed as a point scored for supporters of vegetarianism in the country. Viveik’s conversion is apparently an ‘act of self realisation’, initiated when he saw an email that contained visuals of slaughter houses. In contrast to the West, where most celebrity vegetarians have been driven to conversion through PETA’s initiatives, or that of organisations with a similar agenda, most celeb converts in India profess personal reasons for making the choice. Of the famous vegetarians in the country, PETA’s only converts have been actress Kim Sharma and fashion designer Hemant Trivedi. Shahid Kapur became a vegetarian after reading a book, nudged along by then-girlfriend Kareena Kapoor.Amitabh Bachchan has always insisted that there has been no particular reason for his conversion. Amrita Rao says, “I turned a vegetarian because of my aunt who is very spiritually inclined. I believe that killing an animal to satisfy my basic needs is unnecessary when I have other means to kill my hunger.” Designer Preeti S Kapoor turned a vegetarian eight years ago, after seeing dead animals lying on the road. “I have never been able to eat non-vegetarian fare after that,” she says. “I turned vegetarian because my wife was one, and wanted me to convert,” shares modelturned-actor Rahul Dev. Rahul, who has shot for PETA for its vegetarian campaign, feels that in India, people do not convert for ideological reasons, but on instinct. He says, “I can give you 150 philosophies about converting to vegetarianism, but you will only convert if your body feels right. I, for instance, feel fabulous; my body feels clean after becoming a vegetarian. At a time when you do not know what chemicals are being fed into plants, there’s no way you would know how toxic animals are. So, I’d stick to vegetarian fare.” Amitabh Rahul Shahid Kareena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.