At her family home in Bombay, as part of her religion Hema Parekh was taught "never to take away another's right to life." That meant she lived as a vegetarian.
In time, when her son asked her why she was a vegetarian, she answered: "Our God sees that we are taking care of animals. There is so much in this world to eat, we are not killing them for food." Her son then had to reconcile the beliefs of his family with those of his nonvegetarian friends. His mother taught him tolerance. "People must make their own decisions," she said.
Hema remembers her own childhood with great happiness. "We spent weekends at the beach and summer holidays in different parts of India. My father was always at our disposal, whatever our demands," she said. At college she studied commerce and economics. "My husband proposed marriage when I was 18. I was married at 19, and completed my senior year of college the following year. I went back from Japan to India to take my final exams," she said.
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