Reflections from Bhawani Singh Shekhawat, CEO at Akshaya Patra UK

Since writing, the coronavirus crisis in India has worsened considerably. The stories from our friends, family and charity partners there are truly heart-breaking. If you are in a position to do so, please click here to kindly donate what you can to Akshaya Patra’s urgent covid appeal, which will allow them to provide nourishing free meals and food supplies to those who most need it in this time of crisis. 

We’re also supporting the British Asian Trust’s 'Oxygen for India Emergency Appeal', which is rapidly deploying oxygen to the hospitals and patients that need them most. If you’re able to support, please click here to visit our fundraising page. 

As we navigate our world in what clearly are unprecedented times and all its implicit challenges, I am often reminded of our ancient Vedanta philosophy where one is invited to understand the value of a life in balance. There is good and bad in our world and when we are engulfed by what clearly is unexpected, unprecedented even, it is quite compelling to not be invited by and enter into a world of reflection which allows for deep, meaningful and non-judgmental introspection. 

We are all so very fortunate, still.

Many around us aren’t. And while some of us were simply beneficiaries of a genetic, karmic lottery others perhaps have had to deal with drawing a short straw. And if the world we wish to create with and for our families and friends must be safe, inclusive, joyous and generous – what can we do today to ensure that we not only play our part in this collective theatre, but do so with a sense of generosity, gratitude, kindness and responsibility?

For we are all so very fortunate, still.

And what is the true legacy we wish to leave behind? For whether we like it or not, we will. And we won’t be around to see it, but the joys or pains of it will be felt by those we care for. And that perhaps is reason enough for us to not just do our bit, but to do it in a manner that is deeply integrated into who we are, what we do, what we believe and what we care for well beyond ourselves.

It is questions like this - beautiful, generative and inspiring - that make me embrace every day with hope, joy and unbridled optimism. For if we are not optimists, who are we? Making the life of a child better, one meal at a time, with Akshaya Patra UK , working with the wonderful team at Dishoom just makes it so much easier and so much more delicious. Together we have embraced the joy of over 10 million such opportunities, and so much more!

We have all been blessed with the gift of education, it opens doors as it should open our minds and hearts. And for long I have had this wonderfully nuanced insight that if we want to create better hearts, minds and bodies so that they can embrace all the knowledge and wisdom around us, we must nourish those bodies better. Yes, we do need to pause and respect adages even if they have been a cliché. A healthy body is a strong precursor to a healthy mind! And hence the food we serve our children whilst they are in a classroom must not just be sensorially gratifying, but also nutritionally supercharged! It is not an either/or choice but one that is composite. At Akshaya Patra, over the billions of meals we have served in India and our work to create better school meals and, more recently, to combat Holiday Hunger in the UK, we have evidenced the power of making this tiniest of changes to create mega impact. 

Over the last 18 months, thousands of those whose lives were transformed with these meals came forward to help millions. We have served over 125 million meals during this crisis in India and the UK. This tsunami of goodness is made possible by the tiniest of acts of kindness and courage. 

And hence my invitation to all of us – we shall overcome, we will. Because there is that beautiful soul within us that allows us to embrace what is, with love. And with that we wallop and Dishoom in the uncanniest of ways all that might be a rumble in the larger scheme of things.

For yes, we are all so fortunate, still! And I remain, totally in gratitude.

– Bhawani Singh Shekhawat, April 2021