Can I share your dabba please?

"What are you carrying for lunch today?” “Can I join you for lunch? “Hey there is a lot to catch up during the lunch period today”. For every office-goer, out of the eight hours spent in office, lunch time is the only period which everyone waits for eagerly. (Or at least I do)

I can do anything in this world to get even five minutes extra time in bed every morning. I hate waking up early…but I had to if I packed tiffin myself. Just to escape the entire ordeal and being hit by the laziness bug, I availed the lunch service from the Dabbawala for a very brief period. Initially the excitement level was at its peak, the craze to open the dabba and gradually unravel the surprise at each step of the dabba. This zeal didn't last long and soon I got bored with the usage of the same ingredients in all the dishes- For e.g. nariyal or coconut was used in daal and all the sabjis everyday. Many a times, the sight of the food itself was so unpleasing and for the rest of the days, the food was not even palatable. . 

On these specific days, my dabba was left untouched, and let me assure you, I was not the only one in the league. My office was located at one of the prime locations and I had the option of ordering anything under the sun from the nearby restaurants. Yes, I never stayed hungry, but many are not fortunate like me.

Recently when I read about the Share My Dabba initiative which allows you to share your food with several hungry children on the streets in Mumbai, it touched me. It’s a well thought idea and beautifully executed by the Happy Life Welfare Society and the Dabbawala Foundation. It works in this way, if you wish to share your food with the street children, just put a sticker on your dabba, this will enable the volunteers to identify your dabba and distribute the food accordingly.

Statistics point that more than 20,000 street children in Mumbai starve to get even a morsel of food. I believe Share My Dabba is a very small step which is at least trying to narrow down this huge gap which exists in our society.

What is disheartening here are the numerous criticisms which are trying to mar the noble cause of this initiative. Some have been saying that sharing food in this way to thousands of hungry children is similar to feeding your leftovers to the dogs. Others have been complaining about the hygiene level of the dabba. Now let’s give it a thought logically without getting too emotional that this initiative is trying to degrade the feelings of poor children.

For e.g. if you are sharing your lunch with your friend, will you keep it all messy? Will you be unhygienic? Will you just keep leftover in your lunch boxes knowing that someone else will be having it next? Or will you share your food if you are suffering from some ailment and viral fever? You won’t right? So it’s exactly the same case where you are sharing your lunch boxes with several hungry little street friends.

Let’s not tarnish the image of this well thought and executed idea, for those of you who feel, it’s deplorable and disgusting to share your leftovers to street children, don’t put the stickers and thus you won’t be sharing. And for those who want to share your food, contact your dabbawala for the stickers and share them without considering it a charity.