Joisher first went to Nepal in 1984 as a child and returned to Nepal several times for photography and climbing and says he regards Nepal as his " second home " . Surviving an almost fatal avalanche during the April 2015 Nepal earthquake , Joisher arranged a photo exhibition after his return and donated income he made from it to relief measures in Nepal . He says regarding his expedition , " it was important for me to send a message across the world that vegans can do it . I wanted to debunk every single myth around veganism . " Kuntal was born in India to a Gujarati ( Bhanushali ) family . He was raised as a vegetarian , and later turned vegan in 2002 . He is an alumnus of USC Viterbi , where he did his masters in Computer Science
April 2015 Nepal earthquake
April 2015 Nepal earthquake
Kuntal Joisher