WHAT: Vegan Drinks Rome

WHERE: The Beehive Hotel & Cafe, via Marghera, 8
Rome, Italy (map)

WHEN: October 18, 2009, 6 - 10 pm

RSVP on Facebook

The Beehive is introducing Vegan Drinks Rome, the first Vegan Drinks event outside of the U.S.! Vegan Drinks (http://www.vegandrinks.org) is a monthly social networking event for people interested in sharing veganism and advocating for animal rights. Vegan Drinks' mission is to bring together people from all walks of life to build a stronger community and promote the sharing of resources. Anyone can come – the only thing required is an interest in veganism and animal rights, as well as a desire to have a good time.

I will be there selling exquisite, fairly traded, hand-crafted scarves, bags, and jewelry from India, as well as black and white photographs of Indian street dogs. All proceeds from this sale will be donated to animal welfare organizations in India and Italy.

Catia Briganti - an artist with artwork that is part of The Beehive's permanent collection - will be holding a finissage of her recent exhibit. The artwork currently on display is Catia's "Progetto Totem." Catia's handmade totems are an explosion of colors and shapes - one different from the other. They are made with recycled wood - full of history and assembled in what could be called a contemporary mosaic.

A selection of mixed drinks, wine and beer will be served - appetizers from the cafe are included in the drink price:

Wine & Beer: €3
Cocktails: €5

Humane Society International (where I work) has announced a country-wide project to spay and neuter close to 50,000 street dogs in Bhutan. Rather than deal with the problem inhumanely or piecemeal, the government of Bhutan has realized that street dog over population can be controlled if the problem is dealt with holistically.

Read about it here.

Not sure if I trust The Sun as a source of news, and the headline is certainly inaccurate, but this story is pretty interesting. Free-roaming (not wild, otherwise they wouldn't get so close to humans) dogs in Moscow commute from the suburbs to the city -- by train. Supposedly, they've figured out the public transit system (highly commendable based on the tourists to DC that I've witnessed).

For anyone in the Washington D.C. area, come check out this event hosted by Humane Society International's Factory Farming Campaign at the DC Public Library (Chevy Chase Branch, 5652 Connecticut Ave. NW) on Saturday, June 13, from 3 to 5pm.

The event will be about "ahimsa" (non-violence) as it applies to our diet and lifestyle. Homeopathic physician Dr. Nandita Shah will be speaking on the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Nandita does vegan outreach workshops all around the world.

For more info and to RSVP: http://www.hsi.org/ahimsa

Photo: Dr. Nandita Shah and a rooster named Mayfly

P.S. I am back in Washington, DC.

Maple Farm Sanctuary in Mendon, MA, threw an open house a few weeks back, which included music, a great vegan spread, barn tours, and a chance to hang out with other animal-lovers around a toasty fire. Check out pics from the event here.

I will be participating in Farm Sanctuary's Walk for Farm Animals on Saturday, Sept. 27 on Boston Common. Help me make it to the fundraising goal of $350.

I visited ASHARI, an animal hospital shelter and hospital near Calcutta in 2005 and was greatly impressed with all of the services they offer the animals and people in the community. Below is a recent article that describes its many facets.

If you'd like to help ASHARI continue to care for animals, go to its website and click on the "Help Me' button on the lower left side.

Article on ASHARI near Calcutta, from India Today, July 31, 2008:

The locale is stunning. Four-and-a-half acres of rambling greenery. Miniature pools and dew ponds, rows of trees lined along winding pitch paths, dappled flowerbeds, and thick bushes. Stables line the far end.

Cows graze peacefully on the grassy pampas around the pond, where ducks swim lazily. And, in the middle of all this stands a whitewashed chattel of sorts. The first thought that comes to mind is that this is a lovely farm in the countryside.

It is all that—and more. The Animal Shelter-cum-Hospital and Research Institute (ASHARI) is a joint venture of the Compassionate Crusaders Trust (CCT) and People for Animals (PFA), Calcutta.

Set in interior Mukundopur, away from the bustle of the city, this multi-facility animal care centre is a sanctuary of tranquillity dedicated solely to the cure and care of ailing animals. Started on January 14, 2001, it is the only haven of its kind in the city.

