HYDERABAD: This house kitchen showcases no fancy equipment. But it is working in its capacity to feed the hunger saviours of Hyderabad. On Tuesday, R Ravi Teja’s kitchen at Begumpet was filled with the aroma of boiling rice and frying spices as meals were being cooked for the food delivery agents who have been tirelessly bringing scrumptious grub to our doorstep at our beck and call. Ravi, who owns a prawn business, is a YouTuber and runs the Street Byte food channel.
He decided to feed the delivery agents after cops stopped them last weekend and seized their bikes. “Rain or shine, these people have been working nonstop. They are risking their lives every day to feed us,” Ravi says. “Recently, they were in trouble because of police highhandedness. Besides, no restaurant in the city is willing to offer them food, so I decided to do it.” Ravi and his relatives cook lunch for the delivery agents and anyone in need can contact them at anytime.
According to him, delivery agents are frontline workers too. “They serve food to many Covid patients despite knowing that it is risky. Many of them told me that it is difficult to carry a lunch box from home as the food goes bad due to the scorching summer heat.” And, purchasing lunch is not an option. Due to the lockdown all restaurants and eateries are shut. Restaurant owners can only sell food to those placing orders on the apps. So many agents remain hungry all day long, he says.
There are around 28,000 delivery agents of Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato and Grofers, among others,in Hyderabad, according to Shaik Salauddin, president of the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union. Many of them work 12-hour shifts, from 10 am to 10 pm. Ravi has also been serving free food to Covid patients in the Begumpet neighbourhood.
It’s not just food, it is Andhra cuisine, he says. His family has been running a home kitchen called Sri Sai Kitchen, which specialises in vegetarian and non-vegetarian Andhra meals and seafood, especially prawns.