The occasion was the silver jubilee function of the Global hospital, Mount Abu. It was celebrated with much pomp and show and was organized in Shantivan, the sprawling building complex belonging to Brahmakumaris, the spiritual organization to which the hospital was affiliated. Shantivan was in Talhati, literally meaning the foothills of the mount.

It was a spectacular show. Being from outside the organization, we were impressed with the arrangements made and the discipline and dedication with which the event was meticulously planned. We were put up in the guest rooms in the premises for 2 nights so that we could attend the function without the hassle of travelling up and down the mount several times. The weather was pleasant and we were having a good time.

Meals were served in multiple dining halls, which were at about half a kilometer distance from the residential quarters. One morning, on our way back from breakfast, we came upon a volunteer colleague of ours. We told him about our interest in visiting the solar plant coming up nearby. This was touted to be the largest of its kind in Asia and we were keen to see it, although the work was not completed yet. He promised to try and arrange for the same.

He then asked, ‘Have you seen the Bhandara? It is also quite impressive, and perhaps you would like to see it in the meantime’, he suggested. I was not too enthusiastic, to be honest. Without waiting for our reply, however, he summoned a local volunteer and entrusted him with the job of showing us around.

‘Bhandara is the storehouse?’, I enquired.
‘No. It is the kitchen where all the meals that you are being served are cooked’, he replied with a grin.
‘Oh!’, I said, feeling chastised.
He led us with an energetic step towards the bhandara.

At the entrance, we encountered a board displaying the legend, breakfast for 3000
‘Wow!’, I exclaimed. ‘That must be quite a daunting task. I did not realize we were so many of us.’
‘Sometimes, you can add an extra zero to that figure on special days’, he replied.
‘You mean 30000?’, I asked incredulously.
He nodded in assent.
As we entered, my husband exclaimed, ‘what is that?’, pointing to a stack of what looked like plates of huge dimensions, with numerous depressions.

‘Those are the Idly plates for making idlis. Now that breakfast has been served, they are there to be cleaned’.
‘Each can accommodate about 50 to60 idlis’, he said, anticipating our next question.
As we proceeded further, we saw huge cupboards made of stainless steel.
‘Those are the steamers in which the idlis are cooked. The stands that you see with the partitions are the stands for stacking the idli plates one on another. We can make roughly about 1000 pieces in one go’, he said matter of fact. There were several of such steam cookers standing there.

Making the rotis:
We then came across machines which turned out a 1000 rotis in an hour from start to finish, right from mixing the dough to the cooked rotis.
‘Although we have these machines, we put them to use only when there is a very large crowd. Otherwise, they are made by hand by the volunteers’, our guide said.
What number qualifies as a large crowd, I felt like asking, but then I refrained from doing so, remembering the numbers displayed on the notice board.

Cutting vegetables:
Then there was a large machine with blade like attachments. My husband and I tried to guess what it was, and promptly disagreed on the matter. I thought it was a grater and my husband said it was probably a slicer to cut the vegetables.
‘It is neither’, said our guide with a tinge of amusement in his voice. It is a potato peeler. The potatoes are washed, and then come in contact with this rough plate which peels the skin off the potatoes. These are then used for cooking the subzis’, he told us. We have machines which can slice, grate and dice the vegetables too. These again are used only occasionally when required. At other times, we have volunteers doing the cutting manually’, he said.

From there, we stepped into a hall. The scene that greeted us was very festive. Bonhomie and camaraderie were in the air, while a band of volunteers toiled away cutting vegetables for lunch, the next meal of the day. They were seated in an orderly fashion in two rows, facing each other, and perched on low seats. I borrowed a seat and sat with them to get a photograph clicked in the colourful environment. It would be a memory to cherish.

Pans, parathas and dosas:
Next, we were ushered into another large space. Here, we were accosted with an array of huge, flat rectangular plates.
‘These are used for making parathas and dosas’, explained our guide. I was overawed by the dimensions and numbers of the pans. I thought of my own humble round tawa, which served me over the years to feed my family of 5, which now had shrunk to two, just me and my husband. I could not but help smile at the glaring contrast.
‘Where is the gas flame to cook these?’, I enquired out of curiosity.
‘Oh it does not work with gas. The cooking is done with steam’, he said. All cooking is done with steam generated by solar energy.
I was fascinated. A kitchen where cooking was done without gas? Awesome, I felt.

Our guide moved to a window nearby and beckoned us to join him there. You see those huge oval dishes? He said, pointing to a row of dishes. They have been installed in order to take care of all the in house requirement of hot water and steam. The steam is let in through the pipes that you can see here.

Baker’s man:
We were then taken to the bakery section of the kitchen premises. The person accutane online acne managing it was brisk and efficient, and without wasting too many words, explained briefly how the dough was made, how it was made into portions of 400gm each, how the bread was baked, sliced and sent out for making sandwiches.
‘What about packing?’, I asked.
‘The amount prepared is as per request placed and is meant for immediate consumption. Therefore there is no need for packaging’, he explained. The precision of planning and execution was very creditable indeed!

Just desserts:
A meal cannot be complete without a sweet dish and what better than ice cream for dessert?
We were taken to the milk section of the bhandara next. The daily milk was treated and heated and served hot to whoever may wish to have a glass of warm milk. Some was used for setting yoghurt for daily use with meals. Whenever the occasion demanded, they had facility to make about 1100 cups of ice cream in an hour, if my memory serves me right: a very large quantity at an absurdly fast pace, at any rate. These cups of ice cream thus prepared are then sent for storage in the 3 large freezers hidden behind a partition.

By this time we had reached the top floor of the five storied building and were almost done with our tour. On our way down, our guide told us that there were two more places he would like us to see.
The first of these was the place where packed meals were given to visitors leaving for their homeward journey. Of course there was a procedure and you had to book your request a day in advance, but it was all supplied free of cost to anybody who asked for a packed meal.

The last place he took us to, was to the Toli counter. Toli for Brahmakumaris is the equivalent of prasadam that you are given,(and sometimes sold), in temples. It is the offering made to Brahma baba , their religious guru and then distributed to the public with his blessings. It usually is a sweet, and that day it was a barfi. We felt happy and blessed, biting into the delicious barfi, more so because we had worked up quite an appetite as a result of all the walking we had already done since morning.
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written by
Dr. A Shyamala