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Karma Kitchen: Much More Than A Meal
Dear Friends,
Funny how certain moments in a day stand out with such clarity. The rainbow seen from a car window en route to Karma Kitchen yesterday. The sight of the crew sitting in a silent circle as I walked in, the elderly artist who dropped off yet another handful of bright blue handmade blessing cards with just one request, "I want to remain anonymous". Meredith touching us with the wise words from her mentor that had brought her here, "When you're not certain of what to do -- serve."
And then there's Sharanya's swift and sweet tutorial for the new platers, MJ describing how a family of five stumbled upon Karma Kitchen and really "got it", a long-time guest dropping in with a plate of homebaked cookies for the volunteers, Briggs, Runa, Yash and Jazz taking fearless turns at the tandoor -- we've never had so many volunteers turn pro at naan making before![Runa you Rocked as interface, Yash your humility in service is humbling, Briggs -- have to say -- KK DC must Really miss you! And Jazz thanks for juggling tables, dishes and -- pay-it-forward lemons!]
My quintessential KK moment came, hearing Viral calling out to an older couple as they left, "I hope you enjoyed your meal", only to have the man turn and look him directly in the eye and say, "Oh it was much more than a meal".
Then there was hard-working Saumil truly relishing the look on a guest's face as Karma Kitchen was explained, Tom in between dishes and tables, orchestrating two cakes coming out of the kitchen with lit candles -- one for a guest the other for our very own plater. Birthday girl Aishwarya and Rochelle's picture perfect plating (they had it down to a science --- exactly two peas on each sculpted mound of rice :)), Sundos who nailed the difficult art of ladling out mango lassi while creating dessert plates none of us could match. At the end of it all I couldn't help but think back to Tom's fun and fervent morning thought that made us all laugh, "I hope today's going to be worth it." ( boy was it ever!).
An extra special moment was the vibrating stillness in the restaurant just after Francesca's beautiful music stopped --- as MJ pointed out in a text message later that evening, 'the level of peace she achieved during her singing resonated with the theme for Karma Kitchen today."
Living in the Moment.
Thank you all for the moments shared and lived together. We hope you will be back to serve with us again sometime.
Attached is our crew picture (with Tom and Briggs in bodyguard mode ;))
In service and smiles,
Pavi--Pavi on Dec 14, 2009
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