Vegan Writer: Wandering Solo, Writing with Heart, One Story at a Time
More than 1 in 2 Gen Z consumers in India are willing to adopt plant-based foods.
Now that’s a whooping big number considering that Gen Z constitutes 27% of our Indian population. It is not only India’s largest demographic but also the most influential consumer group.
Whoever thought of making a dough, filling it with cooked chana dal and jaggery, rolling it out, cooking it on a tawa, and then eating it piping hot, was a genius.
Because I don’t know any other dish like puranpoli that’s as filling and fulfilling at the same time.
Yes, I know Italians will murder me for saying this. But it’s true.
A few years back I was on a work trip to Italy and Portugal. In Italy, I had all the usual popular Italian dishes – different types of pastas and pizzas – and I really indulged in all of them and must say I thoroughly enjoyed it too.
But that was until I reached Cabo da Roca in Sintra, Portugal.
I visit Amritsar only for two reasons — the soul-soothing stillness of the Golden Temple and the flaky comfort of eating Chole Kulche.
I am usually not a fan of going to religious places as most of them are crowded and not disciplined in India and I find it difficult to pray peacefully when there is too much happening around me. But one place that has always drawn me because of its high spiritual energy is the Golden Temple in Amritsar, where I can always find a corner to myself. Equally grounding is the city’s beloved Chole Kulche – a dish so popular that it carries the name of the city itself. Between these two, Amritsar is a haven for me.
When I finally saw my favourite winter fruit with the fruit vendor, I instantly picked it up, wiped it clean on my t-shirt, and impatiently took the first bite. Yeah, yeah, I know that I need to wash it at least ten times before eating it. But some things you just can’t resist.
I am not exaggerating. It’s only when you start looking for a rental house in Mumbai, do you get to see its true nature — its cracks, the multitude lanes that you never knew existed, the cults and the communities, and the unusual questions about your identity.
The first time I saw them was in Kashmir, stretched like a brave wall, as far as my eyes could see. Wherever I went, they were there, steady and watchful, making me feel protected.
What struck me were the subtle layers of colour, grey merging into blue, blue into white, gently giving way to the next.
They stirred some emotions while also settling some at the same time. I didn’t quite understand what it was on my first trip. But I kept returning. First for the awe-inspiring beauty, then for the stories and finally simply because it lured me. And slowly, something began to change.
When I was contemplating about turning vegan, there were two things that I knew I would miss the most. One was cheese and the other was ice-cream.
Ice-cream is childhood best friend, ice-cream is the instant boost you need on a bad day, and ice-cream is the silent company that you can always enjoy.
But when I dug further into it, I found Indian brands who were making vegan ice-creams, and I let a sigh of relief.
At that point, there were just a few brands that made plant-based ice cream, but now there are a lot of other brands as well.
Travelling alone as a single woman in India still sparks an odd kind of curiosity—whether I’m in a taxi, at work, or halfway up a mountain in Japan. From being asked what I “do about food” by surprising fellow travellers to why I like travelling alone, every solo travel journey remains both empowering and quietly revealing.
This is a question that I get asked a lot when I tell people that I love solo travelling and that I’ve been doing it for more than a decade now.
Not that I don’t enjoy travelling with others, but there came a point in life when I realised that I enjoyed travelling more often than others did, and waiting for company to travel meant that the plans would never materialise. So, I decided to take the plunge and travel solo, and that decision changed me forever. It has been one of the most liberating experiences of my life and still is.