In 1975, Sri Prabhupada saw two children fighting with dogs over a pile of leftover food. That incident made him decide that no one in the range of 10km from an ISKCON temple should go hungry,” narrates monk Padasevan Bhakta Das, head, Communications ISKCON Gurugram. Last year, ISKCON Delhi distributed five lakh meals per day, and the organisation is back to do their bit in this second wave. There’s already a routine in place.
The monks at ISKCON temples in Gurugram and Dwarka wake at 3:30am every day. After their prayers and meditation, they directly head to the kitchens, prepare food, pack it and deliver it to Covidaffected families. Prabhu Pradyumna, president, ISKCON Dwarka and head of the temple’s Food for Life initiative, says, “The operations from our centralised kitchen at Dwarka started almost 15 days ago. We are delivering lunch and dinner in Dwarka and Delhi.
You just have to call on our helpline number, and the food will be delivered at your doorstep.” The Gurugram kitchen started operating on April 21 with just 50 requests. “And today (Tuesday), we dispatched 647 meals to 289 families. Of these, 70 per cent meals are being delivered at homes, and the rest is given to the needy on roads or those who come to the temple,” adds monk Padasevan. A total of four teams – three people for taking requests, about 10-12 to prepare the meals, a team for packaging and another for delivery – ensure the lunch is ready by 10:00am and delivered by 2:00pm.
“As of now, we are able to deliver only one meal because of minimal delivery resources. But we would love to do two meals a day in the coming days,” adds Padasevan. The Dwarka kitchen distributes 14,000-15,000 meals a day. “Since the number of meals is huge, we have 20-30 people working in the kitchen with a team of 70 packing the food.
Over 100 rickshaws and autos help us deliver. Punjabi Bagh and East of Kailash temples help us in delivering the food to areas in Delhi,” informs Pradyumna. The healthy, nutritious menu designed by ISKCON’s dieticians consists of dal, rice, roti and sabzi made from seasonal vegetables and salad. “We bring variation in rice by making jeera or vegetable rice. All food is satvik and is made using very less spices with no red chilli, onion and garlic.
We try to include one paneer dish once a week because the Covid patients need protein,” adds Padasevan. Dwarka team has a call centre, where the volunteers working from homes take feedback from people about the food delivery and quality. “Following the feedback, Dwarka ISKCON will soon launch three thalis light, medium and heavy for Covid patients and their family members,” adds the Dwarka temple president.
Hurdles
While the monks are doing their best to widen the reach, food delivery is becoming an issue. Padasevan says, “Rapido gave us two bikes and riders, we have three temple cars and at times ISKCON followers also step in to help. Still that’s very less to operate with. We are in talks with the heads of Pickkr and Pidge if they can help us. Even if we get 20 bikes, we can reach every region in Gurugram.” Dwarka ISKCON has contacted food aggregators Zomato and Swiggy to assist them in delivery, and are awaiting a revert. Another concern is that with the weather getting hotter, the food might get spoilt faster.
“Our operations are increasing every day, so how do we ensure that quality is maintained and the food is reaching people in time? We need to have a webbased application ready soon through which our teams and the public can track and get updates about their food delivery,” adds Padasevan. Lastly, the number of volunteers have reduced. “Last year around this time, we had 3,000 volunteers. Now, 80 per cent of them are dealing with some or the other problem in their families. Even my family is not happy that I am coming to the temple every day,” Pradyumna confides.
What’s next?
Apart from expanding the reach, and starting operations from the Noida and Ghaziabad kitchens, ISKCON Dwarka plans to launch a 200-bed facility with oxygen supply and nursing care. “We are under pressure by the government to start this service as soon as possible. Slowly, we will increase the beds to 2,000,” says Pradyumna.
Helpline for Dwarka and Delhi: 9717544444
Helpline for Gurugram: 8447615906 / 8130326501