With cases of Omicron on the rise, the Tamil Nadu government imposed fresh restrictions with a total lockdown on Sundays. While things may be easy for the well-to-do to order food from restaurant or cook at their own homes, it is not so for the city’s poor and homeless. It is a struggle to pass the day with even just one meal as a total lockdown means there is no income for the day. Even a porridge/gruel becomes a luxury for them.
Just outside Rajiv Gandhi Government hospital, that is right opposite the Chennai Central railway station is a pushcart that serves this humble gruel to hundreds. Men and women from different corners including travelers coming or leaving the city fill their stomach with this gruel. This pushcart is operated by the Barter trust.
On Sunday, nearly 500 persons had collected their meal from the cart, in less than an hour. Many collected in vessels that they had bought with them. Those who didn’t have a vessel, were given one.
On #SundayLockdown ,
needy, hungry ppl queueing up at a pushcart outside #chennai Rajiv Gandhi Govt hospital, to get their seving of gruel(kanji) served by 'Barter Trust' run by K.Rajeev..They primarily cater to #Cancer patients, needy. been doing so for many yrs now
Godly 🙏 pic.twitter.com/s1FR1TzOJk— Sidharth.M.P (@sdhrthmp) January 10, 2022
“Our snack shop is just a short walk away from the General hospital… We’ve often seen attenders of poor patients and those with severe illness request for gruel at hotels and in shops like ours.. they never used to get it as its not part of the hotel menu… most patients need it as they are intubated and can’t have solid food… In fact, it was to cater to them that we started providing gruel right outside the hospital” K. Rajeev the owner of the pushcart, was quoted in a reported by WION.
With unplanned lockdown hitting on the stomachs of the city’s poor and needy, the pushcart supplied breakfast (Pongal, vada), lunch (gruel, variety rice, sweet) and dinner (idiyappam and coconut milk) to people who were seen forming serpentine queues outside the shop. Travelers travelling to and from the city also made use of the service with restaurants closed down due to the lockdown.
Even the Government hospital canteen was also closed on that day. It was this pushcart that had served meals to over a 1000 people. Rajeev was quoted saying that there are many patients and their relatives at the Government hospital who can’t afford to travel back to their homes just for food. “How can we let them go hungry?” Rajeev asked.
Rajeev shells out nearly ₹7000 per day to prepare the meals and distributes them through his volunteers.
In a month, contributions come from good Samaritans on the occasion of birthdays, death anniversaries etc. On the remaining days, the costs are borne by Rajeev himself.
Recently, BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai honoured Rajeev with Good Governance Bharat Ratna A B Vajpayee Award commemorating the late former Prime Minister’s 97th birth anniversary.
திரு ராஜீவ்
புற்று நோயாளிகளுக்கும் அவருடன் வருபவர்களுக்கும் பல ஆண்டுகளாக இலவசமாய் உணவும் கஞ்சியும் வழங்கிவரும் உத்தமர்.
தேனீர் கடை நடத்தும் திரு ராஜு. இவரின் அன்னதானத்தால், சென்னை பொது மருத்துவமனை வாசல், அன்னவாசல் ஆனது. pic.twitter.com/n59CgPYFPy
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) January 9, 2022
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