Who am I?

Hello, this is Sejal, also addressed by friends as Seju :-).

After graduating with a degree in Electronics and Communication engineering, I worked for about 6 years in various companies including Reliance, Wipro and Aricent. My work took me to various cities and countries, where I learned about different cultures and lifestyles. During the last 3 years of my work, I had been volunteering with various organizations involved in bringing about social and environmental change. Coincidentally, that was the period when I tied the knot with Pulkit. Having him to share my life with has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made :-).

In 2010, I put a pause on my IT career, and traveled for over a year in the rural parts of the country on a fellowship offered by Community Health Cell. This year-long travel tremendously helped me in my understanding of the inter-connectivity of various issues and possible solutions. During the same year, I also got introduced to the vegan lifestyle which resonated with me instantly. Most importantly, it removed discrimination and convenient morality from my sphere of concern and action. It also led me to question some of my notions about bring the change in the world (more on that later). I’ve been a steadfast vegan since then, and look upon the adoption of veganism as the single most ethically important/impactful decision of my life.

Veganism also made me aware of issues with preventive health and nutrition, and urged me to dig deeper into those subjects. Hence, I took up a certification course in nutrition from Cornell University to understand basic concepts, while I was in my 8th month of pregnancy. Having lived vegan for 2 years, the pregnancy too was fully vegan (of course). Shaurya, my darling son, was born on 8th April, 2013. We plan to raise him vegan as well – for his health’s sake as much as for ethics/animals.

A year back, I took up a certification in Technical writing, and have been taking contracts for technical documentation ever since. If anyone’s interested, do checkout my Odesk profile :-). I also write about environment, nutrition and veganism in various blogs, websites and magazines. Some of my articles are listed here.

PS: Those who are wondering about my last name Parikh – read more about it here :).