“Today is my parent’s wedding anniversary. Every year my parents and I visit a restaurant and we enjoy a nice meal which includes non-vegetarian dishes as all of us are a fan seafood. However, from this year on we have decided to celebrate their anniversary by turning vegan, ” R Saravanan, who is in class seven in a private school in the city says. He is one among the thousand people who signed the pledge to observe November 25 as Meatless Day.

Every year November 25, the birthday of the Hindu saint T. L. Vaswani aka Sadhu Vaswani is celebrated as an International Meatless Day. Sadhu Vaswani is the founder of the Vaswani Mission that is located in Pune. He has dedicated his life in preaching and practising to treat all living creatures with love and compassion.

A vegetarian by nature, the birthday of this living saint of the Hindus (Sindhi’s) is observed as Meatless Day because he strongly advocates universal practice of vegetarian living.

In the year 1986 Meatless Day campaign was started by a few devotees of Sadhu Vaswani and continues to be followed every passing year. In Coimbatore city devotees of this saint also celebrated this day.

“A few weeks ago, we visited around 40 schools in the city. The school children were educated on the significance of this day. Those who were willing to participate in the Meatless Day campaign, signed the pledge to observe November 25 as Meatless Day,” Shirlu Mulchandani, one of the devotees of Sadhu Vaswani Mission says.

This year in Coimbatore city alone, around 19,000 people have signed the commitment not to consume meat today.

Today, in Coimbatore city a few devotees of Sadhu Vaswani Mission came together and the entire day was spent in doing social activities. Food was donated to the needy in various locations in the city.

Also a few devotees of Sadhu Vaswani Mission came together at Sindhu Sadan hall to participate in the birthday celebrations that was organized by the Coimbatore centre of Sadhu Vaswani Mission.

The Coimbatore centre of Sadhu Vaswani Mission that is located in R S Puram was set up around 25 years ago. It houses the books that are authored by the saint himself. This centre can be reached at 98430-23451.