However hard you try to make them understand the logic, they refuse to even acknowledge let alone follow what I am saying. The issue although simple to put forward in words but every time I come across it, my heart seethes with anger. Food wastage in hostels. It has been five years for me in hostel and right from the start till now this problem has refused to fade away. It does not matter if you are in AIT, IIT or NIT hostel the scenario doesn't change. I can say this as I have lived in two different hostels in different cities. I don't understand the reason for this habit. Do they waste food in similar manner while they are at home. Of course not, there the plates will be licked till clean, so much so that you would doubt if they actually had a meal in that plate. Then what happens to them in hostel?
I tell my friends who sit with me for meal to not waste food. Most of them would blame the quality of food for their lousy habit. They are not ready to check their eating habits or even accept that yes 'I am at fault'. Stuffing their plates as if this is the last meal of their life is totally senseless. They can take less and can go again to refill but they won't. I continue to tell my friends because I saw one change his habit gradually. I can do this amongst my group but to the larger bunch, I cannot go and tutor.
Some where while surfing on the net I came across IIT-b hostels food wastage statistics and they were humongous. IIT-b has 14 hostels with each hostel having its own mess except those hostels 12, 13 and 14 have a combined mess. The amount of food wasted in each mess per day is given in Table 1. Assuming that each mess works nine months per year, amount of waste food generated per year in each mess has been calculated and given in Table 1.
And now when you add up all of it, 257040 Kg, i.e. around 257 tonnes is the amount !!! Shocked don't be because this just tip of the iceberg. There are lakhs of such messes, restaurants and hotels where the crime ( it is not less then that) is being committed day in day out. None of these so called mature decision making adults and highly educated students realize that there are the deprived ones who are not able to gather even one meal of the day let alone make a choice as to leave or consume something. We are so dead in our hearts that nothing bothers us. I know no government or prime minister is going to consider this as a big issue but the truth is otherwise.
How many hungry stomachs can be fed should be thought of. If this tonnes of wasted food in students plates is saved and supplied to these poor people, not only will it fill their hearts but bring a smile to their faces. It will restore the faith in them that yes people do care for each other. So I have a sincere request to all the students living in hostels to please show some responsibility, your right eating habits and cooperation can help someone else out there.
[cover photo editing by sid ;)]
I tell my friends who sit with me for meal to not waste food. Most of them would blame the quality of food for their lousy habit. They are not ready to check their eating habits or even accept that yes 'I am at fault'. Stuffing their plates as if this is the last meal of their life is totally senseless. They can take less and can go again to refill but they won't. I continue to tell my friends because I saw one change his habit gradually. I can do this amongst my group but to the larger bunch, I cannot go and tutor.
Some where while surfing on the net I came across IIT-b hostels food wastage statistics and they were humongous. IIT-b has 14 hostels with each hostel having its own mess except those hostels 12, 13 and 14 have a combined mess. The amount of food wasted in each mess per day is given in Table 1. Assuming that each mess works nine months per year, amount of waste food generated per year in each mess has been calculated and given in Table 1.
And now when you add up all of it, 257040 Kg, i.e. around 257 tonnes is the amount !!! Shocked don't be because this just tip of the iceberg. There are lakhs of such messes, restaurants and hotels where the crime ( it is not less then that) is being committed day in day out. None of these so called mature decision making adults and highly educated students realize that there are the deprived ones who are not able to gather even one meal of the day let alone make a choice as to leave or consume something. We are so dead in our hearts that nothing bothers us. I know no government or prime minister is going to consider this as a big issue but the truth is otherwise.How many hungry stomachs can be fed should be thought of. If this tonnes of wasted food in students plates is saved and supplied to these poor people, not only will it fill their hearts but bring a smile to their faces. It will restore the faith in them that yes people do care for each other. So I have a sincere request to all the students living in hostels to please show some responsibility, your right eating habits and cooperation can help someone else out there.
[cover photo editing by sid ;)]
