January 6, 2024

I am not a morning person

I am not a morning person. Four, eight, ten hours of sleep – it doesn’t matter. I still wake up tired. On top of that, after nearly a week of sleep deficit upon sleep deficit, the sweet embrace of sleep is all I can think of come evening time. So, you can imagine my dread when I hear we would be leaving at 5:30 in the morning to see school lunches being made.

Having already woken up 30 minutes before my 4:15 alarm went off, today was off to a… great start. Nonetheless, we wearily made our way into the bus before setting off on a ride of a duration that I cannot for the life of me remember how long it took. Next thing I knew, we had arrived at our destination: the VK Hill Akshaya Patra kitchen. Operations already in full steam, we were welcomed inside of the facility to catch the tail end of the production process.

Don’t get me wrong – the tour was incredible. I had never visited any facility even remotely similar in the past and truly miraculous work was being done. With that being said, my eyelids hung heavy. Despite all the fascinating things happening around me, a part of me was already looking forward to returning to my bed and sleeping. However, despite carrying these thoughts, I started to realize something that allowed me to appreciate the significance of what I was seeing and hearing.

Somewhere along the tour, I heard that operations started at 3:00 am. When I was cursing the world for waking me up before my alarm, these people were already well underway in making sure that no child went unfed. While I was struggling to stay awake while watching the sambar cook, tens of people were actively working their hardest to provide over 80,000 fulfilling and nutritious meals to underprivileged children throughout Bengaluru. As I was picking the sleep out of my eyes, drivers were already making their ways to one of the twenty to thirty schools that are serviced by a single truck worth of food.

I am not a morning person. I never will be. But making a difference requires a level of dedication that I took for granted. Long hours and early mornings are just the beginning of enacting positive change. So as I deliriously write this while trying and failing to stay awake, I think back to the workers, cleaners, porters, and administrators of Akshaya Patra who – while likely being more tired than I – dutifully work their hardest to provide healthy meals for all of Bengaluru’s and the rest of India’s school children. Or, in other words, provide unlimited food for education.

By Yak