Care to Share??

As a kid, summer holidays meant going to Grandma's. All the kids would eat and sleep together. On one such evenings, my grandma's sister lined us up. Wondering what surprise we had in store, we were eagerly waiting. She got a big vessel with left over rice and started making red balls of rice with the fresh mango pickle of the season. Each of us got one serving and nothing could taste heavenly than that. She made sure all the food was eaten. From then, I noticed she would do it whenever there was left over food. 

That became a habit in the years to come. In school, if we happened to leave the food in the lunch box, we were made to eat it after coming home. Despising the stale food, we would better eat it at school. That habit turned into a ritual. However, being the picky eater I was, I always fussed and complained about food. Whenever I threw a tantrum, I remember my dad saying : "Annam Parabrahma Swaroopam" for which the meaning can be found here.

Some habits die hard. The habit turned ritual of not wasting food continued from my childhood to my kids'. Now, my kids finish their left overs in the car as they know they don't get an evening snack if any food is wasted. The stories I heard as a child, of starving children across the world are passed on to my kids as well.  They now know that food is not to be wasted instead be saved and shared. I make sure to donate cans of food each year during the Thanksgiving food drives. We always carry plenty in our pantry that we don't use all the time. Don't we?

If not wasting food is a habit I nurtured over the years, sharing of food is another. We as Indians are taught to share the food we have before we eat. Let us not restrict our sharing habit just to our families, friends, neighbors, colleagues or co-passengers. Let us continue to share it with the starving children of our country. To those who has to choose between hunger and education. And I hope, you will all join with me in this journey.

Akshaya Patra is putting a tremendous effort in this regards. Feeding thousands of underprivileged school children so that they can continue with their education.

I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda. I sincerely hope you will join me.For every blog post you write, BlogAdda will sponsor meals for an Akshaya Patra beneficiary for an entire year, as a part of our Bloggers Social Responsibility.

P.s: I am submitting this at the 11th hour. I live in Central Time Zone, USA.  I still have 1:30 minutes for the deadline according to our time. Hope I meet the criteria and this post helps to feed a child.