The cold-blooded malice that mankind is known to exhibit has some unfortunate victims. “Most often it’s the innocent animals that fall prey to human brutality,” says Dr Annapurna Singha, the hospital manager at ASHARI.

Among the victims of shocking cruelty are a mother canine, who was set on fire along with her pups to shoo them off the grounds of a posh apartment block, and a cow that suffered burns after a vicious acid attack, apart from regular hit-and-run cases.

The staff at ASHARI, including eight doctors, have committed themselves to the care of these animals. The man behind this endeavour is Managing Trustee Debashish Chakraborty. He says, “We aim to start an epidemic, an epidemic of empathy and compassion.”

The central clinic-cum-hospital is installed with rows of separate ward-cages for dogs and cats, along with a sonography room, a mini laboratory, an operation theatre, a medicine ward and a consultation room.

The activities within its whitewashed walls resemble those of any hospital. You pass men hurrying down the corridor to inject a little puppy that’s been running a high temperature for days, and you overhear Dr Singha discussing a tumour on a Labrador’s right paw with a colleague.

The animals here are treated for physical ailments as well as for mental trauma. For instance, ASHARI rescued a violent bull from the wrath of villagers after it injured many of them, and killed one. “The bull has been here for a while, and there has been a marked change in his temperament,” says Dr Singha.

In addition, there are separate shelters for large and small animals, an isolation area for animals afflicted by contagious diseases and an out-patient department. There are separate stables sheltering retired police horses, some from the Barrackpore Police Training College.

“Previously, these horses used to be shot upon retirement, in order to curtail costs, and also as a measure of safety against their misuse,” says Dr. Singha. “But we thought this practice was inhuman and insisted on their adoption.”

In fact, CCT and PFA have been able to get the municipality to stop the killing of stray dogs, as part of their Animal Birth Control Campaign. They, instead, provide stray canines with shelter at the dog pound, in the anti-rabies and animal birth control segment.

Chakraborty points out an ironic fact: “The dog pound is housed in the same building that was the municipal corporation’s slaughter house for stray dogs till 1996.” The organisation has initiated anti-rabies measures and aim to make the city rabies-free by 2011.

They have undertaken a number of other campaigns. But, as Debashish says, “Achieving 100 per cent success hasn’t always been possible, but the results were creditable.”

Dr Annapurna adds, “We have received considerable support and assistance from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, as well as the police.”

Their campaigns and programmes include promotion of pet therapy for people suffering from depression, promotion of eco-friendly practices, including alternative energy systems, and the promotion of stray dog sterilisation, among several others.

But, says Chakraborty, “Triggering the compassion of people is of utmost importance.” Dr Singha says, “There are many who nurture genuine love and affection for animals and come forward to help us. At the same time, there are many others who create impediments.”

As she rushes off to attend to another of her beloved patients—a little pup run over by a reckless human—she voices the bitter truth of the situation, “People are the support, but they are also the hindrance.”

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I visited ASHARI in 2005 and was greatly impressed with all of the services they offer the animals in the community. If you'd like to help ASHARI continue to care for animals, go to its website and click on the "Help Me' button on the lower left side.

I have gotten really bad about keeping this website updated.

I am back in Cambridge and I'll be dancing in the India Day celebration on the Esplanade in Boston. As usual MIT Bhangra will be closing the show, going on stage some time around 8:45-9pm. 

This photo from India Day in 2002 shows me in the foreground in blue, in a squatting dance move that I probably can't do anymore. The dance I am in this year luckily has no squats.

This has nothing to do with animals or India (although there is Una, a Golden Retriever, in the photo), but I must say that Washington, DC has a pathetic excuse for winter. It snowed once, barely.

 

Thankfully, I was able to visit Cambridge for a few days, where there is still over a foot of snow on the ground.

So I guess I'll just have to keep making my own snow here:  

I spent the day yesterday with all the animals at Jurassic Park Poplar Spring animal sanctuary. To the right, is me and Norman, the biggest cow I've ever seen in my life. Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the cow in the other photo.

It was a celebration day for the turkeys, who were given a yummy meal. Then there was a vegan potluck for the humans.

