30 YEARS ON – A LIFE OF CAMPAIGNING

10 December 2002

I arrived in this country at the age of nineteen and was eager to face the challenges and the opportunities that this country had to offer. Growing up in Kenya I had learnt to be proud of my Indian heritage and yet I instinctively knew that the land of my birth was where my loyalties should be. However as fate would have it I found myself in London and I was looking forward to serve the community and to adept to a new way of life. My guiding principle has always been that before undertaking any activity one has always to take account of the country, time and circumstances that one finds oneself in. This is what our scriptures recommend. To adept and change in new circumstances is the very essence of life. In the very first few weeks of my arrival here I realised that it was crucial to teach the children growing up here our mother tongue Gujarati. From 1974 to 1994 I taught Gujarati in Croydon and Tooting every Saturday. Those children are now in their early 40’s and are keeping Gujarati language and Indian culture alive with their children! I recently published a book called, ‘Easy Gujarati’ with the emphasis that spoken Gujarati is most important while learning to read and write is a bonus. During all this time I had worked in a factory, as a postman, done my ‘A’ levels, gone to university and started my own business. In the 1980’s I had also published two pamphlets: ‘Our Dying Languages’ and ‘The Words Coloured and Blacks are Offensive and Derogatory’. I had also argued that we should be called Indians and not Asians. The pamphlet had been sent to all the major newspapers in the country. No one calls Indians coloured or black anymore and the word Asian is also being increasingly dropped in favour of Indian. At the same time I wrote a book called, ‘Future In Our Hands’ which looked at the break down of family structure in UK and the negative effect that would have on the society. I soon realised that vegetarianism was an extremely important part of our spiritual heritage and our children needed to be told about it. Thus the ‘Young Indian Vegetarians ‘ was formed in 1976 and we have reached tens of thousands of people with our message and formed friendship and shared a common interest with millions of English men and women who are vegetarians. We have become well known for organising vegetarian rallies in Hyde Park and for giving, ‘Mahaveer’ awards to famous vegetarians like Maneka Gandhi, Tony Benn and Lord Weatherill. The Vegetarian Society of Kenya, Mauritius, Delhi and Lisbon were also formed. The following books were also published: ‘A request to the people of India from the Vegetarians of the World’ and ‘Benefits of Vegetarianism to Africa’.  Our newsletter, ‘Ahimsa’ goes to hundreds of people all over the world. This country has gone through a food revolution in the last 20 years and we have been in the forefront of it, sharing with the people of this country our heritage of Ahimsa and Vegetarianism. On the eve of the new millennium-31st.December 1999, we held a vegetarian rally in Hyde Park and read out a pledge to bring  about a 21st. Century in which mankind will make peace with the animal kingdom. The pledge was put in a time capsule. The health problems of our community in this country are worrying and I am a great advocate of Yoga. I have also written two articles recently: ‘H.R.T, PILLS, modern day miracles or a curse for Women? And ‘Vaccinations-how much do we know about them’? I have been active in many Jain organisations as well as the Hare Krishna society. I have done a complete study of the ‘Srimad Bhagvatam’ which took me ten years to complete. The Neasden Mandir also has a special place in my heart. I was a Governor at Croydon College for eight years and am a member of Croydon Strategic Partnership Board. I have served on the Croydon Police Consultative Committee, Croydon Voluntary Action and Electricity Board. I am at present a trustee of Compassion in World Farming which is campaigning to end animal cruelty ion many parts of the world.

One of the biggest issues facing us today is the inability of thousands of our young men and women to find spouses. This is a grave issue and our community has to find ways of overcoming this problem. The challenges our community faced in the seventies and eighties are different from the challenges we face today and we need to be versatile enough to focus on the new challenges rather then just doing things that we have been doing year after year.

Living is learning and from my personal experiences I have come to the following conclusions:

1 Apart from earning your livelihood take up a cause that will benefit others and set yourself some goals and come up with new ideas to achieve your goals and make a mark in your particular field. If I had the time and the opportunity I would like to plant millions of trees and re-forest parts of Kenya and India!

2 Work passionately for a cause but also be detached because ultimately the concept of,’my people’, ‘my country’ is an illusion-Maya which can hinder your spiritual progress

3 Compassion towards all, even your adversaries should be the guiding principle in all our actions.

4 Most problems can be solved by showing respect for the others point of view. When there is a clash of egos problem solving becomes impossible.

 

5 You do not have to do what others do. You do not have to send your child to a private school because everyone else does. You do not have to invest in shares because everyone else does! It is a form of gambling in which the chances of losing money are high!

6 I have always been baffled by countries which abandon their principles for short term gain-the greatest brains of the 20th. Centuries have fallen for this temptation! Petty nationalism and an inability to think in the long term is the cause of this. Nations arm other nations for short term gain and then find their new found friends have turned against them! Some countries refuse to sign the treaty to limit the environmental damage to the planet because they have not benefited as much as others who damaged the environment! At the end of the day if the planet is being damaged then we are all going to suffer! So say no to petty nationalism!

So what is the immediate priority for our community at present? I believe the priority is to identify with this nation and its people more and more. To emphasise this point I recently wrote an article called, ‘You can not be an Ethnic Minority for Ever’! We should be prepared to protect all that is best in the British way of life. The joys and sorrows of this country should be our joys and sorrows. We celebrated the Queen’s Golden Jubilee with a Vegetarian festival and read out a pledge of allegiance to this country. For the last 23 years we have organised a Christmas Vegetarian lunch for the local community-there is no better way of breaking barriers then sharing food together. If only all Indian organisations had a similar event once a year! Let our English,  Scottish, Welsh and Irish neighbours know who we are and what we stand for. We recently donated money for the renovation of our local Parish Church. This gesture won us many friends and proved that we were ready to put back into the community that we have made our home. One reason why the Indian Diaspora has succeeded in almost all parts of the world is that it has an ability to master the local languages. However we also need to learn the norms and nuances of the people amongst whom we live and respect them.  The coming years are likely to bring social conflict and we can no longer afford to repeat the same mistakes that we made in East Africa.

Nitin Mehta MBE

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