On a platter: 10-woman team cooks, delivers food to Covid-hit families in Delhi-NCR

NEW DELHI: In April, when anyone infected by the Covid-19 coronavirus was treated as an untouchable, Nisha Chopra’s husband tested positive. The family went into quarantine and the 42-year-old Chopra saw her children surviving on fruits for two weeks.
The feeling of helplessness she experienced at the time spurred her to think of providing food for families affected by Covid.Today, she has a team of over 10 women who cook food every day for at least 100 families and delivers it to their doorsteps for free. The only thing the team asks for in return is a promise that the beneficiaries will help feed another family in their vicinity caught in similar difficulties.

Speaking to TOI, Chopra said that her husband got infected at the outset of the pandemic and they had to go into isolation. “When I saw my kids struggle for food, I realised there would be so many other families facing the same problem. That’s when I decided to do what I could. I took some time and brought an adequate number of women on board to cook these meals. All of us do so in our own homes.”
Three months ago, the programme took off. The word spread and people started reaching out to the group. Chopra was astounded at the plethora of phone calls she got. “We also got a few volunteers who helped with the distribution of meals, but many of them fell ill one after the other, and now I have myself taken up the responsibility of collecting food from different homes and then going out with a couple of volunteers to give them to those in need,” Chopra said.
Though she and her team began by covering the entire Delhi-NCR area, the reduction in the distribution team has forced them to concentrate on south Delhi areas such as Sarita Vihar, Chittaranjan Park and also Noida and Faridabad. “However,” she added, “if someone in other locations desperately needs our services and asks us for help, we are able to send them food once a day, not twice.”
Chopra said, “We do not charge the people anything for food. We only ask them to promise us that just as we helped them in their time of need, they too should come to the aid of the next family around them that requires assistance. However, we do not ask the elderly to do this because it will be tough for them.”
Chopra, who runs an NGO in Faridabad, said that the group gives preference to households with elderly people and children. “We aim to feed at least 100 families per day, regardless of how many members are there in the families,” she said. “As soon as we have more volunteers and cooks, we will surely expand the food distribution to all of Delhi.”
On why she does this, Chopra claimed, “There is a sense of complete satisfaction that I get when I am able to help Covid-19 patients who are in need of assistance.”