Hunger is the most basic instinct of mankind and probably the closest feeling to nature. And hunger is also one of the most disregarded of emotions. Either we skip food eventhough the body wants it or we eat more than the body needs. Imagine a situation where for days you dont eat well (or at times not eat at all), what emotions would you go through. I am not talking of the guys fasting voluntarily out there.
What would be your state of mind? How would you look at the life you have gone through and the future you would have to face. All would converge to a single point - What to do for my next meal ? Would I even get something to eat today. For that state of mind, just that one meal is true happiness.
Before I get into what we did to feed the hungry in our own way, I wish to draw some light into the experiences in my life which shaped my thoughts and also helped in the idea.
Keep it simple - but be consistent
In my growing years, inspired by Gandhiji, I wanted to understand what hunger meant. This was more from the philosophy that you need to know what your fighting against or for. I lived on one meal a day for six months. I wont say something dramatic happened, but I could understand the value of a meal. I told myself and at some point of time in my life, I needed to in my own way help people get out of hunger. I did not have the courage to let go of my education, career etc and focus full time on that.
We had a group in Chennai , during my college and CA days, where we used to meet up at the beach every sunday to discuss simple issues concerning our day to day lives. One of the topics was on Hunger and it rekindled in me the thought to do something about it. One of the participants actually made an interesting observation. He said that its not that the people do not provide food to others. Its just that they are not able to do it consistently.
Later, my career had me move out of Chennai and I had the opportunity of travelling all over the country. The chances of me doing something reduced further due to lesser availability of quality personal time. This had affected a lot of my habits and also by hobbies. I began spending lesser time with friends, lesser time for cooking, lesser time on writing, etc. Over time, I realised that not doing anything due to paucity of time was actually killing me, because I was slowly moving away from myself. I therefore decided to do all the things i wanted to do, but with a shorter version. For instance, cook a simpler new dish everyday, write poems instead of long write ups or stories, etc. The biggest success for me was with my poetry. Because it allowed me to quickly express what I felt and also my style of writing was welcomed by my readers.
This brought me to learn one of the most important lessons. The size of a task or the amount of time required typically pulls us away from doing things we want to do. The more simple you make the task, the more you get to do them consistently and with content. It does not matter how much you do, it matters how consistent you do something,
Cooking together creates an amazing bond, but not always!
I think this is something I learnt after marriage. Though as roommates in college, my friends and I would cook together, real cooking was something I discovered with Mayura, my better half. She is an amazing cook ,used to involve me in cooking and also taught me dishes to make. What was beautiful was not the cooking itself, but the fact that we were creating something beautiful together and for us to enjoy!
I wanted to extend this at work too, to create a bonding in the team I work with everyday. My team members were from different locations and also from different cuisines. So at weekends, we actually got together at a common place and cooked dishes that we liked for lunch. We had split the work - some of the guys got to vegetable cutting, some into cooking and some into serving. Yes, it was an elaborate affair - but the bonding completely improved. The idea of working together and creating something beautiful inspired all of us. The happiness that we derived after making these wonderful dishes that tasted very good just cannot be explained in words.
We used to upload our cooking videos online and when people appreciated us, it added on to the joy!
This made me realise that cooking is an amazing team bonding activity! The real joy is in the cooking process more than the actual taste of what we cooked.
But again, we could not sustain it every weekend, because every time we joined to cook, it was so elaborate and required a lot of time to be spent. Though it had the thrill initially, it was becoming a challenge to bring everyone together every weekend and contribute. But whenever we could meet, we enjoyed.
Joy of cooking for someone unknown
It was I think on a Navratri day. Mayu and I just felt we needed to cook something to offer to the deity and share it with friends. I invited my teammates home and shared the "sundals" (A tamil salad). They had totally enjoyed. There was excess food that day and we decided to give it to people in the nearby temple.
While I was distributing the food to those in need in and around the temple, I could vividly remember the expressions on their faces. They seemed to be longing for someone to share some food with them and they had seen God in the person who was serving them in their time of need. This was in contrast to my teammates who had come home and also during our weekend cooking sessions. My teammates enjoyed the dish we made, yes, but was more an enjoyment - the extra. But the ones I met at the temple were grateful, they had not only enjoyed the food but their faces gloomed with happiness that they had won over hunger that day.
Interestingly, I had felt a sudden gush of happiness in me. I felt that I played a part in bringing a moment of happiness in someone no one really cares about.
Smile 30
It was after that incident that I felt that I needed to something meaningful to the society in my own way within the existing constraints and within my sphere of influence. The next weekend, I called up my teammates. But this time not to make for ourselves but to cook for people we dont know, for those in need.
And this time, I did not want to make it elaborate and make the same mistake I had done earlier. I told them that we needed to only cook for 30 people. This was because it was easier to cook a small quantity and not require a large team for this. This would ensure consistency every weekend because whoever was available would join in.
We created three sub teams - a vegetable cutting team, a cooking team, a packing team, a distribution team and a digital team to split the work. The idea was not to give to people in general but to actually roam the streets in the town and identify those in real need for food that day. It did not matter how long it took to find the right people. But there was no compromise on that.
I wanted everyone to experience the happiness in their faces and the happiness one derives while sharing with them.
We named the initiative Smile 30 (for bringing a smile on faces of 30 people). Every Sunday after that, for the last two years consistently (except for a brief period during the pandemic), we have been doing this activity. The good part of this whole thing is that it is at a small level which makes it easy for people to participate whenever they are available without affecting their personal time. And the cost of cooking for 30 people is also affordable. Some people were kind enough to contribute to the cause, some sponsored for birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
And it can easily be replicated anywhere by anyone, which gives a huge potential for this to become a movement across the country.
The cause creates leaders
I would be naive if I were to say that this initiative immediately awakened the Gandhi in each of my teammates and all became service oriented immediately. There are a lot who have joined us, there are a few who have fallen out or not shown interest but most importantly, there are those who have gotten inspired and have emerged as leaders. These leaders over time have begun running the whole show coordinating at every levels. These leaders had not been nominated. They had emerged after getting self inspired.
Also this has created a long of team building that even at work, you get more self motivated people taking charge of the situation. The real beauty of the whole thing is nobody really knows who is running it, it is the cause which is running the whole thing, not the people!
Which brings me to the lesson I learnt - At times, the cause itself brings out great leaders!
A culmination of Experiences - The Smile 30 way!
What was the beginning of the idea of Smile 30 ? Was it my inspiration from Gandhi? Was it cooking together with Mayura? Was it the weekend team lunches? Was it the day at the temple?
The truth is I really do not know. I am reflecting on these experiences in retrospect - probably creating a connection. But in reality, these experiences had just taken place with me learning something interesting every time. And these experiences subconsciously culminated into an idea which today brings happiness to several people.
So the biggest lesson out of all this is this - Our Life if the best teacher. It is also the best eye opener. It is also the greatest inspirer. It is also infectious and can affect others' lives as well. But the real question is - Are we living our lives to make best use of them?
That is a question with no real answer but it is more a quest.
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