There are no free lunches. And in today’s career-driven times, people assess your worth before asking you to have a cup of tea. What you have seems more important than what you are. Yet, thankfully, there are places where you can have a free lunch, dinner or break your fast with a complimentary iftaar. Just look around and you will find a gurudwara, a mandir or a masjid giving food to the hungry, the needy, the deprived. GurUdwara Sisganj, Rakbganj, Bangla Saheb. Jama Masjid in Old Delhi. Jhandewalan mandir. Hanuman temple….the list of places of worship, alms, food, water and goodies is long and impressive in Delhi, the city that never dies.
Scriptures tell us to feed the poor, the indigent, the wayfarer, the traveller. Unfortunately, in a society where every third person goes to sleep on a hungry stomach, the well off ones prefer to leave more food on their table than feeding the poor. Worse, when a hungry child hangs around the restaurant, as happened in Connaught Place last week, he is dismissed as a beggar or thief, the two terms interchangeable in the minds of some.
Move far away from the world of such frogs. Head for lessons in humility head to a gurdwara where rich serve all. Kar seva helps kills ego; telling one and all that riches take wings, fame is vapour and one day we shall return to Him. Or go to mandir where people queue up for their plate, for a small helping of prasad. Or go to a masjid in Ramzan for lessons on equality before Allah. All places of worship which quietly tell us that everybody is a beggar: some beg from Him, others who often stand outside for alms, beg of the beggars inside. Isn’t that the greatest symbol of unity of us all?
