Rasoi On Wheels - Feeding Fresh Food to 30,000 Underprivileged People Every Month.
Rasoi On Wheels’ kitchen is buzzing with activity at 5 a.m, cooks whipping out dishes to feed a thousand people. Every morning at 9 a.m, their van readies with the food which goes out for delivery to slum schools, orphanages, old age homes, outside AIIMS hospital, slum clusters and other places in Delhi and Gurugram. ROW was started by Atul Kapur and his partner Manika Bhadwar to feed underprivileged people everyday. Atul Kapur who also is a partner in QBA restaurant says "Manika is the marketing force behind it and her passion & dedication towards the project has contributed significantly to its success. A dedicated kitchen team ensures good quality, hygienic, nutritious & tasty meals, no different what we eat, is prepared and distributed". The menu includes rice and rajma, roti, vegetables,mixed dal, puri halwa, vegetable pulao/biryani, veg chowmein, thalis and many more. One can pick from the menu which starts from Rs.31 and order food for distribution. Atul says “People can buy food from us and distribute it either themselves or take our help. However, we insist that they be involved in the distribution as well”.
The entire project is funded by Atul, Ashim and Manika Bhadwar; they invested in setting up the kitchen, vans, equipment and other sundry items needed to run a large scale kitchen. Atul shares "The concept was born out of the langar / bhandara. There are many people with good intentions to serve the poor but despite the desire, the sheer enormity of the task prevents them from taking that one step. Rasoi On Wheels provided the solution by bridging the gap & making it easier for good souls to contribute & not shy away from it due to logistical issues. We provide all support & get them closer to the receiver. ROW has no support from any organization, except that of the good people who are coming forward to support this initiative”.
Talking about the challenges faced, Atul shares that there are not many except the commotion that happens often when their van reaches a location as people tend to snatch and grab the meal boxes instead of lining up for the same. He says ”It is difficult to make people stand in a queue and take their meal boxes”.
Atul says about involving people in the initiative "We lay importance on getting people to be involved with the distribution & be personally present with kids & not just finance it. It is our "individual social responsibility ".
Atul, Ashim and Manika are surely rolling the right wheels.
Images Courtesy : Rasoi On Wheels and Atul Kapur.
