Meeting a modern day Martin Luther King; also known as Dr.Vandana

    I should give the background context of my studies and interest in Dr.Shiva’s work. It is such . . . My undergraduate degree was interdisciplinary, which means unspecific. I started my focus researching marginalized populations in Latin America, primarily indigenous Guatemalans. As I moved further into my degree more topics came into the fold as human rights issues in Guatemala became issues of violence against women, property, and land entitlement. An issue of land became an issue of food as indigenous Guatemalans need land to grow food on for subsistence as well as to sell and support themselves. The issue of food became an issue of food politics.
    There are two women who have contributed to my knowledge and love for Dr.Shiva. One is my former professor Dr.Wendy Russell. During my interdisciplinary studies she assigned different readings from Dr.Shiva on the issue of GMO’s and seed saving. Dr.Russell was NOT a fan of one of the main pharmaceutical companies which genetically modifies seeds and sells them to farmers. This was my first intro to Dr.Shiva. The other was from one of my mentors and late friends Dr. Joan Mason-Grant, who dedicated a lot of her work, study, and research into food politics. For example she lead a delegation of students down to El Salvador to show them different methods of sustainable farming as an alternative to chemical inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, and GMO’s.
    Ultimately I have been a long time fan of Dr.Shiva’s writing and work and am further enamored by her simply because of Dr.Russell’s introduction and Joan’s work/study focus. You can understand how excited Stephanie would get to find out that not only did she know someone who knows and works with Dr.Shiva, but that Stephanie, herself, would get the opportunity to meet Dr.Shiva and see her in action. Incredible! This was just such the case. While I was staying in Udaipur I often frequented Millets of Mewar (http://milletsofmewar.com/)restaurant. I was there one night chatting with one of the owners about sustainability and food issues in India. I referenced Dr.Shiva and the co-owner, Anoop, asked if I wanted to meet her. He had been working with Dr.Shiva on sustainability projects throughout the province of Rajasthan. She was also helping them with the restaurant. The workshop where I was going to meet her was to be held in Delhi in the middle of December. At that moment I knew I would be celebrating Christmas a week early and receiving one of the best possible gifts in my life! Who says Santa Clause doesn’t exist ?!?!?!
    I arranged my schedule to arrive in Delhi on the Friday before the workshop. Dr.Shiva wasn’t speaking until Sunday but I was interested to see what the event would be like. Saturday morning Rachy and I set off to attend the workshop. Of course we got horribly lost on the metro. We went in the complete opposite direction from where we were supposed to go. Then once we got to the correct metro stop we must have asked at least ten different people where the event was and got different directions from all of them. We did finally make it to the workshop. It was a good test run for the following day.
    Sunday morning. I was up and ready to go bright and early as I was so incredibly eager. This Sunday was particularly auspicious as it was the 16th of December. This is also the date of Joan’s birthday. Somehow I think she willed this whole event to happen just for me. Probably not. Nonetheless it was that much more special knowing that I would be meeting Joan’s idol, as well as my own, on her birthday.
    Despite the fact that I now knew how to get to the event I still left the hotel room very early. I arrived in time to catch the owner/founder of Nourish Organics speak about her company and how to market ‘organic’ products within India. Dr.Shiva hadn’t arrived at this point but she was all I could think of. My friend, Anoop, from Millets of Mewar was there. I exclaimed to him about Dr.Shiva;  my anticipation and excitement! I don’t think he realized how special this event was for me. As he  was shocked at what a star-struck little groupie I had suddenly manifested into. He also enjoyed this and, I think, took pleasure in knowing what a gift he had given me. Then before my very own eyes stood Dr.Vandana Shiva. Wrapped in an orange shawl with a large, maroon bindi in the middle of her forehead, her hair tied back in a low bun. Dr.Shiva was standing in the same room as me! Holy crow! She emanates an incredible energy. You just feel her power and strength without her saying a word. When you think about it she has stood up to some of the most powerful people and entities in the world. She is fighting against companies like Monsanto; multi-million dollar pharmaceutical conglomerates that could squash her like a bug. But they don’t. They are fearful of her. Fearful of what she knows, what she does, what truth she speaks. That is a pretty incredible force to be dealing with and to have standing in front of you!
