I had a meeting at five pm and it was already quarter to five. I hurriedly entered the small pantry at my office for a quick grabs. I took two slices of bread and put in the toaster, got the butter out of the refrigerator so that it gets softer by the time toasts pop out of the toaster and started conversation with two of the colleagues who were already there in pantry cooking maggi in the microwave.
In a minute, breads was enough hot. I pressed "cancel" button on the toaster and the slices popped out. As I took one side out of the toaster, oops.. it slipped and fell down on the floor. My "gymnastical" way of rescuing it from falling down did not help.
"Oh" I said to myself, picked the slice and started walking towards the trash can to throw it.
"It's ok its ok, no need to throw it!" One of the two colleagues told and almost hand held me from walking towards the trash can, ".. floor is clean... We don’t throw the food this way in trash at our home, right?" she added.
"am... yaa, but.." I was trying to gather myself from that awesomely surprisingly comment.
When food item falls down, we pick it and throw it in the trash, that is what we are taught and that is what we are “proud” to do. Floor is dirty, germs, stomach problems, hygiene, this, that and on the top of that, you also remember that school time leg-pooling jingle "Niche padelu kon khai, bavaji no beto khai".. that "what others would say" effect.
"Ya, at home I would see if it had fallen on wet part of the floor or dry part of the floor, or the fallen item is dry or wet and I would have acted accordingly.." I replied.
"It is food, Hemang. And we should not waste it. A lot of people sleep empty stomach in the world... If we were standing on road, I would have let you throw it away. But here floor is clean. I would have used it even if it had fallen down.." came the reply.
Oh... yaa... I was one of the chosen few how had access to hygienic food and there are people who don’t have access to even clean drinking water even.
"Yaa.. Pantry floor is dry and toast is also a dry thing.. he he he..." I was not very very sure, however, I replied "let me use it, last two slices and I am hungry.." I gave a big that "D" type theethy selfish smile, as I found a valid excuse for "not throwing the slice", applied butter on the slice and started enjoying it as we continued conversation on other interesting topics.
I am still not sure consuming that slice was right or wrong. May be by consuming it, I put my immune system to a small test? But next time when am working with a food item, I shall try to be extra careful making sure it does not fall down, and if at all it does, I shall give a second thought before throwing it in the trash can.
And ya, I finished it before 5 pm and reached the meeting room before the meeting started.
In a minute, breads was enough hot. I pressed "cancel" button on the toaster and the slices popped out. As I took one side out of the toaster, oops.. it slipped and fell down on the floor. My "gymnastical" way of rescuing it from falling down did not help.
"Oh" I said to myself, picked the slice and started walking towards the trash can to throw it.
"It's ok its ok, no need to throw it!" One of the two colleagues told and almost hand held me from walking towards the trash can, ".. floor is clean... We don’t throw the food this way in trash at our home, right?" she added.
"am... yaa, but.." I was trying to gather myself from that awesomely surprisingly comment.
When food item falls down, we pick it and throw it in the trash, that is what we are taught and that is what we are “proud” to do. Floor is dirty, germs, stomach problems, hygiene, this, that and on the top of that, you also remember that school time leg-pooling jingle "Niche padelu kon khai, bavaji no beto khai".. that "what others would say" effect.
"Ya, at home I would see if it had fallen on wet part of the floor or dry part of the floor, or the fallen item is dry or wet and I would have acted accordingly.." I replied.
"It is food, Hemang. And we should not waste it. A lot of people sleep empty stomach in the world... If we were standing on road, I would have let you throw it away. But here floor is clean. I would have used it even if it had fallen down.." came the reply.
Oh... yaa... I was one of the chosen few how had access to hygienic food and there are people who don’t have access to even clean drinking water even.
"Yaa.. Pantry floor is dry and toast is also a dry thing.. he he he..." I was not very very sure, however, I replied "let me use it, last two slices and I am hungry.." I gave a big that "D" type theethy selfish smile, as I found a valid excuse for "not throwing the slice", applied butter on the slice and started enjoying it as we continued conversation on other interesting topics.
I am still not sure consuming that slice was right or wrong. May be by consuming it, I put my immune system to a small test? But next time when am working with a food item, I shall try to be extra careful making sure it does not fall down, and if at all it does, I shall give a second thought before throwing it in the trash can.
And ya, I finished it before 5 pm and reached the meeting room before the meeting started.
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