User:Reeya Mehta/sandbox

SEVA CAFE and KARMA KITCHEN

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever imagined an area in this selfish world, there is some place where there are no prices for the food we eat in menu card. If we give a manual check on the right side of the menu card the prices tend to be zero(0.00).However, we can find a gratitude footnote with a pleasant mentioning “The meal which you took was a gift of love from someone who came just before you.”

“KARMA KITCHEN” is facilitated in many cities around the world in various ways.One is facilitated day by day, numerous are month to month, and some are pop-up.”Karma Kitchen” first opened in Berkeley on March 31st,2007 and now the concept is gradually prevailing in other corners as well.Karma Kitchen is not a experiment to change anyone, it is a space to change oneself. Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world". In some cities it is also known as “SEVA CAFE”.The original and most well-known Seva Cafe exists in Ahmedabad.“THE SEVA CAFE” is the investigation of generosity.

The Cafe is actually taken forward by the volunteers and is managed by small group of employees,staffs.It is utmost selfless service of love and the meal is really cooked delicious.It is taken into consideration that the main motive of Seva Cafe is to handle the “Chain going”(Circle Of Giving), where there is utmost sharing of love and care from both the party, that is volunteer and guests with the hope to share the same trust even in mere future.The cafe actually runs by the contributions made by the guest, by whatsoever amount they wish to lend. The spirit in which the Seva Cafe works in is the concept of "ATITHI DEVO BHAVA”. Moreover,it’s pretty tough to realize it, but every act of kindness and selfless service has a ripple effect. We can even notice that a small act of generosity and kindness can really create a great difference in the hearts of people. In this terror stricken world, there is a small ray of hope which we generate from Seva Cafe. The concept of give and take never works according to the concept of Barter system. But howsoever, it works with the concept of "GIFT CULTURE”. Now to go with the concept of “ATITHI DEVO BHAVA” it literally means that the one who visits is to granted equal treatment like as of god. They pray with the main objective that the food that they are serving is the food with its best quality which eventually means they serve with an intention. The intention is set to that what they serve could be the best possible way of serving.

Working Pattern

Process followed

Seva cafe is run by volunteers and modest staff. Here meals are cooked by the volunteers and they serve it with love and offer it to the guests as a genuine gift. To complete this chain the guests pay something as per their wish so that the people coming in future can take the benfit of this paid amount. In maintaining this chain, the generosity of both guests and volunteers help to create a future that moves from transaction to trust, and from fear of scarcity to celebration of abundance.

Visitors are always welcomed here

The whole chain here is followed in a particular manner with unconditional love. As you enter the cafe the volunteers welcomes you with not just open arms but with hugs and tikas as well. As soon as you enter, you are greeted with warm colours, enthusiastic smiles, and you instantly come to realise that this isn’t just any eatery.

Sitting arrangement

If you are alone, you are welcomed and encouraged to sit at a table with an unknown stranger. No, it is not a blind date. It is about connection, a heart-to-heart bond that we all yearn for, but do not often find. Then the volunteers follow you at your place and serve you with the food cooked that day.

Payment system

After the meal is over, you get an envelope, and you can contribute whatever you want to, perhaps to pay for someone else’s meal or maybe write a message. When you leave, you will probably have a smile on your face and satisfaction in your heart. The bill given at the end reads Rs 0 with only this footnote: "Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you. To keep the chain of gifts alive, we invite you to pay it forward for those dine after you."

One most important thing noticeable about this cafe is that all costs and income are made transparent, and 100% of any profits are used to support social service projects!

There are various branches present in INDIA under the name Seva Cafe and across INDIA under the name Karma Kitchen where food is offered in exchange of LOVE NOT MONEY.

REVENUE GENERATION

Keep running by volunteers, our dinners are cooked and presented with adoration, and offered to the visitor as a honest to goodness blessing. To finish the full hover of giving and manage this test, visitors influence commitments in the soul of show proactive kindness to the individuals who to will come after them. In keeping this chain going, the liberality of the two visitors and volunteers makes a future that moves from exchange to trust, from self-arranged detachment to shared responsibility, and from dread of shortage to festivity of plenitude. Karma Kitchen is controlled by a dynamic gathering of volunteers that collects at the eatery every week to hone liberality through the straightforward demonstration of serving a supper. Among them are educators, craftsmen, specialists, understudies, grandmas, designers and activists ; individuals frequently return to serve yet it's never a similar group twice! Formally, Karma Kitchen is a venture of Service Space, a one of a kind not-for-profit association that touches off and bolsters little articulations of administration through innovation. Right now, Karma Kitchen can maintain itself through visitor commitments; any surplus that is gotten goes towards supporting a variety of blessing economy/liberality extends that work towards a typical decent. A significant number of the exceptional things you see on the Thoughtfulness Table are made accessible through these ventures.

Seva Cafe In India

Seva Café has got various branches across the country. In few cities, it is hosted in different cafes and by different people with the motto of ‘Living Is Giving’. The first Seva Café was opened in Mumbai on 13 January 2013 at Shantivan Garden. Shantivan Garden is situated in the Malabar hills. It hosts various community activities such as Seva Café , meditation, yoga.  The Seva Café in Mumbai is hosted on a monthly base.

Seva Café in Ahmedabad is a restaurant driven by volunteers and modest staff. It is known as the 'School Of Service', as you won't have to pay for the food you were served because it is already paid by the guest who was served before you. It's a restaurant with 'no menu and no prices' where the guest is required to pay for a strangers' meal. The indulgence of the guests and volunteers helps to create a better future that moves from exchange of money and food to trust, from seclusion to shared commitment, and from fear of being alone to celebrating with strangers.

