New Delhi News : On the Ram Mandir Wali Road of Babu Jagjivan Road, adjacent to Vasant Kunj, the posh colony of the capital Delhi, you will see luxurious farmhouses one after the other, whose huge gates you often see closed, but Kanchanshree, a grand farmhouse built in the middle of these farmhouses, is an exception. Is. Every morning breakfast, lunch and evening tea langar is being run at its gate for some years. The owner of this farmhouse, who is known as ‘Mataji’ by most of the people here, runs a domestic langar without any outside or government help. Huh. The special thing is that pulses, vegetables, rice are distributed free of cost to the poor in the midday meal.
Ranjit Singh, a daily wage laborer who came to Delhi from Madhubani in Bihar, having lunch here with four colleagues, told that he used to work with his colleagues from 9 am to 5 pm every day for the construction work going on in the farmhouse here for about twenty days. But get morning breakfast and evening tea from here. Ranjit says that the address of this langar of Mataji was told to me by the laborers who were already working in the farmhouse here. Now I am able to save about hundred rupees more everyday. On the other hand, Sheela Mishra, who eats food with her ten-year-old son and younger daughter, said that she has been coming here from the slum near Munirka to have food three-four times a week for almost three years. If there is no ticket in the bus, then all three of us come here. Every day with respect, we all get different types of food to fill our stomachs. We are now able to save three thousand rupees more by eating lunch here and taking food with us for my husband who is a street vendor many times. Not only me, for about 250-300 people who come here, Mataji is ‘Annapurna’, who is feeding us fresh food everyday.
We were still talking to the laborers that meanwhile a decent lady came there and inspected the food being distributed here and started explaining something to the staff distributing the food. When I asked the watchman of the form house standing at the gate about the woman, he told that this is Aruna ji. She is the owner of the farm house and runs this langar. After this I told Aruna ji going back to the farmhouse that I am a journalist. I want to know about you and this langar kame. On this he simply said- ‘Now I have become God’s postman. He gives me something to do, so I am doing it with my ability without any selfishness. I do not want the publicity of this work of God.
On my request, he told, ‘My name is Aruna Goenka. Father was a Marwari businessman. He used to do business in Japan, where I was born. Later we all came back to Delhi where we settled in South Extension. Started langar here also. In South Ax also, people used to come from a distance of four to five kilometers to get clean water and eat langar. After that, she started arranging lunch for the patients coming here daily at All India Medical Institute. Meanwhile, we settled in Vasant Kunj Kanchanshree Farmhouse. From the laborers working in the farm houses to the staff working in them, they have to go long distances for tea and lunch. Due to paucity of money, many times these laborers are not able to even eat their fill. In such a situation, I first got an RO water tank installed at the gate of my farmhouse and made arrangements to have clean water available in the tank for 24 hours. From the very next day, I along with my staff made arrangements for some people from morning breakfast to lunch and evening tea at the gate of the farm house. I saw that every day the number of people coming for tea and food prasad at the gate is increasing. In such a situation, according to my accumulated capital and my ability power, I took the initiative to arrange prasad for as many people as possible. Now we have langar arrangements for 250 to 300 people everyday. Whatever I am doing by the grace of God, my parents have full financial contribution in it. Although God can do everything, but he has made me his postman. I am working according to what God wants.
He told that right from the vegetables to the rice that is distributed in the langar, there is organic food, because I believe that whatever I eat, I should feed it to others as well. I have planted organic vegetables on 80% of the farm land. These vegetables are used in the food distributed at the gate. Not only this, we source organic spices, pulses, wheat etc from Rajasthan for Langar Prasad. I use these in my kitchen as well as in this langar that is served everyday. Aruna ji does not take help from anyone for this pious work. She says that everything goes with the blessings of the parents. She says, ‘I believe that it is our responsibility to provide nutritious food to those who are financially weak or helpless. The most harmful are the refined oil and chemical-rich vegetables available in the market.