    I have met a few other famous people in my life. The first was Elvis Stojko; a Canadian figure skater I met at my acupuncturists’ office when I was a teenager. The second was Jean Vanier, the founder of the international organization L’Arche (http://www.larche.org/home.en-gb.1.0.index.htm), which provides community living for adults with developmental disabilities. I was actually fortunate enough to be asked to be speak in a group talk about the program Intercordia, which he created. After which I was able to meet him and shake his hand. I met him again, later in the day and he remembered me!! So incredibly special! Lastly, I met Deepa Mehta; a film producer/director. She gave the closing address for the 2006 graduating class at my University, of which I wasn’t part. I graduated the following year. But lucky for me, she was part of another talk which I was invited to. I still maintain that I am one of the luckiest women I know!
    Meeting Elvis Stojko was cool because he is an amazing Canadian athlete and known worldwide. Jean Vanier was a pretty big deal because of how much L’Arche means to me and how much it changed my life. Deepa Mehta was special just in terms of her breadth, success and the fact that she is Indian Canadian, which touches me on a nationalistic level. But also personal as my step-mom is Indian, as are some of my closest friends. Meeting Dr.Shiva was an amalgamation of meeting these three, times ten! The work she does bodes so close to my heart because of the ties to Joan and Dr.Russell. But also because it resonates so deeply in terms of my passions and the things I care about in my life and the world. We are all deserving and entitled to whole, healthy food and this should never be questioned, manipulated, altered, or denied from people. That is not humanity or justice in my mind, rather the opposite. Dr.Shiva has made such an impact in the world. She has been working on keeping GMO’s out of India since the 80’s. She is working to help local farmers yield good, abundant, and healthy crops. She has established seed banks so farmers can save their seeds and not have to buy new ones on a yearly basis. She is helping to keep farmers alive so they don’t go into debt and then don’t commit suicide, a common tragedy in India. She is educating people with her books, her website, the organization she established, Navdanya (http://www.navdanya.org/). I entitled this blog “The Modern day Martin Luther King” because I feel Dr.Shiva is having the same sort of impact on the world in her own way. Ten, twenty, fifty years down the road people will reference Dr.Shiva, the work she has done, and the impact she has had. I believe this to be absolutely true and absolutely certain. She is changing the world and it is incredible and awe inspiring!
    With all this is mind you can imagine my excitement at meeting the one and only Dr.Vandana Shiva. I will confess I didn’t remember a lot of what she said after the event was over. I think I was so caught up with the fact of meeting her, in person, that my brain couldn’t process anything else. Thankfully I recorded her talk; another reason I couldn’t focus I was too preoccupied with my camera. After she finished speaking I ran outside to catch her on her way out. She is a busy woman and had to leave straight away for a meeting. I think she was a little confused by this ridiculous Canadian who was so eager to shake her hand. Which is entirely true. I felt it was incredibly important to shake her hand and am so glad that I did so. She withdrew her hand from beneath her orange shawl and shook mine. Pinaki, one of the event organizers who was leading her out of the building gave me the most puzzled and confused look at my absolute conviction to shake Dr.Shiva’s hand. Obviously another faux pas in terms of Indian customs, but oh well J I also had the “I’m never going to wash this hand again” thought. But of course it was fleeting. It was my right hand for goodness sake. If I don’t wash it, in India of all places, God help me!!!
    Anoop was with me after I met Dr.Shiva. He still couldn’t get over my excitement and energy in regards to Dr.Shiva. I remember he gave me a big hug as a congratulations but I was still in another place that I don’t think I even hugged him back. Nothing, or no one, else mattered at that moment, whoops, sorry Anoop. In time I regained my composure, enough to attend and actually pay attention to the closing speaker at the event.

    This fabulous day, Joan’s birthday, got even better when I learned of another event that Dr.Shiva was speaking at that week, and that I was invited to attend!! Incredible. However this unbelievable day had to come to an end and did with a group of us; the event organizers and some of the speakers, attending the Delhi Street Food festival. Tons of vendors from different regions all over the country dishing up your favourite street foods like pani puri, pakoras, and of course chai ;) I got to know the event organizers and delve a little into the social justice scene in New Delhi, India. I also got to chat further with the closing speaker Dr.Robert Verkerk (www.anh-usa.org) who researches the ties between inflammatory disease in Western culture, and genetically modified foods. Amazing day, amazing people, amazing life! At the end of this absolutely incredible day the one thing I did remember from Dr.Shiva’s talk was “let’s work together”. Let’s work together. Let’s work together to make this a better world for all peoples. Thank you Dr.Shiva! You made my decade!