Karma Kitchen: Everyone's Two Cents
ServiceSpace
--Pavi
8 minute read
Jun 4, 2007

 

A little string of bells hangs on the door. I see it and smile because I know that means our friends are inside working their magic. I walk in and see veteran volunteers Neerav, Trushna and Roshni putting the finishing touches on set up for week 9 of this exciting experiment in generosity. The menus have been freshly printed, the signs are up, the tables set and the wine rack duly covered with a neatly draped dupatta. The transformation of Namaste into Karma Kitchen never ceases to delight me. The changes in themselves are small and subtle. But collectively they infuse the place with a joyous air of warmth and inspiration that’s hard to miss.

This week we have five new volunteers on the “job”. Pooja, who’s left a 21 month old daughter at home with her husband for the first time, Manju Auntie and her son Rishi, a Harvard student visiting on summer break, Sri (of Seva Café Long Beach fame) who’s visiting from LA and Anu who arrives totally pumped up about dishwashing.

We do a quick orientation starting with the usual two minutes of silence. It is a relatively short time to spend in stillness but in those moments our scattered thoughts and intentions gather, wake and settle. In that short space of silence each of us remembers our shared wish: to grow in generosity, this evening – and all evenings.

In a few moments the restaurant will be open and the bustle will begin. Orders will fly back and forth as drinks are concocted, hot plates served up and delicious desserts brought out. The walls of this room will eavesdrop on dozens of conversations as music floats over the tables filling the empty spaces between strangers and friends. Once the evening begins, for a little over five hours there will be little opportunity for the kind of silence we share now – unless we each carry forward a portion of it within us.

Roshni has left a vase full of gerberas --- vivid splashes of pink, red, orange and white – on the counter with instructions to give them away over the course of the evening to our guests. They wait with bright quietness in their corner. But not for long. The first guests arrive almost exactly at 5. And very soon we are surprised with a steady stream of people coming in through the door. The rhythm of the evening builds steadily. Sri, our Maitre D for the night soon discovers a birthday girl in the mix. An older woman out to celebrate with her friends. A table of seven across the room is informed and an impromptu bouquet is tied together. When the time is ripe they rise and make their way in small procession to the other side of the room, and begin to sing. When they reach “Happy Birthday Dear ---- ” a ripple of laughter unfurls across the room because none of the people singing knows the birthday girl’s name :-) Her friends fill in the blank – and Molly can’t stop smiling. A moment later her server Anu walks over with another little surprise – a little copper colored stone with the word “Spirit” etched into it. The women exclaim in delight and pass it back and forth. It’s a small token – no bigger than a penny – but its worth that evening is incalculable.

Our second dessert hasn’t arrived yet. It’s stuck in traffic. So the kheer is going faster than usual. We may run out, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Two young men finish their meal and pass the counter on their way out to say thank you. There is an awkward gratitude in their manner that is heartwarming. As they head out the door I ask Neerav if those two received wisdom scrolls. He doesn’t think so. “Darn, “ I say, “they seemed the type who’d have gotten a lot out of something like that.” “Want me to run and give it to them?” “ Sure!” and just like that Neerav and two wisdom scrolls are on their way out the door. “ They couldn’t believe it,” he says with a grin when he comes back in. And I have to smile too thinking about what it must be like to have an experience of generosity literally follow you out the door like that!

Wanda walks through the door with a paper bag. Our much-awaited second dessert! It’s a coconut-vanilla granita with tri-spice chocolate sauce topped with date walnut cookies – all vegan, she says without stumbling once. Our servers practice saying it under their breaths trying to have it roll off their tongues with the same ease.

A couple hesitates at the door for a long while. The concept has been explained to them but they’re still deciding whether or not to “risk” braving this dining-out experiment. When their decision is made, Rishi comes over to the counter. “I’ll take two of those flowers,” he says picking up two long stemmed gerberas. I watch as he walks over and hands them each a flower – and then walks away, very naturally, as if that’s what you do when people come to a restaurant. Hand them flowers. Just like that. I see the couple smiling as their doubts begin to thaw.

In the kitchen Manju Auntie and Trushna manage to juggle plates back and forth as the orders come in thick and fast and Pooja soon becomes an expert in mixing the sparkling blueberry-pomegranate lemonade. They are enjoying doing what they’re doing and it’s hard to doubt that some part of that joyfulness works its way into the taste of the food. We’re all out of the granita, and the kheer. Vishnu-ji comes to the rescue whipping up a fresh batch of the Indian rice pudding in no time. Sri is soon out the door and on his way to buy some soy and regular ice-cream for the chocolate sauce and the date walnut cookies.

