Tharanath In Bangalore Mirror!

These Bengalureans offer free meals, classes, venue and advice without expections; here's why Here’s the significant bit. Justbe, the cafe wasn’t celebrating its anniversary or running a food promo.

Here’s the significant bit. Justbe, the cafe wasn’t celebrating its anniversary or running a food promo. Owner Nidhi Nahata explains, “It wasn’t charity, which I think comes from an ego standpoint, wherein you give things to the lesser-privileged because you have resources. We were instead gifting a meal to diners, who have their pockets full, for the pure joy of sharing. Because, I think we have become desensitised to what it means to receive without an ulterior motive.” But since compassion is contagious, Khanna paid the kindness forward, by donating `5,000 to an NGO through the cafe.

Welcome to gifting as you don’t know it. Called gift economy or giftivism, it’s a niche experiment worldwide, where goods and services are given selflessly, with a hope to build an ecosystem of sustenance where you are taken care, not by earning your keep, but by doing small and random acts of kindness and trusting that what goes around will eventually come around. It works by sharing resources, knowledge, connections (social capital) or by pay-as-you-like donations, pay-it-forward gestures, and charity. Money is not the main focus, because gifters believe that resources are abundant and that you can trust the community or the universe to make it available for you or others.