01 March 2014

Government Girls School ,Shastrinagar, Patna, India

It was a scene which was difficult to interpret in the first go. The girls were displaying very big plates or rather big thalis in front of them. The plates were decorated with artificial food-items. Some of the plates contained reasonable amount of food and some had little in their plates whereas some had a lot of food in their plates. Those who had amassed more than required in their plates were busy collecting the food items slipping out of the plates. People were trying to make out some meaning from the scene. Soon the scene changed and all the participants holding the plates started to mimic the eating process. The people having little in their plates appeared to soon exhaust all their food items, and then they began asking for food from their neighbors who had got more than they needed. Those who had more than the could eat did not want to share their extra belongings. But soon they left their extra food and walked away. A lot of food was wasted while many of the participants remained hungry, holding their stomach.

A little girl took the mike and explained the whole scene to us. According to a UNEP report, we waste about one third of our food- which could have been utilized to save so many people starving in various parts of the world. The little girl went on to elaborate other fallouts of such practices. An obese boy walked past in a dramatic style gesticulating towards his stomach- how he had eaten the food meant for others and had become obese and was obliged to limp out.

Next scene, all the students stood with almost right proportion of food and everybody enjoyed the message. Both the children and the teachers along with parents and other participants vowed not to waste food.It was a good beginning after all.