Seva Café in Bangalore was first conducted on Dec 2, 2012 at the Vriksh Restaurant in Yelahanka New Town by Anupreet Dhody and Susheel Nair, who volunteered at Seva Café, Ahmedabad. The Cafe was held twice - on Sundays in December,2012 and January,2013.The Café offers meals cooked and served by volunteers. Anyone can volunteer at the Café and service such as cooking, serving,cleaning. It is conducted at various places in Bangalore at Hosabelaku, Sumanahalli Leprosy Centre, Karunashraya Hospice, Snehadaan and Shree Ramana Maharishi Academy for The Blind.

Seva Cafe in Pune was started on 9^th September, 2012 when the Atlantis restaurant in Pune transformed into a Seva Cafe for the evening. Anita, the owner of the restaurant refuses to accept any form of contribution from the volunteers. More than 25 people show up well to serve as volunteer. Every customer has to give ten rupee gift for Seva Café, “And that is how the circle of giving is completed”.

Seva Cafe in Surat was a wild idea which took a beautiful form on 21^st December, 2013 at Fountainhead School, Surat . The idea was to practice peer to peer generosity.

Seva Cafe also known as Karma Kitchen took place in Baroda in April 2014. It has undulated into numerous experiments like Free Hugs in Kamati Baug, Food + Love, and a neighborhood withdraw. Manjeet and Dhaval who took the initiative to start the karma kitchen.

In Delhi, in December 2014, volunteers piloted a one-time Karma Kitchen. And there was a lot of interest in replicating this again in the wider Delhi area.

In Hyderabad, it was hosted on May 2017, at Sage Organic Cafe. Together by some kitchen geniuses. The restaurant owner barely didn’t knew anyone, and yet she open-heartedly let everyone use and reconfigure everything.

Seva Cafe Around The World

It runs under the name of Karma Kitchen with the a similar motto of 'Growing in Generosity'. It works the same way as Seva Cafe operates in India, where there are no prices on the menu and the check reads $0.00 with a footnote: "Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you. To keep the chain of gifts alive, we invite you to pay it forward for those who dine after you."

Most of the Karma Kitchens' around the world were hosted only once. The various places were:

1. Berkeley, CA :Karma Kitchen initially opened in Berkeley on March 31st 2007, by a few volunteers inspired to seed the value of a "gift economy".
2. Hayward, CA: It was hosted in a small warm cozy place in the downtown Hayward. It was held on 2^nd September and 7^th October 2012.
3. Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia: A one-time Karma Kitchen was held on 11^th October 2014 at Absolute Thai Hot Pot restaurant. It coincided with some powerful experience at leadership summit.
4. Singapore: In December 2014, a one-time Karma Kitchen was hosted in the country. It was inspired by Indonesia's KK and Singapore's local EO community.
5. Ubud, Bali: It was piloted in April 2015, at Casa de Luna restaurant in downtown Ubud. It was hosted on the last day of the 'Awaken' gathering at a local restaurant with 25 volunteers.
6. Guernsey Island: It was hosted in December 2015 was a real success. It experienced a great amount of enthusiasm from guests and volunteers. The restaurant at which it was hosted ended up taking in more money than they normally would.
7. Valencia, CA: The first Karma Kitchen was hosted in the city in May 2017 with 17 volunteers.
8. Washington, DC: It started from April 2016 and is being hosted on the last Sunday of every month at the Himalayan Heritage restaurant.
9. Jakarata, Indonesia: The Karma Kitchen was hosted in the late 2014, and it was a raving success. More than 200 guests were served by 25 volunteers.
10. London, UK: In March 2016, Karma Kitchen was launched in London, in partnership with Museum of Happiness. It was hosted at the Canvas Cafe to celebrate the International Day of Happiness.
11. Detroit, Michigan: It was launched in October 2015 at Pink Flamingo. It made a huge impact on the local community of collective blessings and served around 50 guests. The guests were given a ceramic key chain as a momento.
12. Burgos, Spain: It was hosted in April 2016 and witnessed 14 volunteers and 40 guests on it's launch. It has inspired a lot of other projects in Spain. It was an experiment started with an idea relating to the joy of being human.
13. Chicago, IL: On July 11, 2010, Karma Kitchen Chicago started in partnership with Klay Oven Restaurant. It is hosted on 2^nd Sunday of every month..
14. Tokyo, Japan: It was a started in 2013 and since then it has been hosted a dozen of times. It is hosted once in every two months. They keep rotating their location in order to benefit different people in various locations.
15. Grasse, France: A local Seva Cafe was hosted in Le Café du Palais, a restaurant in Grasse, France. It's pre-launch gathering was conducted in December, 2014 before opening in May.
16. Dubai: It has been hosted several times in Dubai and has proved to be a great experience. Once it has also been hosted at Govinda's restaurant with 14 volunteers and 5 people from Govinda's team serving 100 guests.
17. Horwich, UK: It started in the end of November, 2015. The first Karma Kitchen experienced witnesses 8 volunteers who contributed 9 hours and served 71 guests. The guests contributed a lot more than expected which was forwarded to a local charity.
18. Kobe, Japan: After many months of planning, the first Karma Kitchen in Kobe was started in April 2017. There were 8 volunteers serving 32 guests who were overwhelmed with the experience and thus paid more than the expectations.