Purpose of life on a plantain leaf
This story is about a wedding feast and an elderly cook. My wife and I were attending my schoolmate’s wedding in Karaikudi. Chettiar weddings are a grand affair with music, dance, and a lavish feast.
While the food is being served on the plantain leaf, I have this habit of asking only food items that I want to eat to be served, while politely refusing other food items. So generally, when the meal is over, my leaf will be the cleanest (as if, no food has been served or eaten), as good as a new leaf.
While the wedding dinner was in progress and I was thoroughly relishing the feast, from the corner of my eye, I could see and hear some whispers among the serving staff. As I continued with the delicious meal, I could see a whole lot of serving staff and cleaning staff looking at my plantain leaf and commenting internally, much to the obvious discomfort of my spouse. When I finished my meal, my leaf was as clean as it was at the beginning of the meal.
As I walked up to wash my hand, an elderly man walked up to me with his hands folded, his eyes filled with tears, and thanked me. I was a bit startled, and I asked him why he thanked me. He mentioned that he was the head cook and had been cooking for the last five decades, and he had never seen anyone’s leaf after meal so clean, not wasting anything, and also who relished his meal so well. He mentioned that he had attained Janmasaphalya, his life’s purpose and a meaning to his decades of cooking. It had a profound effect on me, as I am also a trained chef.
Janmasaphalya is a Sanskrit term: Janma (birth) and saphalya (fruitfulness, success, or fulfilment). When combined, it refers to the fulfilment or success of one’s birth. It encapsulates the idea of living a life that fulfils its purpose or achieves its intended goals. God resides in food; the one who eats is god, and what you are eating is also god.
According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people, including more than 10,000 children, die from hunger and related causes daily across the globe; that is, approximately 17 people die from hunger each minute. It is important that we, as parents and responsible citizens of the earth, teach our children and the next generation the importance of food and how not to waste it, even though we can afford it.
Today, I am very happy that my kids and wife follow mindful eating at social functions, and after the meal, we proudly flaunt our leaves, not closed but open, to show that we haven’t wasted a single morsel of food. It’s contagious and grows amongst us, now our friends and family have also started the open leaf policy!