3 crore meals, and counting

Renu Sud Sinha

It started with a spam mail in March-end. By September 1, Feed India campaign will complete five months of its tenacious journey of feeding millions across more than 135 cities across India during the pandemic.

Vikas Khanna, a Michelin-starred Chef for the world, but a humble man at heart from Guru ki Nagri, Amritsar, is spearheading the Feed India initiative, being dubbed as world’s largest feeding campaign. Going by the number of meals that the campaign has already provided — 30 million meals (cooked & dry rations) — it would certainly seem so in recent times.

Sitting in his house in Manhattan, from where he is managing the entire campaign, Vikas shares an interesting anecdote which became the foundation for this vast campaign. In March-end, he received a mail from an old-age home in India, seeking donation for its inmates, stuck during the lockdown. The mail turned out to be a spam but nudged him to the right path. Because of his earlier experiences of working for those less fortunate, he was aware that most orphanages, old-age homes, and other such institutes run from month to month in terms of rations, donations, etc. and this was soon going to be a huge pandemic, not just in terms of infections but in terms of hunger as well, and such places and people would hugely affected. And that’s how the idea of FeedIndia came into being.

The journey to 30 million meals started with a single tweet on April 1, when Vikas asked his 2.3 m followers on Twitter to go and check in their neighbourhood orphanages, old age homes, leprosy centres, if the inmates there needed dry ration and let him know.

Soon, as messages grew faster than the Covid cases across India, he and his team of volunteers were also quick to respond those in distress.

From institutes of destitution, his Feed India soon extended its benevolence to migrants walking home, street vendors, Mumbai’s dabbawalas, boatmen and craftsmen in Varanasi, inmates of widow ashrams, anyone and everyone in need.

As beneficiaries increased, so did the logistics. This gave rise to a host of issues on ground zero, particularly as Vikas was managing everything from New York. Unscrupulous vendors, dishonest suppliers, vanishing supply trucks, payments thst had to be paid twice. Vikas almost gave-up but his mother, the anchor who keeps him rooted, reminded him of his grit and determination that had helped him achieve his stardom in the culinary world. That was all the impetus he needed.

The trickier the problem, more innovative was his solution. After being duped many times in India, he reached out to National Disaster Relief force (NDRF) in mid-April for help. The NDRF had already been working with the affected persons by then, collaborating with various local NGOs in different states.

But didn’t NDRF find the proposal of a celebrity chef sitting oceans across a little farfetched? But his commitment, authenticity, straight forwardness came across loud and clear, recalls Satya Narayan Pradhan, Director-General of NDRF. And the partnership has moved from strength to strength since then because of the synergy in sincerity from both sides. And will keep going strong in future as well, asserts Pradhan.

While dry ration worked for those staying in homes and shelters, to migrants on the move, dry ration would have been of no use. Vikas came out with another innovative solution, he reached out to BPCL and converted at least 100 fuel stations on the highways of UP, MP and Maharahtra so that weary migrants could have a hot, cooked meal on the go.

This poet-at-heart has unabashedly used his reputation and charm to rope in private brands like Indiagate basmati rice, dawat, patanjali, paytm to further the cause close to his heart.

With a 12-hr time difference between India and US, he doesn’t seem to lose sleep over short sleeping hours.

So what have been the lessons from the pandemic for him? A global vulnerability of rich and poor alike but also resilience, without support and solidarity, the pandemic would have been hard to beat for the mankind.

From dusty lanes of Amritsar to skyscrapers of Manhattan, what has been instrumental in his evolution? Unsurprisingly, it is Amritsar with its small-town tag, something which offends him at times, has helped him make his mark in the broad avenues of NY.

“Amritsar taught me about specialization. With its single-specialization shops selling jalebi, lassi, fruit cream, it taught me specialize whatever dish I put on my menu,” says this proud desi, calling Amritsar as his extension.