A restaurant, called ‘Shri Kalyan Jain Bhojanshala’ is situated in a village named ‘Sarat’ which lies in Rajasthan’s Jalore, whose environment feels more like home rather than a restaurant. This restaurant is the community kitchen of the Jain emigrants of the village, which runs throughout the year. And whenever people visit this place for a few days, coming back from distant regions, this restaurant becomes the respite from setting up a kitchen from the scratch.
The food which is offered is completely home-like and Sattvic, which does not burn a hole in your pocket. A tiffin can be bought in just 50 Rupees, which can easily feed two people. If one eats at the restaurant itself, it will cost only 30 Rupees for one person to have a healthy diet, and another 30 Rupees only for having a wholesome breakfast. There are a total of 370 families which belong in this village and live in different parts of the country and the world.
The restaurant manager, Dungarmal Rawal, said that whatever loss is witnessed after the regular income is covered by the contribution of all the families. Last year, all the families had deposited 2300 Rupees each, which means that this restaurant is run completely on a no-profit, no-loss basis. And this story is not unique to Sarat, as various villages across Jalore, Jodhpur, and Barmer have adopted this model.
