Usha Srinivasan, Mother, Environmentalist, Astronomer and Mathematician

Born and brought up in a conservative Brahmin family, vegetarian diet is the only diet that I knew of - that too sans garlic and onion.

The first time I saw an egg was probably when I was seven and mistook it for a fruit. Coming to Delhi broadened my “food horizon” but still stuck to vegetarianism as a family tradition.

I made the choice of being a vegetarian for life when I was in a Delhi college hostel, when I had the freedom to choose. The sight of chicken cooped in cages, fluttering their wings in angst as if they knew their fate and the family imbibed “Satvik” food tradition strengthened my decision.

The health benefits of being a vegetarian, the benefits to the environment, the feeling of compassion for living beings, aesthetic and nutritive values of the variety of vegetarian dishes from states across India have been some of the reasons for being a vegetarian and the joy of growing brinjals and beans, gourds and cucumber, cabbage and carrots in my own backyard was the “plum” on the cake.