Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes – Kitchen Volunteers of Amma's 2007 North American Tour

We come from all over the globe: US, Canada, Germany, Spain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, Finland, Japan, Brazil, Vietnam and elsewhere. We travelled by bus, car, van, camper, plane, or train. We chopped vegetables, cooked the meals, baked cakes and cookies, made chai, and washed dishes. There were more than 100 of us. We were joined by hundreds of others from the local cities, some who were just meeting Amma for the first time, others who have known Her for years. Everyone helped – whether it was few moments, or a few hours, or the entire program. We were, and are, brought together by Amma's boundless love and message of selfless service. And we have a great time!

Here are some photos of a few of the volunteers who work behind the scenes to help prepare the delicious meals and snacks served during Amma's programs.

Adam (from US) unloads one of the trucks that contains the kitchen supplies

There are over 30 pallets which have to be unloaded and unwrapped. At the end of each program, we have to box everything up again, re-stack the pallets, and load up the trucks.

Benjamin (left - Germany), and Jay Ram (right - Spain) set up one of the various tables throughout the hall. This one will be the snack shop which sells freshly baked goods, chai, and other snacks.

Triptta (from US), who has been running the kitchen for about 10 years, ponders the next meal.

Triptta (US) and Akshay (Germany) check out the menu.

Sumati (US), one of our fearless veggie prep supervisors, carrying a load of freshly washed carrots.

The other Veggie Prep leaders (Tom - US, and Prana - Austria). They make sure everything is chopped just right for the cooks.

Jagadish from Canada spinning the lettuce.

The veggie choppers......

More Choppers.....

Anand (Spain) and Niramayan (Brazil)....

Sulma and Deva Priya (both from US) plan the next meal.

Krishna (Germany) and Niramayan (Brazil) cooking dinner.

Mixing the salad.

The bakers (Sri Pati - US, Karnaki - US, and Apoorva - Canada)
with chocolate frosting on their noses.

Oh no! We're short about 20 lbs of potatoes! Triptta and Amartya (US) in the kitchen.

The serving supervisors (Malathy, Apurva, Ahalya - all from US) take a well deserved break...

Having fun with the oranges.
(who hasn't done this with their orange rinds?)

Jitendra (Germany) slices the carrots.

Divya (US) studying the recipe for one of the salad dressings.

Avinash (Vietnam) washing dishes.

Taking a nap between programs in San Ramon.
Jonathan (Canada - left), Vivek (Japan - middle), and Jayendra (Germany - right).

Shankar, one of the dishwashers (US) has a quick snooze behind the hall after the NY program.
(He always sleeps like that.)

Amba (US) - Kitchen Seva Coordinator - loading luggage on top of one of the vans that carried some of the volunteers between cities.

Getting ready for the drive to Toronto.

In New Mexico, a reporter wrote a wonderful story about the volunteers in the Kitchen. Click here to read the article...

Sri Pati
June - July 2007, US Tour