Beggars relish unforgettable X-mas feast

Varanasi, Dec 25 (UNI) Shahi Paneer, Pulao, Gajar Halua, Chowmein, Fruit Chaat, Jalebis, Kesharia Milk ... formed the menu card of an unforgettable Christmas Day feast for those who have often been only used to the leftovers of sumptuous meals at marriages and other auspicious occasions.

Countless beggars, an object of humiliation at the world famous Ganga ghats in this tourist city, were today welcomed to a free X-mas feast which comprised mouth- watering culinary offerings coupled with the warmth they have never dreamt of.

Foreign tourists visiting the ancient city joined hands with Gangotri Seva Samiti (GSS) -- accredited with reviving the celestial Ganga Arti on the ghats -- to host a grand feast for the 'Daridra Narayan' (beggars and destitutes) at the Dashwashamedh Ghat on the Christmas Day morning.

''The Christian community celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ by hosting feasts amid resonance of carols, while majority of tourists from the same community troop down to the beaches of Goa to enjoy X-Mas and New Year parties. We decided to offer a Banarasi trance party for the Daridra Narayan on the day a messiah was born,'' GSS founder president Kishori Raman Dubey said.

Helping him out in this endeavour were many volunteers among them foreign tourists led by Puja, formerly named Miriam --a middle-aged ex-corporate professional from Netherlands -- who after serving the orphans and destitutes across the world is now in Varanasi to not only acquaint herself with Hindu religion, but also help the needy and destitutes of the religious city.

''We generated whopping funds from across the world especially through tourists for this memorable X-mas party. The tourists also contributed generously for donating blankets to the poor and destitutes to help them weather the winter chill,'' Puja said.

The X-mas party, invitations for which had been distributed among the beggars across the city well in advance by the Santa Claus himself, saw the impoverished lot return from the riverfront not with abuses, but the unforgettable taste of an honourable feast they had never dreamt of.

''We do not know whose birthday falls today ... may be some Christian god, but the day certainly has ushered us with a feast we have never ever dreamt,'' said Ruksana, who begs for alms at the tomb of sufi saint Bahadur Shahid, after being thrown out by her in-laws for being afflicted by leprosy.

The sentiment found support from one and all, be it Parshuram, an elderly destitute who sleeps on the streets of bustling Godowlia, handicapped restaurant hotel worker Suresh or else two impoverished students of a Vedic Gurukul in the holy city.

''This is the perfect tribute to Jesus who worked for the mankind irrespective of caste, creed and colour,'' said Puja and her Australian friend Greg amid the reverbrations of 'Mangal Bhavan Mangal Hari' and bells at the riverine Sheetla temple.

The grand feast was preceded by a 'Vishwa Shanti Yajna' performed at the same ghat by eleven traditionally clad Brahmins.

UNI ARS SB VD HT1617