Bengaluru: Big units on the streets, Samaritans on ground feed the neighbourhood

Crack of dawn. In huge kitchens across Bengaluru, vegetables are chopped and set boiling in huge pots for sambar; idlis steamed in batches and stacked. In homes and apartments dotting the city, the family breakfast of upma or poha is extended to pack four or five boxes extra, to be washed down with coffee in thermos flasks. By 8am, volunteers hit the streets, and before they reach, dozens queue up.Breakfast for the neighbour is set at their doorstep, a gloved hand rings the doorbell, and “no-contact delivery” is accomplished.
The second Covid wave has been different from the first, even in terms of food and grocery distribution for the needy. Volunteers and individuals joined the delivery and distribution network last time, getting on the street with their home-cooked meals packed into disposable containers. This time round, many of them tested positive or their families did and the mandated isolation and quarantine protocol kept them away. Or sheer fear of infection caught up with them. So the largescale distribution of food has become the preserve of organised groups that have the logistics and manpower sorted out. Lakhs of people left jobless and struggling for survival in the city say these volunteers ensure they eat at least one hot meal a day.
On the other hand, if individuals are a tad daunted by outdoor operations, they have turned their energies inward, pitching in to feed Covid patients and Covid-hit families in their neighbourhood. With the second wave affecting entire families at one go, these Samaritans have ensured they don’t have to worry about the next meal while struggling to find hospitals, beds and drugs.
During the lockdown last year, Sujatha Bhandari distributed food packets on the streets. She was geared up this year too but she tested positive for Covid on April 22. “The illness and the fatigue completely knocked me out and I had no energy to cook even though I had the heart for it,” says the 50-year-old Shantinagar resident. Her family too prevented her from stepping out as cases surged in May.
Naveena Neerada Dasa, head of strategic communications and projects, Akshaya Patra Foundation, has been a busy man this lockdown too. “Last year, we distributed grocery kits and this year we rightly focused on cooked meals and began our work on April 28, a day after the lockdown came into effect, by serving upto 10,000 meals. Now we have touched nearly 50 lakh meals in the city and continue our mission,” says Dasa.
While the first lockdown triggered an exodus of migrant workers, the second wave has led to more deaths and intensified the job crisis, with many suddenly finding themselves on the brink of poverty – forced to live off their savings and left with little to spare for food. Coupled with this, many of them became infected too, making it difficult for them to even collect the free food.
Vinod Kumar of The Good Quest Foundation says those in home quarantine were badly affected. “Many suffered severe Covid symptoms and entire families were bedridden with fever and fatigue. We had to reach out to them and provide cooked meals for lunch and dinner. In this wave, we fed close to 68,000 Covid-affected persons and continue our endeavour,” says Kumar.