Serving with smiles

Posted by Kinnari Mehta on Aug 11, 2016


On the eve of Friendship Day eve, a few of us got together to surprise the senior residents of Narmada Niketan. We reached there just before the scheduled dinner time, and quickly decorated the dining hall with colourful wall hangings, beautiful flower rangoli, some tea light candles and played some soothing Maitri Tunes music in the dining hall. Just before the residents joined us, all the volunteers and the serving team joined hands revisiting their intention of doing the same role as they do each day but to do it today, with a smile and tonnes of love.

All the residents and the serving team were welcomed in the Indian traditional way — with a tikka on their forehead and heads bowed and hands folded in Namaskar to express our gratitude for their presence because of which we were able to serve ourselves, by serving them. One of the grandpas who takes his food in his room daily, decided to walk down and join us, appreciating our efforts with his presence and blessings. Many of them asked if it was someone’s birthday or a special occasion but when we shared that there was no such occasion except spending this evening together with them, the surprise and spark in their eyes was like that in a child’s eye when he gets his favourite toy as a surprise gift.


Before the dinner started, Drishti sang a prayer – a Hindi translation of ‘saathe ramiye saathe jamiye
Seeing each of the dining tables candle-lit with floral rangoli, one of the grandmas laughingly said, “We often hear about candle light dinners from our kids at the restaurants but today we have it at our own home.” Each one was tagged with a heart-pin and they were overwhelmed with the gesture. Exclamations could be seen in abundance. Someone shared, “I have been here for 8 years but I have never witnessed a dinner like this.” The Manager of the Home noted that – may be as a side-effect of a heart filled with love — that particular grandpa had much lesser food than his usual appetite. Many shared that it was a big change for them whereas one of them added that this experience will remain with her all her life. At the end of the evening, we were all drenched with the shower of love, blessings and good wishes. As one of the volunteers shared that the presence of the oldies was very calming and loving, which they shared in the forms of smiles and blessings. The food, the place, the serving team, everything was the same, what made the difference was the intention, the intention of serving them with love, be it food or a smile.


As we drove back to our homes and for a day or two later in chat groups, we were constantly reminiscing small stories of the evening – how one grandma kept smiling continuously looking at one of us for the whole half an hour which left the volunteer speechless with what she experienced — how one otherwise-reticent lady left the hall with a smile, and was constantly asking questions about where the heart pins are made, where do we stay and so on — how another grandma was so excited that one of us noticed that she was wearing a nail polish, and proudly telling us how her granddaughter put it for her… The expressions of wonder, surprise and gratitude were several, but the bhaav was the same — that of recognizing that no matter how our conscious mind may educate us, we were connected through the web of life; that we are all one.
vasudhaiv kutumbakam

 

Posted by Kinnari Mehta on Aug 11, 2016 | permalink


Share A Comment
 Your Name: Email:


Previous Comments
  • bharat mehta wrote ...

    Nice initiative to make senior citizen feel change with such change

  • Khushmita wrote ...

    What a wonderful way to celebrate friendship day with the dear elders :) their smiles speak volumes on how special this must be for them! Thank you Rahul, kinnari, drishti and trupti for being such carriers of love and light :)

  • sheetal wrote ...

    So happy to read this.. Thanks for your heart of service.. Hope to serve alongside you someday soon..

  • madhur wrote ...

    Wow :) love is visible in the pics