We do find many reasons in our society when public feasts are organised. We do it when a marriage celebration is there or we even do it in the memory of departed soul. Temples organise public feasts on the occasion of various festivals. In my city Lucknow, there is an old tradition of distributing cold water, mid-day meal, sweets etc on Tuesdays in a specific month of summer.
Since childhood, I have enjoyed many public feasts both as a beneficiary as well as an organizer. It is only recently that I started seeing the other aspect of it. Earlier I always thought that public feasts are a good way to feed the people who really need it the most. It may also provide opportunity for people of all casts and religions to dine together. Now, when I had the opportunity to see things closely, I found that, many public feasts are a way to show the superiority and status of the person who is organising it, rather than a true way of helping the people in need. For e.g. the Tuesday feasts of summers in my city is organised at hundreds of locations in the mid afternoon and people who are fond of going to such locations are attending many feasts on the same day. Bulk of the food is wasted. The amount of food that is cooked can be used for next four meals, but still lot of it is simply wasted, just because organizers have decided to distribute everything in the mid-afternoon only. I have seen similar kind of wastage during distribution of food outside many temples. It does pinch, when I see a lot of wastage of food not only during these feasts, but also during the catering of various parties etc. The cost of everything is going high; the one reason can definitely be that we have started wasting more. All this has grown at an alarming rate in past ten years or so. I don’t have a quick solution. Finding such things did correct some of my personal actions. I hope as a society we are able to get rid of this menace soon.
Dr. Sunil Ji Garg
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