Food philanthropy the Seva Kitchen way

Nagpur: For many relatives of patients admitted to various hospitals, who come to Nagpur from different parts of Vidarbha and even the neighbouring states, pavements and roadsides near these hospitals become their home. They live, cook and brave the oddities of Nagpur weather. They can’t afford the luxury of a safe shelter or hygienically cooked food.One such view deeply moved Khushroo Poacha outside Central India Institute of Medical Science where his mother Katie Poacha was admitted for brain surgery two years ago.
Khushroo was sipping tea at a roadside stall when he spotted an old lady cooking rotis and serving it to her family members. She had placed bricks on the ground and put a pan on it, fire was lit with small twigs collected from the area. “They were only eating plain rotis with no vegetable or a pickle,” says Khushroo. Everyday he would notice different families following the same exercise.
“I shared my despair with my mother,” he said. Katie had an instant answer. “Why don’t you start feeding them? People will help you; they will give you money to do so,” she told Khushroo. And that’s how the idea of new-age food philanthropy christened as Seva Kitchen — a crowd-sourced platform for relatives of outstation patients admitted to city hospitals — was born. He discussed about the plight of these families with one of his friends Amit Badiyani, a chief executive of a private company. Keen to help, Badiyani started buying food from a restaurant for 25 people and started distributing it every Sunday evening.
The moment Badiyani would arrive with food, about 100-odd people would come running for it. But there was not enough for all. “I realised that if we cooked the food at home, we could provide food to more people with the same amount of money. So, along with Badiyani and my wife Fermin and sister-in-law Mehernaz and brother Faroukh Poacha, we decided to cook the food at home and serve it at CIIMS on Sundays,” says Khushroo.
“It is an extremely satisfying experience to serve the needy at a few hospitals in Nagpur as part of Seva Kitchen,” says Badiyani.
“The first time we could serve 50 people. The numbers kept growing every week as more and more people learnt about it in the hospital. We then hired a cook,” says Khushroo. Subsequently, many friends and like-minded people came to know about the Seva Kitchen and offered help. “I did not want them to offer money. Instead I asked them to cook food and take it to the locations where it was needed and serve it to the people,” he says. Soon, a service was started at Tukdoji Maharaj Cancer Hospital on Saturdays and Sundays.
Khushroo realized the need to motivate others and people-source the food and get volunteers to serve the needy. Buoyed by the success of his other two initiatives Indianblooddonors.com andplateletdonors.org, he launched SevaKitchen.org to channelize the power of the internet to connect the needy people with good Samaritans who are willing to serve them.
“It is an humbling experience. It is a platform for those who always wanted to do something, but did not know where to start,” says homemaker Dilshad Sanyal.
Jasmine Irani, principal of a city school, finds Seva Kitchen a gratifying experience and hopes to contribute more often.
“We feel that the first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all. More should join the initiative and make a difference in people’s lives,” says Seva Kitchen volunteer and IT consultant Cyrus Major.
Says another volunteer and teacher Kashmira Mavalwala, “We believe in doing service to make good things happen and give hope to people.”
“Many patients feel happy and ask us if we are an NGO. When we say ‘no’, they are in awe how we manage the service. Some even came to us and said that they would like to contribute to the cause. We tell them pay it forward. Some who are really poor tell us that they can help wash the soiled plates as they consider it the biggest service,” says Khushroo.
Khushroo has made a beginning. “We have about 25-30 volunteers who serve at CIIMS Hospital on Sundays and Tukdoji Maharaj Cancer Hospital on Saturdays and Sundays and at a cancer hospice. We want more dedicated volunteers to join us as we intend to serve more hospitals in the city,” he says.