Author Archives: tomardiwanshu

‘Vegetarian students forced to consider eating meat, because UK food is so expensive’

Indian students say they may force to give up being vegetarians while they are in the UK – because food in this country is so expensive.

Two international students living in Hillingdon told IKB Insider they are considering eating meat for the first time in their lives because they cannot afford the prices of vegetarian food in the local shops.

Sarthak Sahu, a 24 year old management student who arrived in the UK last month from Delhi, said, “There isn’t any Indian food store nearby, which is generally cheaper and has a multiple variety. Yes, there is a Tesco store nearby but the prices are comparatively higher. My friend is a non-vegetarian, his grocery item are three times cheaper than mine. No one has eaten any non-vegetarian food in my family but in order to maintain my diet and health, I guess I need to switch to it.”

He gave an example where he went to a fast food restaurant with his friend who bought a chicken burger for 99p. Sarthak was then stunned to find out a vegetarian burger of the equivalent size cost him 3.70 pounds. 

Hillingdon consists of a 20% Asian population, mainly from India, and a number of students prefer to stay here as it’s close by to the airport and also has the universities nearby.

Siddharth Surti, a 22 year old finance student, echoed the views of Sarthak. He arrived in November last year and found shopping for food was harder than he imagined. He is now considering eating chicken despite being a vegetarian.  

“Shops are available but they are a bit far,” said “Siddharth”. “If a normal student like me who doesn’t take money from home and depends on my part time job for day-to-day expenses, things can get a bit tough as travelling costs adds up and not everyone can walk that far.” 

IKB Insider informed the UK Vegetarian Society about this issue and asked if it could help in lowering the price of vegetables in stores for students. A spokesperson said, “we just encourage people to become vegetarians, asking the stores to reduce the price for students wouldn’t be possible for us, as we just focus on spreading awareness, however if the students need assistance related to something, we’ll be happy to help”.

The White Tiger

“The White Tiger” is a motivating story based on a novel. It’s a story of an ambitious driver who uses his wit and cunning to escape from the poverty he has been facing for years. He later escapes and becomes a well-established entrepreneur.
The story begins with a boy name ‘Balram’ ( Played by Adarsh Gorav) who is born in a poor family of a backward state in India. Despite his ongoing struggles, he learns how to speak in English and also out to be a brilliant student. He later has to leave his education as his father who was suffering from lung cancer passes away. One day while he was doing his labor work in his village, a well-known businessman enters the village along with his son named “Ashok”( Played by Rajkumar Rao), that’s the moment when the story takes a turn as at that very moment ‘Balram’ decides to work for his son.
Later he becomes his Driver, then one day when he goes to pick ‘Ashok’ and his Pinky ( Priyanka Chopra). While coming back to both of them were drunk and sitting in the back seat, after a while pinky insists on driving the car, and later when she drives rashly, she lands up hitting a kid who later dies. That is the point when the story takes an interesting turn, as later Balram gets pressurised to frame himself as accused.

‘Ramin Bahrani’ succeeds in bringing out characters in the movie, the focus is given to Balram as it’s his life the entire story is based. The best part is the way he escapes and later becomes an entrepreneur by opening up a company that hires only drivers. Overall the story is a great mixture of emotions and has a great plot that can keep the crowd on their toes. However I feel, a younger actress should’ve given the chance opposite ‘Rajkumar Rao’ as he is new in the industry and a new actress presence would’ve made more impact on the screen.

The theme of the story is based on removing stereotypical thoughts from society and bringing out an unexpected change that indeed deserves an applaud.

Farmers have been protesting in India for 2 months, on the republic day of India there were riots in the capital because of the new agricultural law by the government, Do you think this is the right way to protest? 

Name: Aditya Sharma, Age: 25, Occupation: Surgeon, Place: Delhi

I strongly believe raising a voice against injustice isn’t any crime, but it needs to be peaceful. The day protest turns violent it isn’t a protest any longer. The protesters must make sure they don’t let anyone create a mess about their peaceful protest. 

Name: Rachit Sehrawat, Age: 25, Occupation: Digital Marketing, Place: Delhi 

Wrong, I don’t believe any farmer has this much amount of time and money to sit on this protest. I also have farmers in my house I know how much time they dedicate to their work. This is completely wrong and unacceptable and the government should take strict measures. 

