Serving of the Day: Seva

Preface: "Seva" means service in Hindi

If you attended a free restaurant, how would you pay it forward? That is the concept of Seva Cafe an on-going experiment in "gift economy". The central philosophy of Seva Cafe is to give a complimentary dinner to guests and treat them like family. Many smiles are exchanged and most of the people fueling the experiment are volunteers.

Friday evening was my first time engaging with this establishment. I arrived around 6:00PM and began by meeting the other volunteers and few staff members. We set up the space with tables, chairs, decorations (Friday evening was fully occupied by a private birthday party), and dinnerware. The menu was elaborate (lemon mint juice, basket chaat, mutter paneer, mixed veg sabji, parata, rice, and kheer) and specifically chosen by the host a few days prior. The cooking began at 2PM so by the time I arrived, it was just paratas that were being finished. 

The first responsibility a volunteer gets is dishwashing. So, I spent the evening washing dishes and dancing around to the fun music playing. It was a great experience. A few of the guests even came and asked to wash their own dishes. It was a nice gesture and created a dynamic sense of community. I'm excited to spend more evenings at Seva Cafe in the future and am excited to visit the other locations experimenting with gift economy.