A Lesson in Hospitality

As some of you may or may not know, my major at GVSU is Hospitality and Tourism Management.  I’ve learned things like what the appropriate labor cost of a restaurant should be, or how to practice sustainable tourism.  I learned how to avoid a lawsuit in the world’s most litigated industry (never admit you’re at fault), as well as how market a tourist destination.  And while I am very satisfied with the major I chose to study, there’s one thing (or many things, I suppose) that we did not study; how hospitality is practiced around the world, especially in non-Western culture.

Last night I was schooled (yet again) in another form of hospitality.

It started when I was walking back from the library and a friend of mine from Afghanistan asked me if I would like to join him and the rest of the Afghani students at KiiT University at another friend’s place for a Mahfel , which is something like a giant feast with friends.  Not having any plans for the night I gladly accepted.  So I hopped in a rickshaw with them and off we went!

From then on I was inundated in Afghani hospitality.  There were around 35 people there, and every one of them was constantly making sure that I was satisfied the entire time.  I was offered hot milk and snacks, and everyone insisted that I take the only seat with a pillow on it.

The food was amazing.  It was some sort of flatbread with a beef soup, along with vegetables, yoghurt and oranges.  Everyone made sure I had enough bread, beef, or anything else I might need.  I was royally stuffed by the end of it.  We followed up the meal with a prayer and rather jovial walk home with lots of random yelling.

I’m incredibly thankful to my Afghan friends who let me partake in their Mahfel with them, and I’ll always remember that night as well as the lessons it taught.

I learned in school how to provide great customer service with a smile and turn a profit.  But did I really learn how to serve others?  That’s what I experienced last night.  Through their generous hospitality my friends showed me how to genuinely look after your guest.  There wasn’t some hidden motive behind what they were doing.  They weren’t looking for some kind of reciprocal payment.  It was just how you treat a guest.

And what seemed absolutely bewildering to me was normal for them.  Of course you take care of your guest to the utmost, why wouldn’t you?

This hospitality isn’t just confined to my friends from Afghanistan.  I’ve experienced it over and over with Indians here as well.  And the more I experience it, the more I wish the U.S. could learn from it.  We as Americans seem to be to so immensely individualistic to the point that we often forget how to be hospitable to one another.  It’s so engrained in our culture to look after yourself and your own interests first and others second, while for many other places the opposite holds true.

GVSU taught me how to manage a hospitality business, but India is teaching me how to be a better human.