NOBODY IS DEPRIVED OF FOOD IN TEMPLES
“Throwing
away food is like stealing food from the tables
of
those who are poor and hungry.”
Pope
Francis
I
love good food. Yes, I, often, indulge in it… Eat more than what is required
for my body and nourishment. Some of my friends keep consoling me, “Friend, it’s
okay… Life is short… Make merry when it is there… Don’t feel guilty; don’t
regret.”
Well, regret I
would, when the excess food in my belly refuses to digest. That’s when I stare
at the reality, that I am supposed to be eating to live, not living to eat.
Meanwhile, I am
not writing this Post to highlight the merits and demerits of overeating. I am
writing it to highlight the respect for food… The simple food.
The maid, who
keeps my office and classrooms clean, has been helping me for over twenty-five
years. She lives in one of the hutments, clustered along a nearby hill… ‘Dongar’,
they call it. When an elderly woman has served you for over twenty-five years, it’s
natural to have in her a deep sense of belonging. You treat her like your own;
she will treat you like her own. Simple.
So, on her way
to my place, my maid has to cross many small temples… Shiva, Hanuman, Sai Baba and
so on. On the day of respective Deity, there is a langar - simple daal
-chawal, or chole-chawal, rajma-chawal with two phulkas–
served in the noon.
And, no matter
how many times I have requested my maid not to carry food for me, she still does,
and quietly keeps it in my office. Invariably, by then, I have finished my tiffin
food which I have carried from home. She comes to work at my lunch break… Perhaps,
she wants me to have, every day, bhagwan-ka-langar.
So, on my
repeated requests not to carry langar for me, my maid skips it for days
together. But, then, one fine afternoon, when you have already done with lunch,
you see the quietly-covered God’s food: chawal and two phulkas with
rajma or chole or daal. Perhaps, a pinch of pickle on the
rice!
It has become
difficult for me to stop my maid from bringing temple food for me, so
regularly. Yes, at times, I eat it a few hours later, when I get hunger-pangs…
At times, I keep the food in my mini office-fridge and carry to eat at home
with my wife… and, many times, without my maid’s knowledge, I pass on the langar
to our society watchman or mali. I can see how bright their faces become!
“Maushi,
listen. At home, food is cooked every day. I carry my food from home, every
day. This temple food should belong to those who are poor and hungry,” I told
my maid, once again, today. “I know, you bring it to me out of love and
respect. But, food should not be wasted… We should not deprive those who need
it.”
“Nobody is
deprived of food in temples,” my maushi told me, indicating, that no one
should say ‘No’ to langar, even though it means, your stomach is already
full; and, yes, whether you are a maushi or maushi’s boss!
Long live maushi!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: pixabay
Video: Complex Realities
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