Whenever I’m in Delhi , I always meet up with my good friend who I first met in 1997. I remember liking her instantly and what I really loved about her was her sensitivity and kindness towards others. She was a regular visitor to her neighbourhood animal shelter and was always rescuing animals in distress.
She carried fruit in her car and would hand it out to the street kids at the red lights. She stood up for injustice and discrimination wherever she encountered it.
When I first met her, my friend was just starting out in her career and in the past 13 years, has made amazing strides in her professional life. Today she is head of a multinational company in India and is well known in the corporate world.
Her job often requires her to host lavish parties for her corporate clients at well known 5 star venues in Delhi.
Initially she was appalled at the amount of food that would be left over at these dos. The hotels would just chuck it all into the garbage. This was unacceptable to her and she started staying back after her parties, getting the kitchen to pack up all the food.
She would load the packages up in her car and as she would drive home, would stop at the several flyovers along her route, distributing the goodies to all the street kids.
This has become her routine now and no one is happier than the kids who eagerly look out for her car knowing that a feast is in store.
What’s also great is that my friend takes the time to explain why she does what she does to her 9 year old daughter and 5 year old son. It’s wonderful to see these young minds absorbing values so early in their lives. I already see some really special qualities in her daughter.
There may be some of you out there who feel that feeding street kids is not really a solution and that the right thing to do is to get them off the streets and into some sort of rehabilitation. My friend and I couldn’t agree with you more. Unfortunately in the real world, chances are these kids are probably going to grow old on the streets. So at least my friend is making sure they stay healthy and strong.
If there is any danger to what my friend is doing, it is that the kids may get so used to crab balls and smoked salmon, they may start turning up their noses at our humble daal/chawal !
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