Behind every successful man, there is a Woman (who also cooks well), and behind every successful Company, there is a good Cafeteria… is not it? The cafeteria is the place where more collaboration and ideas evolve rather than at the work-stations or meeting rooms 🙂 One of our company’s success mantras was to have various vendors with a wide range of menus, but that is not the obvious reason why some of us spend more time in the Cafeteria than at the desks.
The story is about a day of my life while enjoying the best hour(s) in the office – the Lunch Break!
After the delicious lunch, I was burping nice, and something came to my notice. I saw a beautiful lady at the front table waiting for something. To my surprise, she closed her eyes and started praying, then opened her beautiful eyes and then started having her food. “What she just did? She just prayed before having her food?”
“She is beautiful and prays before food; what else I need?”
I asked my friend to find some info about her, and I wanted all the details by the evening. My friend came to my room in the evening and said, “Gujju girl, born and brought up in west coast, only daughter, no boyfriend, likes cooking and every Sunday goes to cooking classes.”
“Wow! Beautiful girl, prays before having food, knows cooking; what else I need?”
The next day, I saw her again in the cafeteria. I loved the way she prays, closing her eyes in the midst of the crowd before the food. I managed a place near her and asked her, “Are you waiting for someone, or can I grab a chair?” She replied, “That’s fine…”
But I was not fine and wanted to talk to her. I tried to pray before I start my lunch but felt very awkward to close my eyes and pray; so dropped the prayer plan. I was very happy as she was just next to me and I wished this to happen every day. When she finished her lunch and moved out to drop the plates, I also followed her with my plates. She turned back and saw my plate is almost full. I said “Oops…” And, she said “Are you going to waste all this” Wow… she talked to me! I was thrilled that she talked to me, but I was not aware that I would hear something that I am not going to forget ever in my life.
Those were not the magical words; rather, these… “How can you waste food? So many people in this world are sleeping on the streets with an empty stomach. We live in a country where poor farmers commit suicide due to hunger. Poor children can’t go to school since they need to work day and night or beg to feed their families. The food you are wasting could have fed three children, and you would have saved their life. You should be thankful to God that you get a full meal every day. If you have no respect for food, then you have no respect for your own country and people!” She angrily left that place and I was just left out with a spinning head!
That incident influenced my thoughts and I realized that food should not be wasted. I correlated wasting food with snatching someone else’s plate. Now, even I pray before having my food and always thank the Almighty for His grace and I promised Him that I won’t waste food in-return of His grace; and will donate food whenever I get a chance.
After that incident, we talked to each other several times to exchange ‘Sorry(s)’ and ‘Thank You(s).’ Now we are good friends. “She is caring, sensible, and responsible; what else I need in a good friend?”