Name: Ishan Gaba, Age: 28, Occupation: Pharmacist, Place: Gurugram 

Ridiculous is the word. Do you still think this is a farmer’s protest? it is moreover political propaganda that should be ignored. Only a small group of farmers are protesting peacefully in the entire protest. 

Name: Sana Khosla, Age: 23, Occupation: Digital Creator, Place: Delhi

I’m still with farmers, not protesters, not all protesting are farmers, I’m sure it is more political now rather than just a protest. There is a lot of loss due to the protest. the government should also take note of this and consider doing the needful as per protocols. 

The same question of the protest was put in front of “Raj Tomar” a Political strategist in Delhi said, “there is hardly any protest which doesn’t take a political angle, having said that this protest does have a lot of farmers but at the same time a lot of political parties are associating themselves with the farmers whereas their sole motto is to mock the government for its decision”.

However, “Kumar Kunal” a political strategist at India Today said, “it is unfair to call it propaganda, these are farmers and they need to fight for their rights. I believe these are farmers and just become some goons who tried to disrupt and made it look political, we shouldn’t fall for the trap and rather focus on the real issue”. 

NEWS FEATURE STORY 

A woman provides free vegetarian food to Indian students in Hillingdon

In the recent time, we have come across cases where a plethora of people who are suffering either by the covid-19 or hardships of faced by them while they’re in a lockdown. There was a major setback for international students who had arrived to get an experience in the universities but landed up staying inside their houses which eventually led to many difficulties faced by them. 

In between this tough time, their people came out to help the ones in need apart from the NHS, many volunteered to help the people in some way or the other, amongst them is Mrs. Shilpa Singh, a resident of the London borough of Hillingdon, who not only cooks vegetarian food but also delivers it to them.

Mrs.Shilpa who is a British-Indian has been living in Hillingdon for over a decade now, when IKB Insider interacted with her to know how exactly she got an idea like this to help students, to which she said, “ we often rent vacant rooms in our house to students, so I understand the struggles one goes through, especially when it comes to food”, she also said I being a vegetarian myself, I know that it’s tough for an outsider who doesn’t know how to cook his/her meal here. She remembered recalling a tenant who came from India two years ago, and he dint know how to cook and was a vegetarian, she tried to find out someone who can deliver vegetarian food at home for him, but either someone dint agreed or they were way too expensive for him, after some days when I saw that he is not able to have enough meals in a day, I decided to cook for him and continue to do it till the time he was my tenant, I still remember how thankful he was for that favour, and it was that time I realised that how happy it makes me when someone can receive his/her meal because of my effort, from that day I decided that whenever I will get the opportunity to help someone in this manner, I will do it again.

When IKB Insider asked about her that how did you got the idea of delivering free food to students in Hillingdon, to which Mrs. Shilpa replied, in this scenario, a lot of people are suffering, “I always use to hear stories about an international student struggling to make ends meet because of no part-time jobs available. I remember my neighbour telling me about a friend of his elder son, who came from India last month and his having difficulties with his meal, it was then I decided to initiate and help” she said. I told my neighbour that if that person needs help with the meals he can contact me, “later in the evening I got a call from and I told him that there is no need to worry about food anymore”. IKB Insider also got in touch with one of the student’s name “Aditya” to whom a meal is been provided, when we asked him about how he feels after receiving free meals during the lockdown, to which he replied “I feel blessed, never I thought I’ll be so lucky”. 

While talking to Mrs. Shilpa, she also added, “I have found 3 more such students who were facing a similar problem, I cook and deliver food for them as well”. When did IKB Insider ask her that isn’t that a burden for you to make food for four other people and that too for free? Mrs. Shilpa smiles and said it is no doubt a bit difficult sometimes, but I won’t call it a burden but a blessing that I’m able to help these students, even the students themselves don’t like that I’m providing them free meals and want to pay for the food, but I always deny to it. She further added “I have always believed and lived with the fact that if god allows you to help the ones who need help, you should always do it without any intention of self-benefit”, and I will continue to help them at least till the time things get better here and students then can have enough options to have their meals, but till then I’m more than happy to help them.