Star Street Teamer: Niranjan
This stellar student not only sticks up, speaks out and steps in for animals, he also schools his fellow classmates and professors about all things AR.
Name: Niranjan . S . Amarnath
Age: 20
Hometown: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Q: Tell us something about yourself.
A: I’m in my final year of my B.S.C. at Loyola College, Chennai. Animal rights is my passion. I also like reading books, watching movies, listening to music, playing chess, bird watching and pencil sketching.
Q: What are your goals?
A: I want people around me to learn that animals are just like us. They have feelings and can feel pain too. No one should ignore the suffering of any being, and if we don’t speak up, who will? I also want to create a large network of youth activists in my state through petaDishoom.
Q: Tell us why you are vegan. What made you decide to go vegan?
A: I always wanted to lead a cruelty-free life. I don’t want anyone to suffer or die for me, including those cows and calves suffering in the dairy industry and behind the walls of slaughterhouses. PETA has helped and guided me to change my lifestyle. I have even replaced my leather belt, wallet and shoes with skin-free ones.
Q: What is your advice to young people trying to go vegetarian or vegan?
A: Going vegetarian or vegan is the best thing that you can do for animals, for our Earth and for your health. A meat-free diet will also put an end to world hunger and save our valuable resources. Be a caring consumer and shop responsibly. Read every ingredient listed on food products to avoid animal ingredients. It’s easy to go veggie or turn vegan. Today there are so many animal-friendly foods available including textured soya protein, soya milk, mock meats, tofu, etc. There are also many vegetarian restaurants which provide great vegan options. To start with, check out PETA’s Web site www.GoVeg.com.
Q: How long have you been helping animals? What got you interested in animal rights?
A: I’ve loved animals since I was a child. I always wanted to give a voice to the voiceless. It was when I came across PETA towards the end of my schooling that I started my activism by responding to action alerts. I have been writing letters to the editor for the past year and a half. More than 20 of my letters have gotten published in The Hindu, The New Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle. I’ve covered different issues like cruel transport of chickens, animal sacrifices, cruelty in zoos, circuses, chained dogs, animal experimentation, vegetarianism, KFC’s cruelty, etc. Soon I started helping PETA and began my campaign for animal rights.
Q: You’ve done an awareness programme in college. Tell us about it.
A: From the first day I entered college, I started educating my peers and professors about animal rights and PETA, and then I started giving talks to students from other departments. I talked about various issues like a vegetarian/vegan diet, how meat-eating affects our planet, animal suffering during transport, leather and the cruelty inflicted on laboratory animals. I distribute PETA leaflets, Animal Times and stickers to interested students and professors and ask everyone to sign up for petaDishoom’s e-news. Once, I even exhibited my poster design “Save the Earth – Go Veg!” during my department festival. When it comes to English assignments, animal rights is always the subject I choose to write about, and talking is my favourite classroom activism.
Q: Tell us about the PETA demonstrations and other events you’ve been a part of.
A: During an outbreak of anthrax in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, I volunteered to dress up in a biohazard suit for a demonstration urging people to stay away from animal products. To educate people regarding the cruelty inflicted on egg-laying hens, like the way chickens are crammed into battery cages, we organised a demo a few days before Easter urging people to give chickens something to celebrate by forgoing eggs. KFC has recently opened their outlets in Chennai, so with the help of local PETA volunteers, I’m planning to demonstrate against their torture of chickens. We are also planning to organise a demo against cruel and illegal transport of animals. I have also organised and volunteered at a few tabling events and once helped PETA at a press conference regarding the campaign against Indian leather.
Q: What message do you have for petaDishoom Street Teamers?
A: Every day, innocent chickens are tortured to death, dogs are stoned, cows are skinned alive, bullocks are treated like slaves to pull heavy loads and hundreds of animals suffer in the name of experiments – all because of human injustice and callousness. We young people can help stop this. Isaac Bashevis Singer once said, “As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together”. So let us all start fighting and make this world a better place for the animal kingdom. The easiest way to start is to participate in petaDishoom’s mission every month.
Q: What do you plan to do in the future?
A: I want to start preparing for my civil service and staff selection exams. In the meantime, I want to start an online petition requesting that our government ban animals in circuses. As there are quite a few animal-loving celebrities in South India, I want to make them involved in PETA’s campaigns and ads.
