Written by: Avishek Singh
Doctors across the world are warning about the spread of obesity. On the other hand it is said that approximately nineteen crore people in India are compelled to sleep without food. They don’t know where their next food is coming from. The problem is, some people have too much to eat while others have nothing.
On July 24, 2018, three girls from national capital below the age of 8, died of starvation. The postmortem report revealed that their body did not have even a single trace of food since many days. Close your eyes and step into their world to feel how they would have felt in their last moments. This is just one story. Even today, death by hunger is the tragic reality in India. There is certainly enough resource in the world that no one at any point of life goes hungry. The question is, then why do millions of people die due to hunger.
If you were to ask in the streets of our nation that why do people have to die due to hunger, a lot of the people would say that this happens only to the ones who are too lazy to work. This is so untrue. The shocking truth is that over one third of those who die due to malnutrition are children. Moreover, others would blame government for not being active enough. However, no one would step up and say that we need to be more responsible towards our acts. 1.3 billion tons of food gets wasted everyday throughout the world. Isn’t is so unkind of mankind to be indifferent towards those who sleep empty stomach. Shouldn’t it be everyones responsibility to be empathetic towards others basic needs?
This article by ‘Business Connect’ brings you a story of an initiative. Mr. Chinu Kwatra started an initiative named ‘Roti Ghar’ for serving free food to children and female in the underprivileged area in Hari Om Nagar, Thane, and Mumbai.
The organisation feeds over 100 kids and females every day. Healthy food is prepared and served daily. The food is prepared in a dhaba run by Mr. Kwatra’s father. In the evening, mostly college students help in serving the food. The children eagerly wait for the food to be served. They had never eaten this kind of food.
Apart from this, the initiative aims to create a sense of hygiene among kids and women. Food is prepared after cleaning the place. Similarly each one is taught to wash their hands and plates before eating. Liquid soaps, tooth brush, pastes and hand sanitisers are distributed to children. Before serving, each one is inspected if they have clean plates and clean hand.
Anyone can be a part of this noble cause. Slowly as there is more awareness about this project, a lot of people have started to contribute food on their birthdays and parties. Why wait for an occasion to be a part of a noble cause. One can donate food on any day. A person can sponsor a single meal by donating Rs 35.
We as individuals can certainly make a difference. There are multiple ways one can reduce, reuse and recycle the food. For example, a lot of people tend to take extra food on their plate and eventually dispose it. Every time we do that, we tend to take away the share of someone less privileged. This act of ours, we also waste due to our negligence by not storing the fruits and vegetables in the freezer and these go as a waste. Yet another way to save food from wasting is instead of cooking a new food, look around and try transforming a leftover.
Mother Teresa in her famous quote has said: “I never look at the masses as my responsibility. I look at the individual. I can love only one person at a time. I can feed only one person at a time. Just one, one, one.”
