13 August 2014
Activists demanding for Clean Chai in Mumbai.
For the last 10 years I have been vegan and I have been drinking a lot of Sulaimani (lime) tea. As I am vegan, I assumed drinking Sulaimani was being compassionate towards the environment and myself. Turns out I was completely wrong. A few weeks ago, sitting at a chai shop sipping Sulaimani, I got to know from my co-worker Shivani that there are unapproved pesticides in my tea.
Being vegan, I spend a considerable amount of time reading the contents of what I consume to make sure it's compassionate and so looked up the tea packages and to my surprise I realised that there is no mention of traces of pesticides in my tea. That's when I realised that I need to do something about my cup of tea laced with a deadly cocktail of pesticides which is a victim of this sick industrial agriculture model.
Right then, I decided to voice my concern to the tea companies and ask them to clean up my Sulemani chai. This is the reason why I am sitting on a barrel of pesticides four storeys high on Bandra Reclamation Road, Mumbai. To let everyone know how important it is to clean up tea, our national drink. And I will stay here on the billboard braving the sun, rain and the sea breeze till the companies make a commitment to clean up my tea.
Its past mid-night, and I can see the well-lit Worli Bandra Sea Link, the city lights of the city that never sleeps. And I'm tiring in my harness but my concern for Clean Sulemani provides me the strength to go on and stay here.
Lend me your voice by signing up to demand for clean chai!
Arvind Shivakumar is an activist, a vegan, a natural farmer and a volunteer for Greenpeace India.