Hunger

I am hungry right now...one of my colleagues would typically respond to that with a "So, when are you not?" Well...that's not true! (At least not entirely :-) ) True, am always game to try anything that I haven't tried before (well, mostly) and I generally do not refuse a genuine offer to share food...especially when it comes from one of my colleagues in this old style law firm with Bawa (colloquial for Parsis) associations where I work...though please note the use of the qualifier "genuine"...

As an aside, Parsis, much like my community of birth, the Bangalis, live their life surrounded by food...food, and discussions about food, form an integral part of the life of any self respecting Bawa, and this attitude tends to seep into you, even if you are not a Bawa, but are only surrounded by them at all times.The best examples in this regard would perhaps be the colleagues I mentioned earlier...as the story goes, no one in my office, at any point of time, says no to food. Any refusal to at least taste food offered by another at the lunch table is immediately followed by concerned queries of the nature of "Why? What happened? You not feeling good? Stressed at work?" This, coupled with the general bonhomie at the lunch tables in the terrace of the Office is also part of the charm here...a rare place where everyone starting from partner to lowly intern sits across the table and shares their lunch with the others on that table.

But I digress. This post today is not about the Office, nor about the colleagues, and not even about food...it is, on the contrary, about lack of food.

As I just mentioned, I am hungry. And I am looking forward to reaching home and cooking myself a nice, hot meal. Ordinarily, I would impatiently chop vegetables, soak rice and dal, change and freshen up somewhere between taking out the cooker, placing it on the burner, putting the tadka and turning on the television for my daily dose of Discovery Travel and Living/ NDTV Good Times/ music/ news...just about managing to hang in there till the food was done and on my plate. But what, as the thought suddenly struck me, if there was no hot food to look forward to? What if I was hungry but I didn't know where my next meal was coming from? Or if I had food in front of me, but was forced to choose not to eat it, rather saving it for my children waiting for me?

What would it be like to be actually hungry, I wonder? I mean, hungry not because I had to skip lunch today because of a series of meetings lined up through the day, but because I have not had a morsel to eat for the past four days? In this day and world where we are constantly bombarded with advertisements, endorsements and such like containing or about food, where mounthwatering food from across the globe is a mere phone call and 30 minutes (or even less) away, I wonder how many of us have actually experienced hunger...not to sound holier-than-thou or champion for the downtrodden, only because it's fashionable to be so, but as a genuine question.

I, speaking for myself, have not...and I do not know how feasible it is to try and put myself in the shoes of a genuinely hungry person by foregoing food for the next four days...for the purpose still does not get served. Even if I abstain from food for a predetermined period, I still know that I have ready access to food on the other side of that time period (or even during it, for that matter)...for me, it is just a question of wilful abstinence.

What is therefore, perhaps feasible, is to try and find a way to ensure that even someone who is genuinely hungry has access to food - like a place a person can go to when really hungry, assured of getting food (and not losing dignity in the process of getting that food). Sure, there are charitable organisations which undertake this activity on a much more regular basis and on a larger scale than I can even imagine, the Iskon temple at Juhu being the first name that comes to mind in this context...but where is the aam admi (or aurat, to be politically correct) on the road like me involved in the process? Is sustainable charity or concern for another the exclusive preserve of politicians or those who have renounced the world?

At this juncture, one may ask how the involvement of the aam admi in the process will result in any effective contribution or significant difference, for the issue is far larger than one or even several 'me's are capable of addressing, and especially because we all have come across at least one instance of an initiative begun with honest and commendable intentions, but which has fizzled out somewhere along the way, either because the enterprise requires too much time and effort, which an average Joe (or Jane) with a day job and possibly a family to take care of, may not be able to afford, or it is simply not sustainable...but I suppose a thought stands for something...and given appropriate effort, may translate into action, not at a grand scale maybe, but at a smaller scale, one that I could sustain over time...at least, it can't hurt to try.

Will keep you posted on what happens thereafter...as the train pulls into the station, it is time to pack the laptop and head home...where hot food awaits me...didn't I tell you I was hungry? :-)