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Which animal made your shoes?
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No milk. No leather. No non-vegetarian food. PETA's Poorva Joshipura is an unapologetic vegan hardliner
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Pamela Anderson and Poorva Joshipura: fashionably vegan
IT'S A typical evening at Coffee Day: crowded tables, buzzing conversation, dance music. But suddenly, my coffee feels all wrong. Poorva Joshipura, Director, Asia Campaigns, People for Ethical Treatment to Animals (PETA), sits across the table, narrating how cows are constantly impregnated artificially and their calves separated from them immediately after birth, so that we can take away all the milk. Males of the species, considered useless, are starved or slaughtered, she says, while the females' maternal instincts towards their newborns are immediately thwarted. Joshipura herself sips a guiltless vegan milkshake. No milk, only soy products in this item that PETA helped push into Coffee Day menus.
PETA is often considered a radical animal rights organisation, advocating a vegan lifestyle and arresting attention with their high-profile campaigns. Pamela Anderson in a lettuce bikini promoting vegan food habits, Shilpa Shetty in a tiger suit to highlight animals' suffering in circuses, Madhavan crouched, animal-like, in a cage. "When celebrity volunteers speak, everyone listens," explains Poorva, who is based out of the U.K. and has been with PETA for seven years.
The organisation works on many levels: first drawing attention to animal rights abuses through often high-profile campaigns, then investigating instances of animals being maltreated and finally pressurising industries to incorporate quality standards. Their targets have included some mega corporations such as KFC, McDonald's and Benetton and their lobbying for Mercedes to introduce a fake leather option in their cars has also finally come through; upcoming models will offer this option.
Their vegan campaigns pressurise companies such as KFC and McDonald's to eliminate at least the worst horrors that chicken endure. An undercover probe by their volunteers unearthed an Abu Ghraib for animals, with chicken being thrown on walls and blood writing on the walls with their guts, says Poorva. "There is no kind way to kill animals," she says, emphatically. "A chicken may not be so `cute' but it still has the same will to live as any other animal."
Even in India, PETA has done some undercover work: in Karnataka, they discovered unbelievable cruelty to animals being transported for leather. They were crammed in vehicles, often so closely together that their bodies were mangled. Now PETA has a case in the Supreme Court demanding that slaughterhouses operate under animal welfare guideline principles. "Forty major companies, including Gap, Reebok and Gucci, won't use Indian leather till this is changed," says Poorva.
And for consumers, the issue is simple. "Every choice has a consequence and every time you sit down to dinner or wear a belt you make a choice to be cruel or kind," she says. Since change is often effected from the consumers all the way up to the corporations, individuals can exert pressure through their shopping.
In obvious ways. Don't drink milk, drink soy products. At Bata ask for fake leather ("You'd be surprised how much fake leather there is!") chappals. Don't buy cosmetics that are tested on animals. If you think that living by these principles might be hard, ask Poorva. She's vegan in the meat-loving U.K. "It's much easier to make these choices now," she says, reassuringly. "Twenty-five years after people began demanding cosmetics that don't test on animals, there are some 600 companies which don't do animal tests." So as you raise your deodorant to aim and spray, think of the animal that made it safe for you to use.
`Euro and more'
JUST AS you thought Indiranagar's 100 Foot Road had enough eateries, stores and coffee shops to keep everyone happy... along comes another, and you realise that there was an element missing after all. With Oregano, the new resto-bar above Coffee Day on 100 Foot Road, comes the promise of a great location, swish interiors, a relaxed lounge bar attached and, most importantly, Vicky's food. If you're screwing up your face and asking, "Who's Vicky?" you've probably just landed in Bangalore or don't know your puri from your pita bread.
Vikram Malhotra, that rustler-up of great meals, has heaved himself from his eponymous restaurant on Church Street, drifted away from supplying to Infinitea on Cunningham Road and ensconced himself, very firmly, instead at Oregano.
While you debate whether this is pronounced "O-RE-gano" or "Ore-GAA-no" (and no, we don't know either), Vicky will be throwing together some of his famed Italian food. The menu promises food ranging from European to pan-Asian with some fresh herb teas and exotic salads thrown in for good measure. With a tradition of restauranteuring(but there must be such a word!) behind him, including Kolkata's popular Skyroom and Blue Fox restaurants, Vicky has innovated a range of European dishes, specialties from the Thai and Chinese range and a range of salads.
While the main restaurant with its large glass panels facing the road is appropriate for both the family meal as well as the business lunch, the adjacent Crystal Lounge with its ample sofas, stocked bar and flavoured hookahs is an appendage best appreciated by true party animals. Truly, `Euro and more' as their tagline declares!
Oregano and the Crystal Lounge is at No. 54, MSK Plaza, 100 foot Road, Indiranagar, HAL 2nd Stage, Ph: 55300645 (Don't be confused; just head for Coffee Day, Oregano is the same building.)
HEMANGINI GUPTA
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