Give us this day our daily bread.

The title of this post, is from the prayer which I think is one of the few things that the
hundreds of Christian denominations in the world happen to share among themselves.
And it is so apt a request because while man toils to be able to acquire a lot of things,
but the one thing that he cannot do without is food.

Ofcourse there is water and air also, that he cannot do without. But then air, however
polluted it might be getting daily, is freely available to all. And water is also sort of like
a given, though getting scarcer by the day.

The full prayer, in my humble opinion, covers almost all that a rational human being
should pray for, to whichever God he believes in. It reinforces belief in God, asks for
God to take care of our needs, requests God to forgive our sins and asks his help in
enabling us to lead a virtuous life. Anyway, this post is not about spreading the Good
Lord's words and anyway I am in no way competent to do that, given my numerous
failings.

Coming back to the topic at hand, I have always had a love-hate relationship with food.
I can't do without it for sure. Yet, I don't like to be fussy about it either. I eat just about
enough to get through. And not for any dietary reasons. Call it luck or whatever, I have
been maintaining a constant weight (which is correct as per my BMI) for years now,
without any real effort on my part.

Our office pantry is no 5-star hotel restaurant. But it is not bad either. An average
employee spends around 20mins there for lunch. I am in-and-out in 5 minutes.
Not that I disrespect food. Given that I am from a country where atleast 10% of the
population are having a tough time managing one decent meal a day, I accord food
the respect it deserves.

I am OK with whatever food the circumstances have in store for me. In my 30-odd
years on earth, I don't think I have criticized anyone's culinary skills. As long as it is
edible, I eat it. Edible being a very loose term, that covers any food that I can eat
without throwing up.

If the cook, by mistake, put 5 spoons of salt instead of the required 1 spoon, I would
just say, "A little salty, ain't it ?" and continue eating. No wonder the womenfolk at
home love me. Whatever they dish out, I eat, relish, thank them and move on.

For I know that millions in my country and around the world, would give a limb for
that food. If only the good Lord granted each living being its daily bread, instead of
having to pray/struggle for it ? Now that would be utopia, ain't it ?

Maybe He has a reason behind making us work for it. If it were available without us
having to put in any effort, we would surely divert the energy that we would have put
into doing work, into something destructive.