I love food and many pursuits related to it. I love eating food, smelling food, choosing food, admiring food, reading about food and thinking about food. (Ironically, I hate putting away groceries. Pulling them out of the pantry is so much more fun.)
I am also one of the lucky people on this planet who can count on regular, well-balanced meals. A billion other people in the world go through the day hungry.
When you combine kindness with calories, you get this guy: Narayanan Krishnan, who has devoted his life to caring for the starving street people in his community of Madurai, India. And he can make a mean rice and dahl.
Narayanan gave up an overseas job as a star chef more than nine years ago, when he was just 21, and has been feeding hungry people ever since – almost two million meals to date, nourishing over 400 individuals.
His charity, Akshaya Trust, was given a huge boost last year after CNN named Narayanan as one of its top-ten heroes, and he’s now constructing a residence and treatment centre for the community’s homeless. “I want to save my people. That is the purpose of my life,” he writes on the charity’s website.
This seems to be the week for writing about international initiatives. But when these videos are so touching, you can’t help but want to spread the word. Check out Narayanan Krishnan’s online story (and watch him chop vegetables like a maniac) here. Mmm… is it politically incorrect to want to sample some of that simmering stew before he gives it all away to the needy?
Narayanan Krishnan achieves inner happiness by cooking hot meals for the hungry. It’s just like meditation, but tastier.
50 Good Deeds 