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The evening arrived; the boys took their places. The master, in
his cook'suniform, stationed himself at the copper; his pauper
assistants ranged themselvesbehind him; the gruel was served out;
and a long grace was said over the shortcommons. The gruel
disappeared; the boys whispered each other, and winked atOliver;
while his next neighbours nudged him. Child as he was, he was
desperatewith hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the
table; and advancing tothe master, basin and spoon in hand, said:
somewhat alarmed at his own temerity:
'Please, sir, I want some more.'
The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He
gazed in stupifiedastonishment on the small rebel for some seconds,
and then clung for support tothe copper. The assistants were
paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.
This is a passage from Dickens Oliver Twist. Most of us know the
tragic tale ofOliver. Whenever I am standing with a plate in the
queue in a buffet, I am alwaysreminded of this passage Oliver asks
for more.
Just imagine the scene and you will capture the spirit of what I
intend to point out.In a big buffet there can be a big queue and
all will be waiting for their turn with a
plate. There is impatience that can be so visible in most of the
faces. The queuecan also in effect transform to a small crowd if
the space is small. All will bestretching out their hands with
their plates at the server like our young Oliver.
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The man who is in charge of the dishes may serve it with an
indifferent face Imean mechanical. That man has seen so many stages
like this. He is busy at themoment too. That takes away the
personalized service.
And you will cross so many counters with your plate and meet
such mechanicalmen busily serving t heir items. We cant blame them.
The net effect is once again
Oliver asks for more. You see that all the counters are rather
crowded. It becomes somewhat like a rat race to grab your delicious
items. If you are notfamiliar with the modern food items, it adds
confusion to your struggle as well.
Finally, after grabbing your items you may try to find out a
resting place to haveyour food taken but more tragedy will be
awaiting there. All the chairs are eitheroccupied or you may see no
chair at all around you. Now, you are forced to standamong the
crowd which you may find to be a difficult task. Unlike the
present
generation, you are not used to that situation but what to do?
Even if you may geta chair in the first round, you may lose it when
you get up from your seat for fillingyour plate for the second
knock. During the second round also you may be forcedto stand in
the queue and you are once again reminded Oliver asks for more.
This is our present fate that is not better than the
workhouseexperience of Oliver Twist. Recently I had a
shockingexperience at a marriage reception. My wife also was with
me.
Being vegetarians we naturally preferred Dosai , the SouthIndian
rice item. The cook also happened to be the server in this case. He
wasstanding near that hot plate all in great sweat busily engaged
in the making ofDosai. Ten or twelve Dosai could be prepared at a
time and we stood waiting therealong with others, all of us
stretching our plates at his face! He did not look atanyb odys face
but threw Dosai in the air in a random manner that fell on
various
plates at irregular intervals! It was like a Lucky draw. Some
blessed people got ittoo soon but those who were unlucky had to
wait there in that heat in an indefinitemanner. I was immediately
reminded of that epic scene Oliver asks for more.I told my wife
about it. She could get at it. At one point I thought of leaving
thisLucky Draw with an empty stomatch but got blessed without much
delay. Amongthis crowd I also saw my Chief Manager having fallen to
the same fate! Iunderstood one thing. In situations like this, even
a Collector has only the choiceof a beggar!
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And have you noticed the crowd at the kiosk where fruit
salad/ice cream is beingserved? People just throng in as if they
have never seen or tasted it. My wifedesired to have a cup of ice
cream but the situation was so adverse that shewithdrew from the
battlefield in a wise manner.
For what purpose do we conduct such buffets in this manner? This
is my deepreflection. Till some years ago, all feasts were served
on the table and personalcare was taken of the guests. Gone are
those days now. With the advent ofcatering services, personal care
slowly disappeared from the scene and with theadvent of Western
Culture taking its deep roots in our society, our buffets have
become simply crowd pullers with the guests in a way turning
into Oliver Twist,asking for more and getting disgusted in many
ways. Can this be called as a signof progress of our society?
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