More flowers are being given away. Anu writes little notes to her guests on the checks, Neerav has an unexpected conversation on the connection between Karma & Guilt with one of his tables, while Rishi answers questions on the Karma Kitchen concept from curious guests. One guest brings a couple of friends and his young son in for dinner. His son he says is skeptical about this whole gift-economy idea. Later in the evening their table gets wisdom scrolls, and tied into his son’s is a small stone with a single word inscribed on it: “Trust”.

 At five minutes to ten we’re winding down and getting ready to wrap up when a party of four breezes into the restaurant. Of course they are seated and served. Ten minutes later another late-night guest walks in. And of course we serve him too. The energy of the volunteers is incredibly inspiring. In the back Viral has taken over as the fulltime dishwasher. For a little over five hours straight he washes dishes, and with help from Rishi and Anu in turns, he sets a new dishwashing record for Karma Kitchen. The last dish is washed and the sink sparkling clean at a quarter to 11.

 As we start the clearing up process Trushna and I notice a bunch of almost untouched red and white gerberas. “Why don’t we combine them into a bouquet for Gautam’s wife?” I ask and Trushna says, “I was just thinking the same thing!” she ties them up with a purple ribbon, and then I head up the stairs to the little back room where Gautam, the restaurant manager works by himself while Karma Kitchen is in effect. I see him sitting there in his suit crouched over a ledger of figures hard at work. It must be a little hard for him sometimes to let go each week of the space he is used to running, and to give us the freedom he does. He steps back for the most part with grace. The Namaste crew are a warm, simple, good-hearted bunch of people to whom hospitality is second nature. Working with them has been and continues to be a privilege for all of us. “Gautamji good evening,” he looks up and smiles warmly, “ Everything fine?” “Yes, yes, -- the volunteers wanted to send these flowers with you for your wife.” Gautamji’s smile grows broader, “Oh! Thank you very much. Very nice!” he says. As I leave the room he is still smiling.

We gather in a small ring outside the restaurant. It’s a cool, quiet evening and in the cool quiet we again come to silence. We take a few moments to share reflections and experiences. Manju Auntie speaks of how for her there was something almost spiritual in working with the smiling Namaste chefs, Kamalji and Vishnuji. Viral shares Vishnuji’s endearing custom of going around at the end of the evening to apologize for any errors known or unwitting -- “Any Mistake – Sorry!” Rishi laughingly says that serving was harder than he thought, Sri talks about the interesting challenge of gauging how much people want to hear, Neerav gives us his take on the Karma & Guilt connection … everyone holds the positive energy of the evening’s experience. Everyone is ready and wanting to do it all again sometime. Viral reflects on the uniqueness of this particular gathering. Who knows when or if this identical group of people will ever come together again in this way. Rishi here from the East Coast, Sri from LA – next week Trushna and Neerav will be in Atlanta …so many seeds had to ripen in order for this combination of journeys to intersect and we bow briefly to the beauty of that realization. Next week it will be a different gathering outside – but the thread of generosity holding it together will continue to weave its way forward in yet untold ways.

Later that evening when we gather up the envelopes we find colorful notes from the guests. One of them is an artist’s symbolic sketch of Karma Kitchen, another a simple flower with the words Thank You. Someone has slipped a $100 dollar bill in one envelopein another someone else has left a couple of rare $2 bills. It brings to mind one of our most valuable contributions yet -- one that came a few weeks ago from a four-year old guest...

Young Kebe walked into Karma Kitchen, back from a recent trip to India, clutching his piggybank in his arms. He had brought it with him to make a donation. And make a donation he most certainly did, climbing onto a chair to reach the contributions box and charming everyone en route. (In true Karma Kitchen spirit he’d even brought along a surprise birthday card for one of our guests). Later that evening totaling the contributions (the highest in our history) we found two one rupee coins amidst all the other bills. Sometimes someone’s two cents counts for so much more.

And perhaps that’s what Karma Kitchen in its essence is really about. Everyone coming forward with their two cents --- and a spirit that adds up and ripples out to much much more. With gratitude for the hearts new and old that help it all happen...

 

Posted by Pavi on Jun 4, 2007


3 Past Reflections