The best part of the day was late in the afternoon, when it was time for smashing pumpkins (not the musical band). It was when everyone carried pumpkins down to the area where the pigs lived and lobbed them over the fence, breaking them open so the pigs could feast on them. It was quite a scene with 30+ pigs beside themselves with joy at all the pumpkins coming their way.

Home internet access has briefly been bestowed upon me (since my move to D.C., I've been mostly without) so I am posting an image from a news story that two of my friends back in Cambridge sent me today -- both had independently been reminded of me by this series of photos on the BBC news website.

Nepal is celebrating the festival of Tihar, its equivalent of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. In Nepal, on the second day of the feast, special honour is bestowed on dogs.

As the photo series points out, although dogs are honored on this one day, the rest of the year street dogs are not treated well at all. Visit Street Dogs of Nepal for more info.

Text, photos: Charles Haviland

I haven't done a darn thing with this website in the past 2 months because I have moved from Cambridge, Mass, to Washington, D.C. to take a job with the largest animal protection organization in the U.S.

Having lived in Cambridge for close to 25 years, the move has been a major event that took months of purging, packing and planning. Hopefully, when I am settled here (it's been less than a week--but I've already made scones), I'll put more products on the site and post new entries.

While I'll miss attending the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival, doing bhangra, sitting and reading in the window at the 1369 Coffeehouse, and all the other wonderful things Boston/Cambridge has to offer, I'm looking forward to exploring D.C. And most of all, spending my days working to help animals.

Mary of Animal Person tagged me with a meme (what that heck is a meme?). Although I am up to my eyeballs in stuff I need to do, I thought it would at least be a good way to update my blog, since I haven’t in eons.

There are rules to this meme and here they are:

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here are 8 random facts about me:

1. I am a human barometer. I get nasty sinus headaches whenever it is going to precipitate. One of these days I want to keep a chart on severity of pain compared to inches of rain/snow to see if there is any correlation.

2. I have been making oatmeal-raisin scones every week for the past 20+ years. I put them in the freezer and take one out each morning for breakfast. The recipe came from a Quaker Oats recipe booklet. An early variation on that recipe was using applesauce for half the butter required in order to make them lower in fat. Now, I substitute vegan margarine for butter, egg replacer for the egg, and soy or rice milk for cow’s milk to make them vegan. Photo above shows “Sconehenge,” as created for breakfast on the winter (or was it summer?) solstice many years ago when I worked at the MFA, Boston. The figures are plastic cowboys wrapped in brown paper toweling; they were meant to portray druids.

3. I read the meme responses of Deb, who tagged Mary, who tagged me. As one of her facts she had that she has a slight degree of face blindness. I have been reading a lot about face blindness lately, it seems to be in the news. Funnily, at Harvard, I was a research subject, participating in the psych studies examining face blindness. But my fact is that I have the opposite of face blindness. I guess it would be a photographic memory for faces. I few years ago I recognized a guy on the street in Cambridge; he was my TA for German class at UMASS Amherst in 1980. I am surprised when people I’ve eaten a meal with don’t recognize me. I am always saying “hello” to people on the street who I’ve met, and I know they haven’t the foggiest idea who I am.

4. If there were such a thing as a “former life,” I would have been a Punjabi. Doing bhangra seems to be in my blood. See here and here.

5. I am a hoarder packrat.

6. I am more turned off by food textures than food tastes. I have a hard time with: carbonated drinks; peaches (I prefer fuzz-less nectarines); raw spinach and that metallic feeling your teeth get from it; custard-like (or “mucus-y,” as I call them) desserts; and meat (good thing I’m vegan).

7. I have a tattoo that reads “Ahimsa” in memory of my dog Rudy. Or would read if my skin hadn’t rejected the ink (it is the color of a henna tattoo). So it looks like a mess. Just today, I guy asked me if it was a burn. Ouch! Here is a photo of what it should look like.

8. It’s a rare day that I’m not wearing bangles.

I don’t know many other bloggers and the few whose blogs I do read have already been tagged. So, I am only tagging 5 others. They are Desi in Boston, Vegan Heart Doc, The Lifelong Activist, and to expand internationally, Straying Around and anakbrunei.