Karma Kitchen: Of Orchids, Strawberries, Lost Change &
ServiceSpace
--Pavi Mehta
2 minute read
Nov 5, 2008

 

Driving over to Karma Kitchen this week after a morning of wind and drizzle, a rainbow across the San Mateo bridge promised a many-splendored afternoon. And the universe, as always delivered. Last Sunday the Farmer's Market returned to Karma Kitchen overflowing our offerings table with heaped baskets of strawberries, persimmons, grapes and much much more! In a gesture of gratitude, the farmers were tagged with hand delivered meals from the restaurant complete with lassis and dessert (needless to say they were thrilled :)) Many beautiful stories from the afternoon ...

An inspired guest brought in a gorgeous orchid plant as her expression of generosity. A couple hours later it was paid-forward to an adorable grandmother from Guatemala dining here for the first time with her family, a young woman came by to request a copy of one of the inspiring quotes she had read at her table, and of course without a second thought the original was pulled out and handed over to her, a man who along with his wife has been collecting lost change from the sidewalks for over a decade  and through this small practice has donated hundreds of dollars to local food banks was paid-forward a small box brimming with change as a tribute to their effort, a guest who came to eat stayed on to wash dishes, a small group of the valiant tree-sitters of Berkeley were served here for the first time, a table of close to a dozen movers-and-shakers gathered here to brainstorm ideas for Karma Clinic, A crew that included a schoolteacher, pharmacologist, a graphic designer and two real-life restaurant servers tirelessly served over 90 guests and somehow managed to wind up the busy afternoon more energized than ever before ...

As one volunteer observed in the closing circle --- there's an inexplicable shift that happens when you serve with no expectations. In such spaces gratitude playfully mirrors itself between guest and server as each comes face to face with the twin opportunities of serving and being served -- so beautiful and so difficult to tell apart :-)

And perhaps that spectacular "confusion", that endless blurring of boundaries and slow dissolve of difference is where the heart of Karma Kitchen truly resides.

 

Posted by Pavi Mehta on Nov 5, 2008


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