An eerie quiet has fallen over the usually bustling streets of Bengaluru after the announcement of COVID-19 lockdown.
There is also the quiet desperation of the stranded migrant workers and their children—they need food to go on. And then there are citizens who turn Good Samaritans, and feed the hungry.
Pradeep Sathyamurthy and his friends belong to that category. They were moved after they saw heart-wrenching images of workers in the national capital. Pradeep, who owns a factory that manufactures cobblestones, thought: “What would be the condition of the workers in Bengaluru, the heart of development in the South?”
The act of feeding hundreds of people started with one WhatApp message seeking help and collaboration.
“I sent out a message to friends and my extended family about our plans to feed the needy. In 24 hours, we collected Rs 2 lakh. Each meal was working up to Rs 25 but it costs Rs 30 now, as bottles and carry bag vendors are now quoting double the price,” says Pradeep.
He says they have enough funds to feed 700 people a day for the next 30 days. “On the first day (March 30), we catered to 530 people. On Wednesday, we made meals for 775 plus 500 for the Round Table group, who have donated Rs 50,000. They wanted 500 meals for four days to be distributed among the needy.”
The meals are cooked in the kitchen of The Punjabi Rasoi. Volunteers pick the packets and distribute them. Police also help volunteers by connecting them with the stranded migrant workers.
“A police officer from Byappanahalli station found us and took some six packets and distributed food to stranded migrants. He also helped us identify labourers near NGF,” informed Pradeep.
Avadesh Sharma, who hails from Bihar and works as a carpenter in the city, was out looking for food and went to the police for help.
“They assured me of help and while I was walking back, they reached out and connected me to Pradeep, who provided us with food,” he said.
Sharma is stranded along with 49 other people including children.
“Not all shops are open here (NGF) and the ones that are open don't have all the required stuff. Work has come to a stop. We are facing problems because we can’t go out to work and we are running out of money. Our only problem is that our work has stopped and our families in Bihar are dependent on us.”
Collective effort
Procuring grocery to feed over 1,000 people isn’t a small task.
Rahul Divyadham, the owner of The Punjabi Rasoi, says “My regular supplier’s yard is in Yeshwantpur. My staff went in the morning and got back late in the night. We tried to source 150 bags of rice on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I stood in the metro cash and carry line for five hours to buy rice.”
Rahul’s staff, most of whom are from outside Karnataka, start work at 7 am and make sure that it’s done by 11 am, so that the food is packed and reaches people by lunchtime. The packets have a rice-based dish like lemon rice and a water bottle.
“We have been going around looking for people in need of food and in one such trip, we found 50 migrant workers stranded in a landfill. Representatives from various localities have also been informing us about such people,” says Ashwini Jaisimha, who is part of the group.
The group currently focuses on areas in and around Indiranagar, Old Madras Road, Ulsoor and Shantinagar.
“My friend has managed to get a car pass and we use it to distribute the packets. We have been giving meal packets to food delivery executives, who happen to not get food for themselves,” she says.
Efforts like this show that the city has no lack of Good Samaritans and as Pradeep puts it: “The whole of India has come together in this tough time.”
Wish to join hands? Contact Pradeep on 96633 00006.
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