It has become a delight to look forward to our lunch breaks for more than just one reason now! Apart from delicious food, another one is our Lunch Break Challenge.

It all began when our “Fairy God Mother”, Ana, gifted us with a “Lunch Break Challenge”. For fifteen days, we decided to set aside an entire hour apart solely dedicated to lunch! We wanted to do some fun and feel liberated.

#Day3

Today was a special lunch day, as we were to eat lunch with the HIV+ kids at Rays (Aasha ki ek Kiran). Remember how we painted pots with them for our activity cACTus+?

Here’s the scenario. We reached the Rays Home; the kids were playing upstairs on the roof. They yelled in excitement, “Maa, someone is here!”

We loved how enthusiastic they were upon seeing visitors. Little did they know that we were there to share food with them! But first, we went to the terrace where they were either flying kites or playing badminton. The girls who didn’t know how to fly kites were just holding the charkhis for others.

It was surprising how the only one who knew how to fly a kite in their troop was named ‘Komal’, and coincidentally, I was the only one in the JWB Army who knew Kite-flying. Oh yeah!

Jayati was tying the tang; that’s exactly what she did yesterday for Makar Sankranti (We were together, and there she sat cross-legged doing the most boring job in the world). Aashi found happiness in playing badminton with the kiddies. Sanchit, after we stole his camera, also tried his hand on flying the kite.

We didn’t get tired of playing in the warmth of the Sun but were soon called down for Lunch.

Aww, man.

The girls spread the dari out for lunch. They all neatly seated themselves in a line and organized the plates. The youngest of them, Khushi, had a special pink tiny plate, just like her. They folded their hands in gratitude and recited a prayer before beginning the food.

“Thank you, God, for everything.”

Aashi and I couldn’t get our eyes off the carrot. It was plump red. After being the ‘responsible’ adults that we were, and serving food to the children, we attacked the carrot. Our photographer, Sanchit, called us both, Bugs Bunny.

 

Um, I just realized that I had stuffed some carrot in my tiffin. BRB.

Anyhoo, we realized that it wasn’t only the carrot that was delicious, we munched on the ‘dal chawal’, ‘haldi ki chutney’, ‘mixed veg’ and ‘chapatis’, too.

Thank you Premji, for the delicious lunch! I’m sure the children love you!

It’s always fun to hang out with kids, but today was special. The naughtiest Khushi came downstairs to see us off, wrapped herself around one of her ‘maas’ and said, ‘phir aana.’

Zaroor ayenge.

#Realizations

The Sun isn’t the only one that can give us warmth. The food at Rays is splendid. Aashi and I are Bugs Bunny.

Do you have a lunch story to share? Or do you want to share lunch with us? Have any Lunch challenge for us? Let us know below in the comments. We’d love to take it forward. Remember, thirteen more days to go!

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