Successful events which took place since the last newsletter:

1 On 2nd August 2007 I gave a talk at a conference organised by Purley Reformed Church. There were delegated from many European countries. The delegates were fascinated to learn about the concept of Ahimsa and vegetarianism.

2 On 3rd August Putney based Sivananda Yoga Centre celebrated 50 years of its formation. We prepared samosa and dhokra for the party.

3 On 12th August I gave a talk at a Vegetarian Festival organised at the Jain Vishwa Bharati Centre in Cricklewood. I said ‘Abhay Daan’, giving protection to living beings from the fear of death, is the greatest Jain principle. Everyone should be proactive in reducing the suffering of all living beings, humans and animals.

4 On 2nd September we kept a stall at Hare Krishna temple in Watford during the Janmastami festival. The following people agreed to give up meat eating and go vegetarian:Poonam Marwaha and Tony Marwaha, (Teddington), Samit Limbachia, (Crawley), Ajay Kora (Luton), Amarjeet Singh (Amritsar, India), Deepak Vara, (Harrow), Vijay Bhavan (Aylesbury), Dr. Alka Chandrayan (Hitchin).

5 On 16th September I attended the multifaith prayer meeting for animals at the Finchley Unitarian Church. I said that the violence towards animals is taking away peace and happiness from the human race.

6 On 29th September I attended an event on climate change at the premises of Asian Voice/ Gujarat Samachar. Those worried about the climate change should become vegetarian or vegan as meat consumption is one of the greatest causes of global warming.

7 On 1st October the Asian Foundation for Help organised an event to celebrate the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at Harrow Civic Centre. The Mayor and some councillors were present. I spoke about how Gandhi struggled as a vegetarian in 1880s London. However it was his vegetarianism which brought him in contact with many well known people of the time and it was as a secretary of the Bayswater branch of the Vegetarian Society that he gave his first public speech.

8 On 2nd October I was interviewed by BBC regarding Gandhi’s early days in England. The programme was called Desi DNA and shown on BBC2. The interview took place at India Coffee House in the Strand - the oldest Indian eatery in UK!

9 On 28th October we kept a stall at the Diwali event in Trafalgar Square. The following people took a pledge to give up meat eating and become Vegetarian:Poonam Patel (Forest Gate), Somendra Singh (Victoria), Vijay Gupta (Wembley), Vikram Arora (Southall), Pradip Pankhania (Eltham), Kalpana Thakkar (Uxbridge), Brian Gomes (Randburgh, South Africa).

10 On 4th November we kept a stall at a conference orgainsed by the National Hindu Students Union. The event was held at Imperial College. The following people pledged to give up meat and become vegetarian: Mithila Poshalwale (Birmingham), Nikhil Ahluwalia (SE1), Abhishek Kakkar (Altrincham), Kishan Bhatt (gave up eggs), Ami Chandarana, (Coventry), Sagar Doshi (Harrow) (gave up eggs, Jaysal Bhardwa (Bristol), Sonal Mistry (Warrington).

11 On 20th November Jyoti Mehta was interviewed on BBC World Service regarding meat consumption and climate change.

12 On 30th November I was interviewed on LBC radio by Nick Ferrari regarding the Hindu school in Harrow and the ethos of vegetarianism that the school upholds.

13 On 16th December we held our annual Christmas lunch. Around 120 people attended amongst them many councillors. The event was a great success.

14 On 12th January 2008 we prepared and served dinner for Pandit Venugopal from Vrindavan in India and his team who were performing devotional bhajans (hymns) at the Sivananda Yoga Centre.

15 On 31st January I gave a talk at a multifaith event organised by Croydon College.

16 On 9th February I gave talk to around 40 children at the Crawley Hindu temple.

17 On 17th February we took part in a Vegan Lifestyle event organised by the Young Jains. The event was a great success. It was held at the premises of Jain Vishwa Bharati in Cricklewood. A Jain Vegans e-group has been formedhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Jain Vegans - check them out!

18 On 31st March I gave a talk organised by the ladies group of Shree Jalaram Mandir in Greenford. There was a lot of interest and a desire to encourage children to stay away from meat.

19 On 7th April I gave a talk at a multi faith conference organised at Guildford University. The lunch served at the conference to all the delegates was only vegetarian! No meat!

20 On 17th April we were hosts to Pratibha Jain and Jigyasha Giri from Hyderabad. They are the authors of the award winning recipe book, ‘Cooking at Home with Pedatha’. The book introduces the reader to traditional vegetarian recipes from Andhra Pradesh, India.Visit their website: http://pedatha.com/2008/05/20/pickles-with-shanta-ben-the-young-indian-vegetarians-of-uk.

21 On 15th May I gave a talk to the committee members of Crawley Hindu Temple. A grand Hindu temple is taking shape in Crawley and I urged the committee that visitors should be made aware of the importance of vegetarianism not only for Hindus but for all mankind.

22 On 27th May I gave a talk to the Energy group of Epsom.