globaloneness project Seva Cafe: Love All, Serve All [♪ Indian folk music ♪] Seva Cafe, Ahmedabad, India, A 'Pay It Forward' Restaurant [♪ Indian folk music ♪] The idea of Seva Cafe is that it's an experiment Anjali Desai, Seva Cafe in the joys of giving. Every day we take 60 customers in. But we don't think of them as our customers; we think of them as our guests. And we ask them to come in and to feel at home, and to enjoy this space and to treat it as their own. So we as a team of people, a group of staff and volunteers, we cook with love, we serve with love, and then in that same spirit, we don't give a bill at the end of the meal; we ask people to pay from their heart. To really think about where the food is coming from, who cooked the food, and also this idea of paying it forward. If you eat today, whatever you leave, pays it forward for the person who comes to eat tomorrow. And that's sort of our overall vision for Seva Cafe. It's an experiment that belongs to everybody. So any person who comes in to Seva Cafe, is then a part of Seva Cafe. And something else that we really believe in is that you think globally, and you act locally. So, you think about the world, but you do something in the local space, to sort of make that change happen. [♪ Indian folk music ♪] The whole idea behind Seva Cafe is that it's a circle of giving. Right? And because it's a circle of giving, when I get today, I automatically want to give tomorrow. So our concept is connected with food, because everybody loves food. And everybody has to eat. But this is something that you can implement in your life anywhere you go. So it doesn't matter what you're doing; we can all do our part of service in the world. It's just really that whole idea of being the change that you want to see in the world. It starts with you, and the people around you can't help but feel inspired by it. So anything that anybody does in the world is connected to everybody else. So whether it's Seva Cafe operating in Ahmedabad; there's somebody out there working in the slum areas; there's somebody in California running a...Cafe; or anybody doing anything, it affects us, because, at the end of the day, it's about humanity, and sort of a collective consciousness, a collective soul force. So we all move when one person has a realization, one person has an idea, when one person works, and it's just so interconnected that if you look at it, something good happens in one place, and it's sort of adding to universal goodness around the world. [♪ Indian folk music ♪] And I think that sort of energy just—people can't help but feel it when they come in here. So people are often overwhelmed by this idea of coming into a space where people want to serve you. They take a lot of inspiration from the team of people that work here. [♪ Indian folk music ♪] This whole space is about connectivity. It's about connecting. You know, you come and you sit at the table, and some people come and tell you what the concept is, and Raja will come serve you, and he will sit with you and talk to you, and people will play with your kids, and somebody will ask you how your food is, and if you want to sit down and play the tabla, go for it. If you want to pick up a book, if you want to run around, like, it's your house. And I think when you come into a space with strangers, and you feel at home, you suddenly realize that this world is one family. [♪ Indian folk music ♪] www.globalonenessproject.org